The three-point seat belt that Volvo brought us has turned 50 years old. The most important invention in auto safety history was developed by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1958 and patented in 1959. By a conservative estimate, the three-point belt has saved over one million lives and is a feature in every car.Volvo was the first to make the three-point safety belt standard in its models.

The three-point belt is the most important of Volvo’s long list of auto safety innovations, including the use of different steel grades within a vehicle, electronic stability, smart airbags, blind spot warning systems, and adaptive cruis control with collision warning and automatic braking. Of course, this year we saw another inventive saftey feature show up on the Chicago Volvo XC60 when it hit Chicago Volvo dealer lots this year. Adding another chapter to its safety legacy, in 2009 Volvo introduced what might be termed the world’s safest passenger vehicle, the 2010 XC60 T6 AWD, which features City Safety, a low-speed collision avoidance system.