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The Innovation That Saved Millions Of Lives



Volvo proudly says that “few people have saved as many lives as Nils Bohlin.” Nils Bohlin, a Swedish engineer who worked for Volvo, designed and developed something that saved millions of people’s lives. Bohlin invented the three-point seat belt in 1959, which then got adopted across the motor industry. His cross-strap design made seat belts much easier to use. It is now hard to imagine a car without seatbelts.

The Innovation

The two-point seat belt was not giving any safety to the passengers. Instead, it left passengers with serious head, chest injuries in a collision. Also, the seat belt was very uncomfortable to wear. Volvo’s president Gunnar Engellau had suffered a tragic personal loss from a road traffic accident, and he insisted to Nils to come up with a better seat belt design.

Nils developed The V-shaped three-point seat belt in 1959, and Volvo integrated the new design change in their cars in 1959 after getting a patent for their innovation. But, even with these further improvements, people were still reluctant to use seat belts. They had a perception that it would be as uncomfortable as the previous two-point seat belt. It took six years for Volvo in Sweden to promote the importance of seat belts and to persuade the people to use the new design.

Volvo’s Generosity

Volvo could have earned millions with their innovation by charging a hefty license fee to rivals for using their invention, or they could have promoted their cars as the safest on the road by retaining exclusivity. But they did not do it; they instead made Bohlin’s patent available for free to all. Even though Volvo had spent a large sum on R&D, they gifted their design to competitors to encourage mass production and save lives.

Hesitance to wear Seat Belt

When automobile manufacturers started to integrate the new seat belts, in America, due to increasing road fatalities, the government decided to pass a mandatory seat-belt law in 1985. As many as 65% of Americans opposed the move, some even commenting that “You are not going to tie up the Americans upon a seat belt.” Some people commented that it's safer to get thrown away from the car rather than trapped inside at the collision time. The government and automobile manufacturers conducted public service campaigns, and the government enforced strict laws to encourage people to wear seatbelts. People slowly adapted to the change, and the death toll due to road accidents also started to decrease.

Volvo had persistent leadership, which played an integral part in creating a new road culture worldwide. It is now regarded as the world leader in terms of safety. They were also the first manufacturer to integrate rear seatbelts in a car. Reports suggest that the chances of surviving a road accident are double if the passenger had put on his seat belt. Their three-point seat-belt invention had saved millions of lives and the story of Volvo is an example of design ingenuity and an altruistic act.

-Deepak J Prasad

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