Volvo Develops New Multi Adaptive Seatbelt Tech Using Real-Time Data to Improve Safety

Volvo Cars, widely known as the company that invented the modern three-point seatbelt and then shared its patents to help ensure industry-wide adoption, has now announced a whole new approach to keeping people safe in their seats. Its new multi-adaptive seatbelt technology is designed to offer car occupants customised levels of protection based on real-time data from interior and exterior sensors. 

This new type of seatbelt will adapt to a user’s height, weight, body shape and seating position, as detected by sensors. An individual profile of them can then be used to customise the amount of force applied to restrain a person when needed. In case of a crash or collision, real-time data such as speed, direction and posture can be used to instantly calculate the best way to protect each individual. 

While today’s three-point seatbelts use load limiters to adjust the amount of force that needs to be applied to restrain a human body in the event of a crash, there are usually only three settings. Volvo says its new adaptive technology increases the variables involved, optimising each seatbelt for different people and situations.

The company illustrates what is possible with the example of applying a higher belt load setting if a physically larger driver or passenger is involved in a serious crash to reduce the risk of a head injury, versus using a lower setting to help prevent rib fractures when a smaller occupant experiences a lower-impact collision.

Over-the-air software updates will allow for continuous improvements to the seatbelts’ detection and response algorithms as the company gathers more real-world data. Volvo’s first car to ship with the new multi-adaptive seatbelt technology will be the upcoming fully electric EX60, expected to launch in 2026. 

Volvo Cars says it has leveraged all the safety research it has conducted over the past 50 years. It has amassed a database of over 80,000 real-life cases of people involved in various types of automotive accidents in all kinds of settings. 

“The world-first multi-adaptive safety belt is another milestone for automotive safety and a great example of how we leverage real-time data with the ambition to help save millions of more lives,” said Åsa Haglund, head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre, in a press statement. “This marks a major upgrade to the modern three-point safety belt, a Volvo invention introduced in 1959, estimated to have saved over a million lives.”