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Did cars have seatbelts in the 1960s?
I looked through some of my grandfather's old photos, and he was a huge car fanatic. He has six classic cars, one of which he gave to my mom as her first car. But I didn’t notice any of them wearing seatbelts in photos—did vehicles in the 1960s have seatbelts?
Andrea Barrett · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Most cars did not have seatbelts in the early 1960s, but they started becoming common in cars in the mid-60s. Before then, seatbelts were seen as a menace. The public wasn’t interested in being safe when riding in a vehicle. In fact, it was actually the opposite: If a car manufacturer incorporated too many safety innovations into their cars, it was assumed that the car wasn’t safe enough on its own.
As thought went, “you didn’t need a seatbelt if your car was like a Sherman Tank on whitewall tires.”
Once the mid-1960s hit, people started to realize that seatbelts could prevent injury or death in a crash. And while the public was stubborn, education and time won out, and most states implemented seatbelt laws by the late 1980s.
We all know the importance of wearing a seatbelt now, but it’s also important that you have the proper
car insurance
—on top of seatbelts—to keep you protected in the event of an accident. With help from Jerry
, the #1 rated car insurance super app, you can find the best savings on car insurance without sacrificing coverage. Just download the Jerry app, enter your driving details, and scan the most competitive quotes from your smartphone. Once you find the right policy, switching over takes seconds. Jerry users save more than $800 a year on car insurance!
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- Gregory R.
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