Editing Seat belt (section)

==History==
Seat belts were invented by English engineer [[George Cayley]], to use on his [[Glider (aircraft)|glider]], in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/Clunk-click--an-invention.5583475.jp?articlepage=1 |title=Clunk, click – an invention that's saved lives for 50 years |last=Manby |first=Frederic |date=24 August 2009 |access-date=2010-12-04 |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing |newspaper=Yorkshire Post|url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160102042045/http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/clunk-click-an-invention-that-s-saved-lives-for-50-years-1-2296965 |archive-date=January 2, 2016}}</ref>

In 1946, C. Hunter Shelden opened a neurological practice at [[Huntington Memorial Hospital]] in [[Pasadena, California]]. In the early 1950s, Shelden made a major contribution to the automotive industry with his idea of retractable seat belts. This came about from his care of the high number of head injuries coming through the emergency room.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hmri.org/HMRI_News/HMRI_News_-_May_2003/Shelden_Memorial/shelden_memorial.html |title=HMRI News |website=Hmri.org |access-date=2011-02-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110226051243/http://www.hmri.org/HMRI_News/HMRI_News_-_May_2003/Shelden_Memorial/shelden_memorial.html |archive-date=February 26, 2011 }}</ref> He investigated the early seat belts with primitive designs that were implicated in these injuries and deaths.

[[Nash Motors|Nash]] was the first American car manufacturer to offer seat belts as a factory option, in its 1949 models.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Janik |first1=Erika |title=The Surprisingly Controversial History Of Seat Belts |url= https://www.wpr.org/surprisingly-controversial-history-seat-belts |work=Wisconsin Public Radio |date=September 25, 2017 |access-date=January 11, 2021}}</ref> They were installed in 40,000 cars, but buyers did not want them and requested that dealers remove them.<ref name="Nash-1949">{{cite book |last1=Ronan |first1=Larry |title=Seatbelts: 1949-1956 |date=April 1979 |publisher=U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT-TSC-NHTSA-79-1) |page=17}}</ref> The feature was "met with insurmountable sales resistance" and Nash reported that after one year "only 1,000 had been used" by customers.<ref name="Nash-1949"/>

Ford offered seat belts as an option in 1955. These were not popular, with only 2% of Ford buyers choosing to pay for seat belts in 1956.<ref name="MSN Before face masks">{{cite news |title=Before face masks, Americans went to war against seat belts |first=Daniel |last=Ackerman |url= https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/before-face-masks-americans-went-to-war-against-seat-belts/ar-BB14CsNG |website=msn.com |date=26 May 2020 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201120224357/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/before-face-masks-americans-went-to-war-against-seat-belts/ar-BB14CsNG |archive-date=2020-11-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

To reduce the high level of injuries Shelden was seeing, he proposed, in late 1955, retractable seat belts, recessed [[steering wheel]]s, reinforced roofs, [[roll cage|roll bars]], automatic door locks, and passive restraints, such as [[air bag]]s, be made mandatory.<ref name="JAMA">{{cite journal |title=Prevention, the only cure for head injuries resulting from automobile accidents |first=C. Hunter |last=Shelden |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=159 |issue=10 |pages=981–6 |date=November 5, 1955 |doi=10.1001/jama.1955.02960270001001 |pmid=13263134 }}</ref> 
Glenn W. Sheren, of [[Mason, Michigan]], submitted a patent application on March 31, 1955, for an automotive seat belt and was awarded {{US patent|2,855,215}} in 1958. This was a continuation of an earlier patent application that Sheren had filed on September 22, 1952.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2855215.html |title=Automobile safety belt system - Patent 2855215 |website=Freepatentsonline.com |date=1958-10-07 |access-date=2011-04-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121013054127/http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2855215.html |archive-date=2012-10-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first modern three-point seat belt (the so-called ''CIR-Griswold restraint'') commonly used in consumer vehicles was patented in 1955 {{US patent |2,710,649}} by the Americans Roger W. Griswold and [[Hugh DeHaven]].

[[Saab Automobile|Saab]] introduced seat belts as standard equipment in 1958.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-man-who-saved-a-million-lives-nils-bohlin--inventor-of-the-seatbelt-1773844.html |title=The man who saved a million lives: Nils Bohlin - inventor of the seat belt |newspaper=The Independent |date=2009-08-19 |access-date=2009-12-08}}</ref> After the [[Saab GT750|Saab GT 750]] was introduced at the New York Motor Show in 1958 with safety belts fitted as standard, the practice became commonplace.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.trollhattansaab.net/page/5 |title=Trollhattan Saab—Saab 9-1, 9-3, 9-4x, 9-5, 9-7x News |website=Trollhattansaab.net |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110227041041/http://www.trollhattansaab.net/page/5 |archive-date=2011-02-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Vattenfall]], the Swedish national electric utility, did a study of all fatal, on-the-job accidents among their employees. The study revealed that the majority of fatalities occurred while the employees were on the road on company business. In response, two Vattenfall safety engineers, Bengt Odelgard and Per-Olof Weman, started to develop a seat belt. Their work was presented to Swedish manufacturer [[Volvo]] in the late 1950s, and set the standard for seat belts in Swedish cars.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Andréasson |first1=Rune |first2=Claes-Göran |last2=Bäckström |location=Stockholm |publisher=Kulturvårdskommittén Vattenfall |year=2000 |title=The Seat Belt: Swedish Research and Development for Global Automotive Safety |isbn=9789163093890 |pages=9, 15–16}}</ref> The three-point seat belt was developed to its modern form by Swedish inventor [[Nils Bohlin]] for Volvo, which introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Steven |authorlink=Steven Johnson (author) |title=Extra Life |publisher=[[Riverhead Books]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-525-53885-1 |edition=1st |pages=186 |language=en}}</ref> In addition to designing an effective three-point belt, Bohlin demonstrated its effectiveness in a study of 28,000 accidents in Sweden. 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. No belted occupant was fatally injured if the passenger compartment remained intact.<ref>{{cite conference|url= https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/670925/ |title =A Statistical Analysis of 28,000 Accidents with Emphasis on Occupant Restraint Value |first=Nils I. |last=Bohlin |year =1967 |conference=11th Stapp Car Crash Conference |publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers |id=SAE Technical Paper 670925 |doi=10.4271/670925 |access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref> Bohlin was granted {{US patent |3,043,625}} for the device.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

Subsequently, in 1966, Congress passed the [[National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act]], requiring all automobiles to comply with certain safety standards.

The first compulsory [[seat belt law]] was put in place in 1970, in the state of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]], requiring their use by drivers and front-seat passengers. This legislation was enacted after trialing Hemco seat belts, designed by Desmond Hemphill (1926–2001), in the front seats of police vehicles, lowering the incidence of officer injury and death.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Potted Seat Belt History |publisher=Drivers Technology |url= http://www.driverstechnology.co.uk/seatbelts.htm |access-date=2009-09-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080514220650/http://www.driverstechnology.co.uk/seatbelts.htm |archive-date=2008-05-14 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Mandatory [[seat belt laws in the United States]] began to be introduced in the 1980s and faced opposition, with some consumers going to court to challenge the laws. Some cut seat belts out of their cars.<ref name="MSN Before face masks"/>