Every feature in a car plays a different role. Some enhance the appearance while others have a functional purpose. Exterior, interior, infotainment system, speed, and other specifications all play a major part in determining a car’s value. However, one feature that holds the alpha status is safety, and speaking of safety, seat belts are first in command.
Gone are the days when people preferred features over safety. Nowadays, everyone looks for a safe riding experience before anything else. That said, seatbelts you see in every vehicle haven’t just shown up on the scene. The car seatbelt history dates back to the 20th century and has seen several changes before becoming a compulsory part of motor vehicles.
Let’s buckle up and learn all about the car seat belt history.
Car Seat Belt History
Seat belts are the most basic part of a car’s safety features. It can protect you in the event of an accident. The world eventually came to see the benefits of seat belts and governments also made it compulsory for automobile manufacturers to add seat belts in all their vehicles.
But when did the seat belts first arrive at the scene? Let’s go through a timeline of car seat belt history and how they have evolved over the years.
1800’s
Seat belts were invented by Sir George Cayley, an English engineer, and aviator. He invented the seat belt for his glider. The purpose was to stop the pilots from falling out of the gliders. The seat belts for the gliders were custom-built for pilots and could not have fulfilled the safety standards of a car. However, George Cayley’s seat belt served as a blueprint for all the seat belts to come. His invention astonishingly predated the invention of motor vehicles by a few decades.
1885 (THE FIRST SEAT BELT PATENT GRANTED)
Edward J Claghorn from New York was granted the first seat belt patent on 10th February 1885. Regardless of the patent approval, it wasn’t him who invented the seat belts that we know today. His invention was more of a safety harness designed to keep the passengers in their seats in New York taxis. It was a simple strap that went across the lap. Edward Claghorn’s patent described the seat belts as:
“designed to be applied to the person, and provided with hooks and other attachments for securing the person to a fixed object.”
1900’s (THE NEGLIGENT AGE)
The concept of seatbelts was relatively unpopular throughout the mid-20th century. In today’s world, driving without a seatbelt seems a bit odd but that wasn’t the case back then. People weren’t introduced to car safety features that we know today. The two main factors that contributed to the unpopularity of early seat belts were:
- They were uncomfortable to wear
- They weren’t very effective in protecting people
1940’s (ENTER THE RETRACTABLE SEAT BELT)
In the late 1940s, Doctor C. Hunter Sheldon, a neurologist from New York, took it upon himself to uncover the flaws of the previous seat belts. He noticed that there were a majority of head injuries handled at his hospital. These partial or full injuries were mostly because of the poor designs of the early seat belts.
Following this discovery, Doctor Sheldon came up with retractable seat belts. Along with retractable seat belts, he also contributed to the ideas of the following safety features:
- Recessed steering wheels
- Roll bars
- Airbags
- Elevated headrests
All of these were used to prevent whiplash.
During the 1940s, Presto Tucker, an automobile entrepreneur, came up with a seat belt with two anchoring points. He used them on the Trucker sedan but they were a failure from the commercial point of view, hence this did not have an impact on the car seat belt history.
1959 (THE GAME CHANGER- BOHLIN’S SEAT BELTS)
Safety regulations were limited during that time. Although two-point seatbelts had been invented by then, most cars did not have them installed. Even the cars that had two-point seat belts, could not ensure driver safety because of design limitations. The existing design only crossed through the lap and left the drivers prone to injuries in the event of an accident.
Here’s where Nils Bohlin stepped in. He was a Swedish engineer who invented the revolutionary V-type seat belts while working at Volvo. Bohlin used to work at a Swedish firm but was poached by Gunner Engall, president of Volvo.
Gunner Engall was personally invested in overcoming the limitations of the two-point seat belts after he lost one of his relatives in a car accident. The reports indicated the shortcomings of the seat belt contributed to fatal injuries.
Engell asked and Bohlin delivered. Volvo Amazon was the first vehicle with three-point seat belts. The new seat belts were better in the following ways:
- They were comfortable to wear
- They were easy to buckle up
- They secured the upper body as well
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FREE DESIGN PATENT FOR ANYONE
Volvo, a current automobile giant, focused on vehicle safety as its priority. Volvo made the patent design of the Nils Bohlin’s seat belts immediately available to all automobile manufacturers who wanted to use it. This was done to promote driver safety and played an important role in making seat belts universal and essential in all vehicles to come.
1966 (THE AWARENESS GROWS)
Doctor Sheldon’s initiatives and Bohlin’s seat belts were instrumental in creating awareness about seat belts. In 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was enacted in the United States. The act required all automobile manufacturers to follow certain safety standards. Two years later it was made mandatory for all vehicles to have seat belts.
The Future of Seat Belts
We have learned all about the seat belt origin and history. Now let’s fasten our seat belts for the future. Evident from their history, seat belts, have come a long way. Starting from a single strap to a two-point lap belt and eventually becoming a full body protecting three-point seat belts. With technology touching new heights, we can also expect to see more advancements in seat belts.
Retractable seat belts for instance are a step in the right direction for three-point belts. They provide better protection and are comfortable to wear. We can see advancements in seat belt pretensioner, extender, and latch plates. There have been talks about inflatable safety belts, criss-cross belts, special belts for child car seats, and seat belts made for individual bodies. When and where will we see them? We will have to wait for that.
This was all about the history of seat belts. Nils Bohlin’s three-point seat belts laid the foundation for all the seat belts that we know and endure today. Automobile manufacturers are putting their minds to introducing vehicles with advanced safety features. Airbags for instance can be life-saving in car crashes. You should have your seat belts on for all trips. This ensures your safety and helps you avoid hefty traffic fines.
If you are looking for a vehicle with complete safety features, you can check out these used cars for sale in the UAE and select from a large variety of cars.
Stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog for automobile parts history and more.
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