It was Volvo engineers who invented seat belts 70 (!!!) years ago. What has changed since then and really affects security?

One of the easiest ways to stay safe in a car is to wear your seat belt.

But many drivers and passengers neglect this rule, despite the fact that this requirement is spelled out in traffic regulations in most countries of the world, including Russia. Some believe that this is an unnecessary obligation, others believe that in the event of an emergency, the belt will complicate the situation.

But statistics say that both I and I are wrong, and you need to buckle up not only to save your life.

Modern seat belts were adopted by Volvo in the late 50s

Nils Bohlin

The very idea of ​​a seat belt appeared in the 19th century, but it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that the first developments appeared. Seat belts originally appeared in motorsports, but the designs were made of wood, too suitable for use in rural areas.

Modern cars have three-point seat belts.. This invention belongs to engineer Niels Bohlin.

Bohlin initially worked as an aeronautical engineer for the Swedish company Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget. In 1955, he developed Chair catapults and other pilot safety equipment. At the same time, he was interested in how to maximally protect the human body in a car.

In 1958, Bohlin moved to Volvo as a safety engineer. That same year, he applied for a patent that described a three-point seat belt.

Bolin realized that to maximize the retention of a person in a chair, it must be secured high and low. Therefore, its design uses two belts: one for the chest, the second for the hips.

Another revolutionary solution was that during an impact the belt was tensioned and fixed in one place, thereby helping to keep the person in the chair.

This helps not only in accidents, but also during normal driving. For example, during hard braking, the belt tightens and prevents the driver from dangling in the seat, which, in turn, helps him better control the car.

The final solution was comfort. A person is required to have a minimum speed to buckle up. Back at a time he was fastened with two belts at once.

In 1959, Bohlin and Volvo received the patent and immediately made it customized for everyone.. The company could have obtained free licenses from other manufacturers or kept the patent and advertised seat belts as an advantage over other cars, but Volvo took the second route.

Volvo included seat belts in all trim levels of its cars. In addition, in 1959, Sweden passed a law that made it mandatory to wear seat belts in cars.

📹 A clear example of how a seat belt works:

In 1963, Volvo introduced the three-point seat belt in the United States and other markets where it was not already available. Since 1969, cars in the USSR began to be equipped with places for fastening belts, but the production of their own belts was launched only in 1975.

Seat belts quickly became popular throughout the world. Thus, in 1965 in Sweden only 25% of drivers wore seat belts, but by 1975 the figure was already 90%.

The effectiveness of the belts was obvious. In 1967, Bolin published a study in which he studied 28 thousand accidents. Of the 37,511 people involved in these accidents, not a single passenger was killed while wearing a seat belt.. But provided that the car was driving no more than 100 km/h.

Interestingly, initially the driver and front passenger were required to wear seat belts. It was assumed that people behind the row could not be seriously injured in a frontal collision due to the large distance of the hood. But engineers quickly refuted this myth.

📹 What happens to an unbelted passenger in the back seat and a belted driver:

Until the 1980s, rear seats used either two-point belts (for the hips) or none at all. Then manufacturers started stocking three-point seat belts because they were made to be two-point.

At the same time, legislation around the world was changing. This year, countries made it mandatory for all people in cars to wear seat belts, and also banned the sale of new cars without seat belts.

Always wear your seat belt

According to the U.S. Highway Safety Administration, 91.6% of drivers and passengers wore seat belts in 2022.

In 2021, 26,325 passenger vehicle occupants were killed on U.S. roads. Shortly before the incident they were not wearing seat belts.

If you buckle up in the front seat of a car, then risk of fatal injury reduced by 45%, rear seat by 60%.

How to buckle up correctly

▪️ The shoulder strap should be located in the middle of the chest and between the neck and left shoulder.

▪️ The waist belt should be placed on the hips, not on the stomach.

▪️Adjust the height of the belt. It should not touch the neck.

While wearing a seatbelt helps you stay safe inside the car, an unbelted person can be thrown out of the car, which is almost always fatal.

Seat belts work in conjunction with airbags, but do not replace them. At the same time, pillows alone are not enough to protect you. In some cases, an airbag can injure an unbelted person.

Pregnant women are also advised to wear seat belts.

In Russia, the number of unbelted drivers is gradually decreasing, but it is still large.

The most current statistics on seat belt safety are given in the article on the traffic police website for 2020.

In 2016, 40% of drivers killed in traffic accidents did not wear seat belts. In 2019, this figure dropped to 19%. 1,330 of the 6,990 drivers who died were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

Passengers in Russia wear seat belts less often than drivers. In 2016, 26% of passengers who died in road accidents were not wearing a seat belt, and in 2019 – 22%.

The likelihood of the last person sitting in the front seat is five times greater if rear passengers are not buckled up. This was shown by an analysis of more than 100 thousand accidents. In 80% of cases, the driver and front-seat passenger could survive if the people in the rear seats were buckled up.

In 2019, 2.84 million tickets were issued for not wearing a seat belt, which is 6.7% more than in 2016.

The belt is insurance against serious injury and death.

In the event of an accident, people who wear seat belts have a much better chance of surviving than those who neglect safety.

Some drivers believe that you should only wear a seat belt on the highway, because cars drive there at high speed. But according to American statistics, Most fatal accidents occur in the city at speeds less than 65 km/h..

Accidents involving fire or water account for approximately half of 1% of all traffic accidents. In these types of accidents, the key is to create a much better chance of it happening with your seatbelt on.

There are also drivers who believe that a belt can cause harm during an accident. It is not true. In fact, everything in the cabin can cause you bodily harm, the belt is one of the following things that can really save you. The most unpleasant thing that can happen to you from the belt is a bruise on your chest, but this is a small thing compared to life.