When getting into a vehicle, it’s automatic: We buckle up. It hasn’t always been this way. Not that long ago, there weren’t any. Fortunately, a few visionaries dared to talk about safety and ways to protect vehicle occupants.
Preston Tucker envisioned his car with front seat belts in 1948
The seat belt was patented by Volvo in 1959
Today, the seat belt continues to evolve to protect us better
Preston Tucker, who developed a revolutionary car in 1948, had envisioned his model with seat belts. Some believed it gave the impression that the vehicle wasn’t safe. It didn’t make it to production.
It was ultimately Nils Bohlin, a Volvo engineer, who provided the industry with the complete seat belt (lap and shoulder) in 1959. The innovation was patented, and Volvo had the decency to share it freely to save lives.
Nils Bohlin in 1959.From that moment on, the seat belt was on a path nobody could stop.
The 1960s
If you’ve ever sat in an American vehicle from the early 1960s, you’ll have noticed the absence of seat belts. However, a model from the end of that decade offers them, but only for the waist (generally). What happened?
In 1965, Ralph Nader shocked the automotive industry with the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, which attacked the lack of vehicle safety. It generated considerable controversy and forced legislators to act. Thus, in 1966, seat belts became mandatory in all new vehicles under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Canadian provinces would gradually follow, even requiring seat belt use before many American states did.
The 1970s
In the early 1970s, the belt that also protects the shoulder became standard. Initially, the upper part had to be connected to the lower one, but this would quickly evolve. Note that in the rear, you’d still find only the lap belt. The effectiveness of the complete belt, which protects the upper body and distributes the impact force, would push manufacturers to offer it for rear seats as well.
More Than a Belt
Subsequently, in the 1980s and 1990s, seat belts began working in concert with electronics. For example, inertia reels improved. These are what lock the strap during sudden braking or upon impact. Then came pretensioning systems that automatically tighten the belt in milliseconds during a collision, eliminating forward body movement.
Automakers then introduced crash sensors that determined whether to deploy airbags. Belts became capable of slightly releasing tension to prevent injuries in certain situations.
Around 2010, we even saw Ford launch an inflatable seat belt for rear occupants. In fact, the part of the belt that runs from the roof to the waist could triple its width upon impact, reducing shoulder impact shock.
Today
Belts continue to evolve. Nowadays, they use detection systems to determine whether seats are occupied. We have visual reminders (not just audible ones) to confirm that all occupants buckled up. On some models, certain functions are no longer accessible if the driver isn’t strapped in.
In fact, numerous vehicle safety systems connect to the belt. The objective is total occupant protection.
And the future will show us other advances. For example, recently, organizations that conduct crash tests have developed smaller and lighter dummies representing women or young children. This will inevitably lead to improvements if current solutions prove poorly adapted to certain body types in specific collision scenarios.
In short, we’re far from the first straps that only buckled at the waist.
