Nov. 16, 2016—Lennart Linblad, founder of Autoliv Inc., was named the recipient of the 2016 Polhem Prize, Sweden’s award for cutting-edge innovations.
Linblad’s contributions to improving the seat belt were a major contributor to him winning the award.
“We are very proud to learn that our founder has been awarded Sweden’s most prestigious innovation prize. Lennart’s initial vision of saving more lives is still present in everything we do at Autoliv,” says Jan Carlson, chairman, president and CEO of Autoliv. “Every year, our products save more than 30,000 lives and prevent ten times as many severe injuries. The next step is to further reduce road traffic accidents with active safety systems to assist the driver to avoid an accident or reduce the speed of impact, thereby substantially mitigating the severity of injuries.”
