Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Party Time: Volvo celebrates 50 years of the three-point belt]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/14/party-time-volvo-celebrates-50-years-of-the-three-point-belt/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/14/party-time-volvo-celebrates-50-years-of-the-three-point-belt/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/14/party-time-volvo-celebrates-50-years-of-the-three-point-belt/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Volvo's three-point seat belt - Click above to watch the video after the break

Back in 1958, most Americans wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a seat belt. That was mostly because safety belts were optional equipment in every car sold in the U.S. and drivers were suspicious of the things.

Just one year later, though, Nils Bohlin of Sweden invented and patented a three-point safety belt system that Volvo immediately made standard on its Amazon model. Variations on that system are still being used today in virtually every modern car.

Volvo, as you might expect, is pretty proud of itself, bragging that Mr. Bohlin is personally responsible for saving a million lives and that the three-point safety belt is Volvo's most important innovation and "almost certainly the most important invention in the whole history of traffic safety." Hmm. Maybe, but what about the, um, stop sign? Or double yellow line? Just saying. Then again, Volvo says the German patent office called the three-point belt one of the eight patents that had the greatest importance to mankind between 1885 and 1985. Surely that's now been trumped by 24-7 cable news networks.

Regardless, if you want to celebrate 50 years of safer driving with Volvo, chill the beer, fire up the grill and watch the video after the break. There's some great historical footage including one of a crash test with a live person as well as, more importantly, gratuitous footage of a girl in short shorts. Hit the jump to watch the video and read the full press release from Volvo.

[Source: Volvo]

Continue reading Party Time: Volvo celebrates 50 years of the three-point belt

Party Time: Volvo celebrates 50 years of the three-point belt originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>3-point belt3-point safety belt3-pointBelt3-pointSafetyBeltsafetysafety beltSafetyBeltseat beltseatbeltvideovolvoFri, 14 Aug 2009 08:59:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/19127756/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2009/08/14/party-time-volvo-celebrates-50-years-of-the-three-point-belt/19127756/article-detail.xml 19127756 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/volvo-seatbelt_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/volvo-seatbelt.jpg <![CDATA[End of unsafe era: (Some) School buses to get seat belts]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/15/end-of-unsafe-era-some-school-buses-to-get-seat-belts/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/15/end-of-unsafe-era-some-school-buses-to-get-seat-belts/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/15/end-of-unsafe-era-some-school-buses-to-get-seat-belts/#commentsFiled under: ,



My wife and I thoroughly trained our oldest daughter on seat belt safety, and it got to the point where she would scream at the top of her lungs if one of us didn't buckle our belts. When she first stepped foot on a school bus, she was terrified to learn that there were no seat belts and didn't understand how school buses were the exception to the seat belt rule. After many years of extensive study, however, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is changing that, at least for buses weighing under 10,000 lbs. The NHTSA's findings are the same as a 2002 study that smaller buses should receive belts and seat backs should be raised to 24 inches, but nothing was done about the findings back then. A series of bus crashes since has helped build the case to finally require the seat belts on certain buses and taller seat backs for them all.

Part of the reason for inaction was that adding seat belts would decrease seating capacity by 17% while also adding $40-$50 per seat to bus costs. With 25 million children riding 500,000 buses, that adds up to $100 million in annual costs that would, according to reports, save roughly one life per year. Statistics show that about 5 children die each year in school bus accidents, which represents .1 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. Kids that travel by bike to school die at a far greater rate of 12.2 per 100 million miles traveled, and kids who walk to school die at a rate of 8.7 per 100 million. The NHTSA's ruling goes into effect November 2011, which is five months before my oldest daughter rides the bus for the last time and gets into her own car.

[Source: Detroit News, photo by gareth_lofthouse | CC 2.0]

End of unsafe era: (Some) School buses to get seat belts originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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