The origin of Volvo headrests

[matthew1]

"In 1956, Gunnar Engellau became the CEO of Volvo Cars, and he had some high ambitions for the company. The US market would be conquered, with more models and safer cars. When Gunnar took over Volvo Cars, the company built 31,000 cars every year. When he left his post in 1971, the number was more than 205,000. Volvo Cars had become a global car maker under his leadership.

Gunnar's wife, Margit Engellau, was a physiotherapist at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg and she encountered patients injured in car accidents on a daily basis. This was a time before whiplash was an established concept, and before people completely understood the consequences of a head being forced from one extreme position to another.

“Margit Engellau was treating many people that had been injured in traffic,” says Hans. “During weekends, she attended dinners with her husband and other people at Volvo Cars and shared her experiences from the hospital. She understood that to better protect people’s necks and heads, something in the cars needed to be changed. Nowadays, when we look back and recognize how early Volvo Cars was when it comes to traffic and crash safety, we need to remember Margit's contribution.”"


https://www.volvocars.com/us/news/safet ... volvo-car/

no headrests

car_2020042316244527_concMS.jpg (93.98 KiB) Viewed 363 times

after headrests added/upgrade

1967-Volvo-1800S-head-rest-upgrade-3.jpg (127.38 KiB) Viewed 363 times

[volvolugnut]

Great back story. (no pun intended)
volvolugnut