
It’s hard to imagine that safety in automobiles used to be an afterthought in the era before lane-departure warning systems and radar-guided automatic braking. The three-point seat belt, the most significant safety innovation ever created, was given away by Volvo, a company whose reputation was built on selling safer cars.
Nils Bohlin, a Volvo engineer, invented the modern seat belt in 1959, according to the UK autos website Arnold Clark. Back then, seat belts were simple two-point waist restraints, and they frequently caused more harm than good in collisions.

Former Saab aviation engineer Bohlin specialized in ejector seats. He created a seat belt that could be worn over the torso as well as the driver’s lap. The Volvo Amazon and Volvo PV544, which are both depicted to the right, were the first vehicles to feature the design in the Nordic market. In 1963, it arrived in the United States.
It was a ground-breaking creation, and just the patents alone could have made Volvo a fortune.
But why didn’t Volvo do that? They decided the patent was too significant to keep to themselves and gave it away as a result. In the narrative:
The three-point seatbelt’s widespread use is actually a result of Volvo opening up the patent so that any automaker could incorporate it into their design. They came to the conclusion that because the invention was so important, it should be given away for free rather than sold for a profit.
According to a citation from Volvo’s managing director Alan Dessell, “The decision to release the three-point seat belt patent was visionary and in line with Volvo’s guiding principle of safety.”
Bohlin persisted in pushing for ongoing safety enhancements like side impact protection and rear seat belts while working for Volvo until 1985. A few years after being honored with a gold medal by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science and being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, he passed away in 2002. Volvo claimed more than a million people have been saved by his seatbelt design globally four years ago.
So, if a three-point seat belt has ever saved your life, you can thank Bohlin for it as well as Volvo for prioritizing the safety of people over financial gain.
We assume it to be true. In fact, it’s become established in our lives that we hardly ever give it any thought. We enter our vehicles, fasten our Volvo seat belts, and pull away from our driveways without ever pausing to consider who created the seat belt.
The standard 3-point seat belt that comes with every one of our cars is a lifesaving safety feature that is so widely used that many manufacturers don’t even list it on their list of required safety features. Who would do that? Every new vehicle is expected to include a seat belt. Of course, every one of the brand-new Volvo vehicles we have available for purchase has a Volvo seat belt. And for good cause. In 1959, Volvo Cars offered the first vehicle with a seatbelt.
Volvo Seat Belt Saving Many Lives
No other safety feature comes close to saving as many lives as the Volvo seat belt, despite the fact that modern cars are loaded with driver-assist safety features and advanced airbag systems that help us keep our eyes on the road and our hands on the wheel. Perhaps the most significant automotive safety feature ever created is this one. And we do so each time we enter our brand-new Volvo V60 wagon.
How often should seat belts be replaced?
Because there is no easy way to predict how well an older seat belt will perform in a crash, it is recommended that the seat belts in your vehicle be inspected and replaced every 10-15 years. Contact our Volvo parts store for Volvo seat belt replacement.

The beauty and uniqueness of Fukang Meteorite
This Fukang meteorite is around 4.5 billion years old and weighs more than 2,000 pounds. It was discovered in China in 2014 and is assumed to have formed when our solar system initially formed.

This whale tail sculpture saved a train that went off the rails
A train in the Netherlands failed to stop in time and broke through the emergency barrier. It's being held up by the statue of a whale's tail.

How Magic Johnson Missed Out On $7 Billion Nike deal
Magic Johnson turned down a deal with Nike in 1979 that offered him 100,000 shares of stock and $1 for every pair of shoes sold. Instead, he chose Converse, which offered him $100,000 per year. Johnson lost about $5 billion by declining the Nike deal.

'Super obedient' lookout parrot trained by Brazilian drug dealers is seized by police
In 2019, police in Brazil seized a 'super obedient' lookout parrot trained by drug dealers. According to reports, the bird had been taught to alert criminals to police operations by shouting: "Mum, the police!" As soon as the police got close, he started shouting.

Photos: This man sold everything 45 years ago to buy a bike and travel 6,000 miles from India to Sweden to see his love.
An Indian man traveled from India to Sweden on a bicycle to meet his Swedish wife in 1978. The journey took him 4 months and through eight countries.

The WWII Parachute Wedding Dress
Major Claude Hensinger jumped out of a B-29 bomber during World War II when the engine caught fire. He was saved by his parachute. Later, he requested that his fiancée Ruth make him a gown out of the same parachute. The dress is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

Water park in japan, ocean dome: Largest indoor water park in the world
The Seagaia Ocean Dome, located in Miyazaki, Japan, was the biggest indoor waterpark in the world. An "Ocean" six times the size of an Olympic pool, filled with 13,500 tons of unsalted, chlorinated water kept heated at 28 degrees Celsius and recognized as the largest simulated pool by the Guinness Book of World Records, measures 12,000 square meters of the sandy beach made from 600 tons of stone.

