Many people believe the three-point safety belt has not changed over the past forty years. They are right. And wrong. The belt's ingeniously simple basic design is the same. The difference today is that the belt is part of a high-tech safety system under constant development.
Saving a life can be so simple: grab, stretch, click! If you are wearing a safety belt, your chances of surviving a collision improve by 50 percent.[1] The three-point belt is and will remain the car's most vital safety detail. However, even more lives could be saved if belt usage increased.
On Thursday August 13, 1959, the world's first car with standard-fit three-point safety belts - a Volvo PV544 - was delivered to the Volvo dealer in the Swedish town of Kristianstad. Over the next 50 years, the V-shaped three-point safety belt saved well over one million lives.
With the C30, Volvo made its debut in the segment for two-door premium cars. The sporty design, with two doors, four individual seats, and a glass tailgate, gave a young and dynamic group of customers "a Volvo of their own".