Whether it's an airplane, a bus, or a private car, fasten your seat belt is the most secure reminder we hear when travelling. Seat belts are closely related to our personal safety, so today we will talk about the story of car seat belts.
The birth of the car seat belt is earlier than the car itself. In 1885, in order to prevent passengers from falling off the carriage, the seat belt was first applied to the carriage. On a car race held in New York on May 20, 1902, a racer was prevented from being thrown at a high-speed corner. In the car, use a few belts to tie yourself and your companions to your seat. It happened that the car they drove accidentally rushed into the audience, killing two people and injuring dozens of people, but the two racers survived because of the belt. Therefore, these belts have become the prototype of car seat belts.
Since then, automakers such as Ford have also begun to use two-point or Y-shaped safety to protect the safety of drivers and occupants. However, due to their lack of scientific structure, these seat belts are not perfect for fixing the user to the seat. Until 1958, Volvo's engineer Niels Boholin invented a three-point seat belt that spans the abdomen and straddles the shoulder, making it an ideal location from a physiological point of view. Thus became a veritable seat belt. . Since then, the shape of the seat belt has been fixed at three points and has been in use ever since.
Although Volvo is patented as the invention of the seat belt, they did not use the technology related to human safety for profit, but opened the patent free of charge and called on all car manufacturers to use it for free. Thus, since 1968, the United States has stipulated that seats facing the front of the car must be equipped with seat belts.
After the invention of the three-point safety belt for more than 40 years, according to the statistics of Volvo's traffic accident research team, more than one billion cars in the world are equipped with three-point safety belts. This invention has reduced the number of casualties caused by car crashes. 75%. It is estimated that since the application of the three-point seat belt, a total of 1 million lives have been saved. This data proves that the three-point seat belt is a very effective car safety device.
Today, the safety belt of the family car has not changed, but with the advancement of automobile technology, the seat belt has also evolved many technical configurations. Many models are now equipped with more advanced pre-tensioned seat belts, which can tighten and lock the seat belt when the car suddenly changes speed, preventing the occupant from leaning forward. This process occurs when the car collides. In an instant, it takes less than 0.01 seconds, but it can protect the safety of the occupants more effectively. So, next time someone reminds you to fasten your seat belt, don't be fooled. Otherwise, if there is an accident, you can get out of it in minutes.