On July 10, 1962, Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin received a U.S. patent for the three-point seatbelt, a design that quietly transformed automobile safety.
Hired by Volvo after developing aircraft ejection seats, Bohlin replaced injury-prone lap belts with a one-handed system crossing the chest and hips. Volvo introduced it in 1959, then allowed other automakers to use the patent freely.
The design has since saved more than 1 million lives worldwide. In the United States alone, seatbelts saved 329,715 lives from 1960 through 2012, more than every other vehicle safety technology combined, making Bohlin’s buckle one of history’s greatest lifesavers.
– Staff report with AI assist*, The Today 100
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