The History of Seat Belts

Did you know that this life-saving invention wasn’t introduced until the mid-1950s? It wasn’t until 1955 that Dr. C. Hunter Shelden, a neurologist, introduced a model for retractable seat belts to help prevent injuries from car accidents. That same year, Roger Griswold and Hugh DeHaven invented the first three-point seat belt design, which was further refined for Volvo by Nils Bohlin. By 1968, seat belts were required to be built into every American automobile, but it wasn’t until 1970 in Victoria, Australia that wearing a seat belt was introduced as a law.