Synonym for safety is Volvo. I hope you get that. Volvo is the only brand in the world with the highest scope of safety with their vehicle. The brand is constantly researching and developing the vehicle to make cars and roads safer for all. Volvo is committed to its goals. Do you still remember the last one? “No fatalities in its vehicles by 2020”.

Do you wear the seat belt correctly considering the injuries in the future crash event? You will do so after reading this article and also you must do so.

This (#SeflieForSafety) initiative cum study is the second step of Volvo’s previous research EVA (Equal Vehicles for ALL). In the first part of the initiative, Volvo has shared the safety research data of more than 40 years. I will share my article discussing the first one later over here.

A three-point safety belt for occupants in the car is invented by Volvo in 1959. It’s the most important component in the protection system of the car. Since innovation, the safety belt is outstandingly improved. To make it more reliable, comfortable and enticing to use, it was required to know the user’s perception and usage of the safety belt.

Three-point safety belt by Volvo
Three-point safety belt by Volvo

To make it happen, an initiative was held in September 2019 through Instagram called SeflieForSafety. The advantage of this was, they can study variety is users and car models across the globe. The campaign was on for three weeks. A total of 740 users show the interest to be part of this and 394 of them were eligible for the analysis.

To be a part of this, one should have to post a selfie wearing a seat belt in a safely parked car using SeflieForSafety and @volvocars.

In this study, the shoulder belt position and fit were analyzed. It was a distinctive idea for further research and improvement. The study from the initiative will help to improve the ease of use and undertaking of the safety belt in the upcoming time.

In the received selfies, they got to know that 4 out of 10 users wore seat belt incorrectly. In the existence of 60 years, people still do not use it in the correct way. The safety is a few centimeters away!

What you can do for better safety is, always keep in mind a few things while wearing up the seat belt. The seat belt in your shoulder part should fit across your chest and over the shoulder but not on your arm. The lower part should fit and recline low over your hips but should not across your stomach. You should be seated with the back straight against the seat backrest. Now you are comfortable and safe.

Correct Seat Belt Position on shoulder
Correct Seat Belt Position on shoulder
Correct Seat belt position on side pillar
Correct Seat belt position on side pillar

These findings and insights can help us in our work to make cars and roads safer for all. By doing this initiative, we got to know that some user is not using a seat belt in the right way and many factors can involve for that. We can use this in our future safety development.

All information and image credit: Volvo officials