Volvo weigh anchor
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VOLVO IS soon to make seat belt anchorage points standard in all models. Already the fitment is made in Sweden, and should be in British-built Volvos in the next few months.
Seat belts will be an extra and Volvo has accepted that there will be customer resistance but not on price because the anchorages will not add to the basic cost. "Resistance will come from suspicion of seat belts," a Volvo spokesman told CM.
In persuading customers to accept seat belts, Volvo points to the result of a 20-month study by its Accident Investigation Unit. The Unit's third report since 1970 states that "in three out of four accidents in which the driver was injured, the use of a three-point seat belt would have lessened the seriousness of the injury."
Leader of the Unit Kjell HogstrOm said that cabs should be designed with maximum space for the driver and suggested that even a suspension seat would provide more internal space as it depressed during a head-on collision when the steering colum pressed down on the driver's thighs.
The recently developed Volvo steering wheel has four spokes which transfer a high percentage of the forces to the column, thus removing the danger of injury from the wheel.