Seatbelts Were First Made For Aircraft And Didn’t Catch On With The Public Until The 1960s
It might surprise you to know that seatbelts were actually first made for aircraft before they became a staple in cars. They didn’t really catch on with the public until the 1960s when seatbelt laws began to be established.
Clearly, the journey of keeping us safely strapped in for the ride has taken years to complete. The earliest seatbelts came about in the 19th century.
An English engineer named George Cayley created a seatbelt to use on his monoplane glider, an aircraft that was flown in the late 19th century. It was a simple lap belt that kept passengers in their seats during bumpy flights.
In 1885, Edward J. Claghorn of New York was given the first patent for his version of the “safety belt.” It looked like a modern-day harness for climbing.
Military pilots wore standardized restraint systems during World War I and World War II, but everyday people were not exposed to seatbelts until automobiles were common.
Cars became more widely available and affordable to Americans after Henry Ford developed mass production techniques for the manufacture of automobile parts.
A Wisconsin-based automobile company called Nash Motors Company was the first to offer seatbelts in cars in 1949. However, they were not popular, and most people ignored them.
As the number of car accidents started to rise by the mid-1950s, more leaders in the medical community pointed out that seatbelts saved lives. They could prevent severe injuries and fatalities if only people would actually wear them.
In 1955, inventors Roger Griswold and Hugh de Haven applied for a patent for a shoulder and lap safety belt. The belt restrained the passenger’s shoulders, torso, and hips. The buckle was fastened in the middle.
Drazen – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
There were also other inventions, including a safety belt in 1958 that featured two straps for keeping car doors closed during a collision, which would decrease the chances of severe injury.
The most major innovation was the three-point seatbelt in 1959. Nils Bohlin developed the three-point lap and shoulder seatbelt. At the time, he was the first chief safety engineer for Volvo.
Bohlin’s seatbelt secured the upper and lower parts of the body and buckled below the hip. His design has remained the foundation of seatbelts in today’s vehicles.
Volvo incorporated the seatbelt design into all their vehicles and made the design available for free to other car manufacturers. The three-point seatbelt became a requirement in American vehicles starting in 1968.
Congress passed the National Traffic and Motor Safety Act in 1966 to set new standards for motor vehicle and road safety.
New York was the first state to pass a mandatory seatbelt law in 1984. It gave authorities the right to pull someone over and give them a fine for not wearing a seatbelt.
Some people resisted the safety feature, claiming that seatbelts violated their rights. Despite the protests, it was clear that seatbelts were effective in protecting drivers and passengers during car accidents.
By 1994, all states had some sort of law about wearing seatbelts. Currently, only New Hampshire does not require adults to wear seatbelts in the front seat.
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