The United States Patent Office issued Swedish engineer Nils
Bohlin a patent for his three-point automobile safety belt “for
use in vehicles, especially road vehicles” on July 10, 1962.
Four years earlier, Sweden’s Volvo Car Corporation had hired
Bohlin, who had previously worked in the Swedish aviation
industry, as the company’s first chief safety engineer.
At the time, safety-belt use in automobiles was limited mostly
to race car drivers; the traditional two-point belt, which fastened
in a buckle over the abdomen, had been known to cause severe
internal injuries in the event of a high-speed crash.
Bohlin designed his three-point system in less than a year,
and Volvo introduced it on its cars in 1959.
The use of seat belts has been estimated to reduce the risk of
fatalities and serious injuries from collisions by about 50
percent.
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