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Comment by danielscrubs | Hacker News Reader

Fun fact, Volvo created and patented the three point safety belt in use today after years of R&D and testing expenses, but immediately made it free for all other car makers.

I wonder if companies would do that today without heavy incentives. I can’t imagine for example a VC backed company doing that.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentdykes/2025/01/28/the-data-...?

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In the same vein, at Volvo's factory outside of Gothenburg they have the obligatory museum. It's just that they don't showcase old, famous models. The museum is entirely built around car safety and how Volvo has worked with it. It is interesting with a company that has been so dedicated to their core values for such a long time.

Aren't Volvos the cars that are (or were) so rigid that collision shocks were transmitted rather too directly to passengers ?

I think that was a problem with many if not most cars before modern energy-dissipating crumple zones were developed. The front was built rigid to prevent the engine block from entering the cockpit and crushing the driver/passenger (which was a big safety problem at some point) but turns out that too much rigidity wasn't a good idea either…

If SV developed seatbelts:

SaaS - seatbelts as a service, available in 3 packages:

- Starter: 4 tightenings* per day, $2.99/mo

- Standard: 6 tightenings* per day, $5.99/mo

- Premium: unlimited** tightenings, $9.99/mo

*Once exceeded, belt will remain slack. Check your local laws. We will not be held liable

**Subject to a fair usage policy. Policy may change at any time. Please check before driving

All plans support a maximum of 2 occupants. Please subscribe to additional plans for more occupants.

    > I wonder if companies would do that today without heavy incentives.

Didn't Tesla give away all of their patents at some point?

Offhand, they made the charging system related patents free to use because a standard charging system is a great thing for any vehicle.

Doesn’t this fall under “commoditise your complement”? It’s good business for Tesla to do so.

Dumb question. How exactly do you make something "patent free"? Do you get the patent (so no one else can troll with it), the promise not to enforce "violations"?

They used to advertise the fact their CEO's wife was a nurse, and she lobbied them to prioritize safety.

Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPgDgNtOouo

Some more background:

https://www.volvocars.com/en-ca/news/safety/let-your-head-re...

I mean, a modern example might be the various companies open-sourcing LLMs (e.g. Meta). I don't think "public-mindedness" is exactly the right explanation, it's probably driven by strategic thinking... but then, maybe the same was true of Volvo.

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