It all started with an advertisement circulated in Portugal, in which Mercedes-Benz claims to have been the inventor, among other safety systems, of the three-point seat belt.
Volvo Car Portugal did not like it. At the end of the day yesterday, it issued an official statement, assuring that "this information does not correspond to reality". On the contrary, the system was created “by the Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin” and installed, for the first time, in a Volvo PV544.
In its statement, Volvo Car Portugal also recalls that, “the invention, which is estimated to have saved more than 1 million lives, was openly patented”, which means that “it was/is fully available for all drivers could benefit from some of Volvo's safety technology, no matter which brand they were driving.”
Mercedes-Benz withdraws campaign
Mercedes-Benz Portugal reacted by claiming that this was a misinterpretation, since, "in reality, it was not an invention of the brand", having "only been later adapted to Mercedes-Benz vehicles, as standard equipment" .
Thus, “for this reason, Mercedes-Benz decided to immediately withdraw the ongoing campaign”, he informed, in statements to Razão Automóvel, official source of the star brand.