The Man Who Saved Countless Lives With His Generosity and What We Can Learn From Him

I had heard people say, "Volvo is the safest car in the world," several times growing up. I always found it fascinating, but I never truly understood why. 

Today, I uncovered a piece of history that left me in complete awe. 

Did you know that Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt in 1959 by its engineer, Nils Bohlin? Volvo introduced the life-saving technology in its Volvo PV 544 model, delivered to a dealer in Kristianstad. The brilliant engineer, whom I highly respect (you'll see why), previously worked on ejection seats at Saab. 

A three-point belt is a "Y-shaped arrangement, similar to the separate lap and sash belts, but unified. Like the separate lap-and-sash belt, in a collision, the three-point belt spreads out the energy of the moving body over the chest, pelvis, and shoulders."*

Sounds impressive, right? Now, this is what blew my mind:  

Volvo had two lucrative options at the time: 

a) It was in a position to charge exorbitant license fees to rivals; 

or 

b) It could've promoted its vehicles as the safest on the road by keeping exclusivity

Instead, Volvo opted to be one of the most generous companies in the world with a noble cause.

That's right! Volvo made the patent directly available to all competitors as a present to "encourage mass adoption and save lives." 

This is why I have so much respect for Volvo: 

Think about it. Volvo could've raked in hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars by forcing competitors to fork over licensing fees. Imagine all other competitors in the market coughing up fees for many years; that could've made Volvo very rich. What kind of capitalist doesn't want competitors to fork over 

Hats off to Volvo. We can all safely say that we've learned a lesson here- no pun intended. Thank you, Volvo, for being truly generous. You've set an example for everyone to follow. 

You're a living example of human ingenuity and integrity that we should all aspire to be. I hope more companies will follow in Volvo's footsteps for the benefit of mankind. 

Sources: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglasbell/2019/08/13/60-years-of-seatbelts-volvos-great-gift-to-the-world/?sh=633e842522bc&fbclid=IwAR0LPyM2anaCBU2KTVUKocCH4NCHI3BTZ48bwuliNwLlEaWU1nU6Fmgg82Q

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt