Autoliv Announces New Adaptable Seatbelt

(Stockholm, Sweden – September 11, 2013) – Autoliv Inc. – the global leader in automotive safety systems – announces a new adaptable seatbelt for improved safety for all occupants, especially children. This unique new seat belt can substantially reduce the load on small occupants while also improving the protection for larger occupants. It is a purely mechanical solution that offers adaptability to the occupant size and the severity of a crash at a reasonable cost. 

The new seatbelt retractor can tune its restraining force individually to each vehicle occupant and the crash severity – without any sensor. The new adaptive retractor has also proven to provide additional safety for full-sized passenger as the seatbelt webbing is released in a softer way after the crash, reducing the “rebound effect”.

Advances in airbags and seatbelts, together with improved vehicle structures, have progressively reduced casualties in car crashes. However, studies show that occupants travelling in the rear seats, especially children 4-12 years old, have not benefited from these trend as much as larger adults.

“This is another example of our continuous innovation in automotive safety, which has made us the clear market leader. On average, Autoliv supplies two seatbelts to every light vehicle produced in the world. With this new retractor we believe that we can even further strengthen our position”, said Jan Carlson, President and CEO of Autoliv Inc.

By introducing load limiting together with the pretensioners, shoulder belt force can be limited to minimize loading to the neck. However until now the load limiting force has been tuned to fit larger occupants in certain crash situations. Heavier and taller vehicle occupants need higher restraining forces in a crash than a child. A higher load limiting force has been found to be less suitable for children. The adaptivity is provided by a spring-loaded disc in the retractor. The disc has a high number of teeth on both sides, which will slot into and out of the best fitting grooves as it rotates. The faster the webbing is pulled out of the retractor, the more resistant the disc becomes. (Click here to start animation).

The new retractor can also help car manufactures to achieve better results in the updated Euro NCAP and US NCAP crash test ratings.

Inquiries:

Hans-Otto Kock, Group Senior Specialist Seatbelts +49 4121 797 5580

Henrik Kaar, Director, Corporate Communications + 46 8 587 20 614

About Autoliv

Autoliv Inc., the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, develops and manufactures automotive safety systems for all major automotive manufacturers in the world. Together with its joint ventures, Autoliv has approximately 80 facilities with more than 52,000 employees in 29 countries. In addition, the Company has ten technical centers in nine countries around the world, with 21 test tracks, more than any other automotive safety supplier. Sales in 2012 amounted to US $8.3 billion. The Company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ALV) and its Swedish Depository Receipts on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm (ALIV sdb). For more information about Autoliv, please visit our company website at www.autoliv.com.

Safe Harbor

This report contains statements that are not historical facts but rather forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include those that address activities, events or developments that Autoliv, Inc. (“Autoliv,” the “Company” or “we”) or its management believes or anticipates may occur in the future. For example, forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to industry trends, business opportunities, sales contracts, sales backlog, and on-going commercial arrangements and discussions, as well as any statements about future operating performance or financial results. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “estimates,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” or the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain such words. All forward-looking statements, including without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends and data, are based upon our current expectations, various assumptions and data available from third parties. Our expectations and assumptions are expressed in good faith and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will materialize or prove to be correct as forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual future results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the future results, performance or achievements expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

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