This is not a Volvo

Did you know that whatever car you’re driving, there’s a little bit of Volvo on the inside?

That’s because many of our world-first safety innovations have helped shape the way cars are designed and built across the industry.

Take the three-point safety belt, for example – a Volvo innovation from 1959. Since then, it’s estimated to have saved over one million lives.

While not every idea pioneered by Volvo has become an industry standard in the same way, many have influenced the technologies and safety thinking found in cars around the world today.

In 1972, we were the first car company to introduce a rear-facing child seat, based on our knowledge and research together with Chalmers University of Technology of how to best protect children in a crash. Today, rear-facing child seats are widely recommended for young children and are commonly used around the world.

Or consider the side-impact airbag, introduced by Volvo in 1994. An airbag designed to provide further protection to the chest in side impacts, it’s now a given in modern cars.

Then there’s BLIS, our Blind Spot Information System, first introduced in 2003. It’s a subtle way to make the unseen seen, and today a familiar feature in cars far beyond our own.

In 2010, we introduced pedestrian detection with Auto Brake. Today, technologies that can help detect pedestrians and automatically apply the brakes have become common across the industry.

For us, safety has never been about individual components – it’s about technology, design and knowledge coming together, with people at the centre. It’s about protecting you, your loved ones and everyone else on the road.

That’s exactly why we share what we learn. Because when our safety innovations spread beyond our cars, they help make traffic safer for everyone.