A U.S. Submarine Collides with a Japanese Fishing Ship in 2001
In 1998, 14-year-old Michael Crowe was charged with the murder of his sister. The police started targeting him after he seemed “distant and preoccupied” when his sister’s body was discovered, and during interrogation, police coercion led him to make a false confession. He was later declared factually innocent and the family won a lawsuit of $7.25 million in 2011.

Man's Blood Helped Save Millions of Babies
Australian blood donor James Harrison has been one of our most impressive and valued donors, having donated for 60 years. Know his story, how he was a pioneer of our Anti-D program, and why this matters.

Before "The Rock," There Was "Rocky Maivia"
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWF persona was Rocky Maivia, a face (good guy). The audience rejected him due to his cheesy character, with chants of “Die, Rocky, die!”. After this, he became a heel (villain), referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” and insulting the audience.

Kipekee, the world's only spotless giraffe, was born at Brights Zoo
The world's only spotless giraffe was born at a zoo in the United States. The giraffe born without spots on July 31 is the only one of her kind on Earth.

Lafayette pizza delivery driver who saved 5 from burning house
Nicholas Bostic a 25-year-old pizza delivery man from Lafayette, Indiana, ran into a burning house to rescue four children, who told him there is one more inside. He ran back inside, he found the six-year-old girl, jumped out of a window, carried her to a cop who captured the moment on his bodycam.

Max Headroom Incident: America’s Creepiest TV Hack
In 1987 a man hijacked a television station during an episode of Dr. Who and wore a Max Headroom mask and uttered nonsense, and he still hasn’t been caught

Kenyan Innovator Creates Smart Gloves That Translate Sign Language Into Audible Speech
In 2023, a Kenyan inventor Roy Allela invented smart gloves that can convert sign language movements into audio speech, for his six years old niece who was born deaf.

Smart guy brings life-sized cutout of his late mother to his graduation
Even though that his mother passed away in 2016, a young man had a clever idea to make a life-size cutout of her and bring it to the event so that she could attend his graduation ceremony.

Woman had no idea she had an identical twin until she saw a 'lookalike' on YouTube
When Anais Bordier saw a YouTube video of Samantha Futerman, who looked exactly like her, she messaged her on Facebook and discovered they were both adopted and born on the same day. They were identical twins who had been separated at birth and had found each other by chance and on social media.

China Weather Control on 2008 Olympics with missile
One thing is certain: when it comes to ensuring nice weather for the world's largest party, the Chinese cannot be accused of being subtle. The Chinese government authorized the use of 1,104 cloud seeding missile launches from 4:00-11:39 p.m. on Friday night to reduce the possibility of rain ahead of the 29th Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing

A man joins a search operation without realizing he is the missing person
Beyhan Mutlu, a Turkish national, was reported missing by local media and unintentionally joined search teams looking for himself in a forest. He was drunk and lost in the woods when he ended up in a group with others looking for himself.

A story of a man Survived Inside Sunken Ship For Three Days
A man survived a sunken ship for nearly three days, 279 feet underwater and in complete darkness, while listening to fish eat the bodies of his shipmates.

chand baori stepwell in Rajasthan India, Ancient cooling technique
This Chand Baori stepwell in Rajasthan, India is over 1200 years old. It’s called Chand Baori. The air at the bottom of the well is 5-6 degrees cooler than at the surface, so in addition to being a water source, it was used as a community gathering place where locals could escape the heat.

LEGO Braille Bricks: Revolutionizing Braille Learning Through Play and Inclusion
go Braille Bricks were launched in 2020 to help visually impaired children learn Braille through play. Each brick features the Braille alphabet and is fully compatible with standard Lego sets, allowing sighted peers to join in, fostering inclusivity and collaboration in learning environments.

Woman survives skydiving accident, discovers she's pregnant
2005, a woman performing her first solo skydive jump survived a parachute malfunction which caused her to slam face first into a parking lot at 50 MPH. During surgery doctors discovered she was pregnant. She made a full recovery and the baby was fine.

Baby Lynlee 'born twice' after life-saving tumour surgery
Baby Lynlee was "born twice." First, surgeons brought her out of the womb to remove a spinal tumor. After the successful surgery, she was placed back and born again as a healthy baby girl.

The actions of a 7-year-old girl protected her mother from bullets
A 7-year-old girl jumped in front of her mother to save her from a man who was attempting to kill her in 2007. She was shot six times and survived, as well as saving her mother.

Apple Watch saves a 78 year old man from life threatening fall
An Apple watch saved the life of a 78-year-old man from North Carolina. When the man was unconscious and collapsed on his driveway, his Apple watch quickly sent an alert to emergency services.