'Safe' isn't a word you'd use to describe many road-going eighty-year olds, but it's a concept that Volvo has built a reputation on, and tomorrow, Volvo will be eighty years old. The company was established in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson. The Volvo philosophy , as defined by the pair, was that "cars are driven by people, and therefore the guiding principal behind everything we make at Volvo is – and must remain – safety."Since its birth Volvo has brought a number of world safety firsts to the automotive market; they include the safety cage (1944), the padded dashboard (1960), the dual-circuit braking system (1966) and front seat head restraints (1968). The one most frequently cited, however, is the introduction of the first three-point safety belt, in 1959.
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