That’s not to say that safety hasn’t served the brand well. Volvo was first to market with three-point seat belts, side-curtain airbags, and blind-spot monitoring. Moreover, the brand is a huge proponent of camera- and radar-based active safety tech (ignoring that one time an early system failed during a media presentation – oops).

All of these features are commonplace today, but one item that you might not associate with the brand is the invention of the rear-facing child seat. Working with a local university researcher who was inspired by the rear-facing seats used by astronauts, Volvo designed the first seat intended to hold children in place in a wreck in 1967. The first one, which looks rudimentary today, was offered as an accessory for the Volvo Amazon. Volvo later refined the concept by creating built-in booster seats for larger children, something the automaker continues to offer today as a factory-installed option on many of its vehicles.