4 Common Safety Features You Might Not Know Volvo Invented

Of the many car brands owned by Chinese companies (though still headquartered in Sweden), Volvo is one of the more recognizable automobile manufacturers globally — and one that has maintained its reputation for innovation, design, and, most importantly, safety. While performance, luxury, and economy are often the main selling points of modern-age vehicles, safety is an area where innovation not only brings convenience but also saves lives.

Contrary to how safe driving around in an enclosed vehicle may seem, without any of the common safety features in place, even a minor collision could lead to serious injuries. Everything ranging from precautionary warnings like your car's seatbelt chime to the deployment of airbags is designed to minimize the risk of accidents while maximizing protection in the unfortunate event of a collision. 

Over the years, Volvo has developed and implemented features in its cars that have revolutionized automotive safety. From the introduction of seat belts to the adoption of impact protection systems, here are a few safety features invented by Volvo that we now take for granted in most cars. 

The rate of adoption of new and advanced safety features depends from manufacturer to manufacturer, but something you're sure to find in every vehicle is the seat belt. Every state in the U.S., with the exception of New Hampshire, requires drivers and passengers in the front to use seat belts. Most modern cars come with alarms that alert you if you or your passengers haven't buckled up, allowing you to wear the seat belt before pulling out of the parking lot.

Introduced by designer and engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959, the Volvo PV544 featured a three-point safety seat belt — a feature we still find in cars today. Vehicles previously featured a two-point lap belt system, similar to the ones you find in airplanes — despite this, the driver or passenger's torso was still largely unrestrained, making them vulnerable to head or neck injuries during collisions. The three-point seat belt, with its V-shaped design, solved this issue by securing both the upper and lower body. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts saved close to 15,000 lives in 2017, with the risk of fatal injuries dropping by 45% if you follow the law and buckle up before driving. The development of the three-point seat belt system by Volvo is one of the most effective safety mechanisms in vehicles to date and was a patent that was willingly shared with the world for free, reportedly saving over a million lives.

Car safety should always be taken seriously, but it becomes a matter of the highest importance when children are involved. Volvo claims the first prototype of the child safety seat was inspired by astronauts' seats — where the rear-facing position of the seat was designed to distribute impact forces from collisions more evenly. The reversible front passenger seat also meant you could keep an eye on your young one, ensuring they remained in the safest possible position during the drive.

Volvo also worked on the rear-facing child seat that we're all familiar with now. With the introduction of the first booster cushion in 1978, children who had outgrown the rather restrictive child seat could now be positioned optimally for the three-point safety seat belt system. Booster and child seats have seen a couple of iterations over the years in Volvo's engineering and design departments, with the implementation of features like the swivel mechanism and integrated booster cushions. Two-stage built-in booster cushions allow the seat's height to be adjusted as well. 

Years of refinement have improved impact absorption and protection in child booster seats, and Volvo has played around with a few concepts too, like an inflatable child seat in 2014. Volvo's commitment to child safety is partly why nearly every car comes with anchor points to install third-party booster seats now. 

Impact protection is inarguably one of the most important metrics that helps distinguish car brands with the best safety ratings from the poor ones. Despite advanced features like automatic braking and lane assist technologies preventing major collisions, accidents can still happen — and when they do, it falls upon the vehicle's structural integrity to minimize harm to its occupants. 

Many are familiar with how crumple zones work by absorbing a good chunk of the energy from a collision. While this principle works in safeguarding impacts from the front or the rear, the sides of a vehicle remain far more vulnerable due to there being comparatively less structural material between the passenger and the point of impact. Developed by Swedish company Autoliv and introduced in 1994, Volvo's Side Impact Protection System, or SIPS for short, ensured the use of strong and impact-absorbing materials on the sides of a vehicle. Paired with side impact airbags, this dramatically reduces the risk of fatal injuries during collisions. 

To shield against rear-ended impacts, the Whiplash Protection System, cleverly named WHIPS, ensured that the front seats changed position to reduce the risk of injuries caused due to a whiplash. As demand for SUVs grew, Volvo developed the Roll-Over Protection System, or ROPS, to counter the risk of rollover accidents during sharp turns or side-impact collisions. This is a two-point system that first prevents overturning and activates other safety mechanisms like inflatable curtains in the event of a crash.

Beyond iconic and now-staple features like seat belts, booster cushions, and impact protection systems, Volvo has engineered some other useful car safety features that you can find in several modern vehicles today. Despite handy remedies to minimize the blind spots in your car, there are still instances when a fellow road user can catch you by surprise. To counter this, Volvo developed the Blind Spot Information System, or BLIS, in 2003. With the help of cameras and sensors, this feature alerts the driver if a vehicle is getting too close in proximity to you. 

The Volvo S60 in 2010 used cameras and radar to detect any pedestrians in its path — promptly engaging the emergency brakes. With the potential to avoid fatal injuries, NHTSA has made it mandatory for all cars and light trucks to come with automatic emergency braking starting in 2029. Volvo also introduced Connected Safety, which is a feature that lets cars communicate with one another — alerting drivers in advance when vehicles up ahead activate their hazard lights.

Volvo continues to innovate and develop new safety mechanisms that make driving safer for everyone — whether it's through inflatable curtains that reduce impact on collisions, or advanced LiDAR technology that steers you out of danger to begin with.