Beating Books: Thank you Swedish person for saving your life the next time you damage your car

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Described in Life Supplement by Steven Johnson. Ownership © 2021 by Steven Johnson. Explained by Riverhead Courtesy, copyrighted by Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher.

Despite DeHaven and Stapp’s efforts, the first means of obtaining auto safety – so far, the most affected – comes not from Detroit but from Sweden. In the mid-fifties, Volvo hired an engineer named Nils Bohlin, who was working on the emergency exit chairs in Saab. Bohlin began to switch to a piece of equipment that mainly controls most cars to date: the seat belt. Most cars are sold without seat belts at all; The models included provided non-slip belts that do not provide minimal protection in the event of an accident. She did not wear clothes often, even with children.

From a defensive approach used by pilots, Bohlin quickly developed what he called a three-dimensional design. The belt should absorb all the g-forces on the chest and hips, reducing the pressure on the soft muscles, but at the same time it should be easy to laugh at, easy enough for the baby to learn. The Bohlin design introduced a belt and shoulder that connect to the V-shaped side of the rider, which means that the strap itself will not cause accidental damage. It was a beautiful, solid seat belt that now reaches every car made anywhere in the world. The original shoulder-to-shoulder design distracted several dummies, leading to rumors that a seat belt alone could kill you in an accident. To counter this rumor, Volvo hired a driver to perform dead-end drills – deliberately circling his car – always wearing a Nils Bohlin three-point belt for safety.

By 1959, Volvo was selling three-seater cars as a commodity. Many previous sources have also suggested that the increase is only to reduce car deaths by themselves by 75%. Three years later, Bohlin was granted US3043625A by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to have “three-seat belts with two larger arms and one side up.”

Recognizing the technical advantages of the technology, Volvo decided not to apply for a patent – making Bohlin’s designs freely available to all car manufacturers around the world. The results of Bohlin’s design were astounding. More than a million people – many of them young – have been rescued by a three-seater belt. Decades after its acquisition, Bohlin’s license was recognized as one of eight that “had the greatest impact on humanity” in recent years. Despite having a low death toll and open knowledge, Big Three American car companies continued to refuse to put security on their automotive systems in the late 1960s. but by journalist and lawyer Ralph Nader. Until he played in the run-up to the 2000 Presidential election, Nader became famous for his sales in 1965, Unsafe All-In-One Traffic: American Car Dangers. The first line of the book gave a detailed picture of the impact of the car: “For more than half a century the car has caused death, injury, great sorrow and the sudden demise of millions of people.” In the book, Nader praised DeHaven and Stapp’s visionary experiments, and praised the automotive industry for ignoring the so-called “differences between its design and available security.” In the first chapter, he looked at GM’s Chevrolet Corvair, which he mocked for his “single-vehicle accidents.” (Poorly constrained machines caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and, in many cases, to throw – even without contact with another vehicle.)

Even before the book was released, GM hired a private researcher to dig up soil for Nader. He received strange phone calls at night; the women tried to seduce him into the coffee shop; friends and acquaintances were falsely asked if Nader was considering a new job, and asked questions about his sex life and participation in left-wing political parties. GM President James Roche was later brought before a Senate committee and forced to publicly apologize for his youth violence, and continued to sell Nader’s book. The multi-stakeholder impact – on Main Street and within Beltway – reflects the dramatic change that followed the thalidomide crisis several years ago. Senator Abraham Ribicoff, who has led cases of GM violence, declared that road accidents are “a new problem for economic and quantity rather than surprise.”

In September 1966, with the help of President Lyndon Johnson, Congress enacted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, with the aim of providing “a national safety program and setting standards for the safety of motor vehicles in medium-sized businesses to reduce road accidents and deaths, injuries, and property damage.” in such cases. ”The practice increased oversight of the automotive sales management system and affected a wide range of issues and complexities, which would lead to the United States Department of Operations operating. But most importantly it was easy to understand: for the first time, every new car sold in United States had to come up with seat belts. Just ten years earlier, the seat belt had been seen as stupid, annoying – or worse, just threatening.Now they were the law.