Did Volvo Really Invent
 

the three point seat belt?

i am watching the history channel and a program devoted to auto safety and m-b isn't mentioned.

have i had it all wrong all these years? that benz was never a leader in this arena of safety engineering?

all ears.......

MB gets credit for safety crumple zones or so the engineer in the MB TV as said. "Some sings ah juss too impohtant not to sheyah." I believe Volvo does get credit for the 3-point belt system. Olds or Buick had the first production airbag. Not sure about ABS. I think the Euro 6.9 was the first production car with ABS. Or maybe it's Olds or Buick who had ABS first. That doesn't sound right.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

And GM had dual stage air bags in the 1970's... :rolleyes:

I guess the three point belt was a Swedish invention in the fifties. It was sold as an aftermarket product (as well as four point belts) before Volvo made it a standard option. It was without the yo-yo then.
Safety deformation zones came into many cars about the same time as collapsable steering columns, at least for the driver the most important innovation. I think Volvo, Mercedes and Opel were among the earliest.
ABS is from Bosch in Germany and was introduced in MB and BMW but I don´t know who had it first. I t might have been a similar product in the US or Japan as well.
L.

I think ABS was predated by Dunlop Maxaret which was an aviation system adapted for use on the Jensen FF. But I might be wrong...

I´ve checked the 3-point belt history. It was invented by two engineers at the Swedish company Vattenfall, running most of the water power stations, who needed some safety device for their big fleet of cars.
The inventors were Bengt Odelgard and Per-Olof Weman and the belt was called "Car-belt by Vattenfall". This was in 1950.
L.