Career
Born in Härnösand, Sweden, he received a diploma in mechanical engineering from Härnösand Läroverk in 1939. In 1942 he started working for the aircraft maker Saab as an aircraft designer and helped develop ejection seats. In 1958 he joined Volvo as a safety engineer
He is credited with the invention of the modern 3-point safety belt, now a standard safety feature in all cars.
Bohlin worked on the seat belt for about a year, using skills in developing ejection seats for SAAB. He concentrated on keeping the driver safe in a car accident.
After testing the 3-point safety belt, he introduced his invention to the Volvo company in 1959 and received his first patent (number 3,043,625). Ten years later, he led the Central Research and Development Department for Volvo in 1969. In 1974, he was awarded The Ralph Isbrandt Automotive Safety Engineering Award, and in 1989 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Safety and Health.
He retired from Volvo in 1985 and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Nils Bohlin died on September 26, 2002 at the age of 82, of a heart attack and was buried at Torpa Church in Ramfall, Sweden. The three-point seat belt changed the world by preventing injuries during a car crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the seat belt saves about 11,000 lives each year in the United States of America alone. There are also seat belts in airplanes, buses, and is heavily used in sporting races.
In addition to designing an effective three-point belt, Bohlin demonstrated its effectiveness in a study of 28,000 accidents in Sweden, and presented a paper at the 11th Stapp Carolina Crash Convention.
Unbelted occupants sustained fatal injuries throughout the whole speed scale, whereas none of the belted occupants was fatally injured at accident speeds below 60 mph. Number belted occupant was fatally injured if the passenger compartment remained intact. This study resulted in the United States. Department of Transportation requiring three-point seat belts in American cars.
In 1968, the new seat belt design was made free for the public to use.
In most industrial countries, occupants are required by law to use seat belts. United States. Patent 3,043,625 Safety Belt, filed August 1959, issued July 1962.