Volvo was founded by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson in 1924. They wanted to build a vehicle more suited to the Scandinavian climate than were US imports, utilizing high-quality Swedish steel.
By 1932, Volvo was making profit and operating from its own factory. Sweden's neutrality allowed Volvo to maintain production during WWII. In 1964, Volvo started to build cars in Canada and Belgium. Volvo stressed quality and safety.
The Volvo 850 was the first car in the world to have side airbags.
"The Volvo S60 is proof that Swedes build unique cars. The midsized 2006 Volvo S60 sits between the larger S80 and smaller S40 sedans and has a wagon variant called the V70.
As with all Volvos, safety is an S60 strong suit — it performs well on government crash tests and is loaded with standard features."
Volvo’s history and cars themselves reflect the importance that Volvo has placed on safety through the years. In 1944 laminated glass was used, in 1959 the three-point seatbelt was standard issue on all Volvo models. In 1956, Volvo began padding all their dashboards for safety reasons, and in the 1960s Volvo developed the first rearward facing child-seat. Through the years Volvo has led the way for other brands with their innovative safety technology.
