70 year stories

Did you know that.....Electronics became an increasingly important area in the late 1990s and early 2000s?

Among other things, Autoliv initiated a collaboration with Swedish company Combitech, a subsidiary of Saab, and acquired French company Sagem.

Image:The final product of a Saab 9000 airbag, 1991.

Did you know that.....Steering wheels became an important product in the early 2000s?

Customers wanted a complete system in which the airbags were already integrated into the steering wheels. Autoliv therefore made several acquisitions in the area.

Image: An example of a steering wheel with an already built-in airbag in the steering wheel, ca 2006.

Did you know that.....there was an aggressive squeeze on prices at the end of the 1990s from Autoliv’s competitors?

One task for the new CEO Lars Westerberg was to lower costs. This led to production being gradually moved to low-cost countries, where high quality could still be maintained.

Image: Former CEO Lars Westerberg, 1999.

Did you know that.....when Autoliv and Morton ASP merged in 1997, it was an unusually successful merger?

The employees in Utah and Europe found it easy to work together – and to do so cohesively as a team.

Image: The construction of the Morton International HYGE Impact Sled Facility, 1991.

Did you know that.....a female civil engineer was one of the driving forces in Autoliv’s manufacturing system?

It was in the late 1990s that Lisa Frary worked to introduce the so-called Toyota Model at Autoliv. 

Toyota loaned out their expert Takahashi Harada to Autoliv for several years.

Image: Lisa Frary, in the 1990’s.

Did you know that.....Autoliv was listed on the stock exchange on June 9, 1994?

With this, the company left the Electrolux Group and became an independent enterprise.

The majority of the new owners were foreign asset managers. They had made a good purchase – the stock rose 60 percent in the first year. 

Image: This commercial picture was published the same year Autoliv was introduced on the stock market, 1994. Photographer unknown.

Did you know that.....Autoliv’s engineers presented an all-new innovation to their customer Mercedes in May 1995?

The invention was due in part to the findings of the research conducted by Autoliv’s research director Yngve Håland on side-impact collisions.

The innovation, which provides specific protection against impacts from the side, was called the “Inflatable Curtain” and was a tremendous success.

It has saved many lives, prevented serious injuries and played a huge role in Autoliv’s future developments.

Image: Yngve Håland with the prototype of the ”Inflatable Curtain.” Picture taken in the 1990’s. Photographer: Lennart Rehnman.

Did you know that.....Morton’s success on the Japanese market was largely due to its Mormon employees?

There were a lot of well-educated and language-savvy men in Utah who had studied the Japanese language and culture during their missions.

These key characteristics gave the company a big competitive advantage. 

Image: Employees in Utah, 1994. Photographer unknown.

Did you know that.....Morton Thiokol was already a dominating manufacturer of gas generators for airbags by the start of the 1970s?

The development of gas generators was rooted in the company’s history in rocket fuel. This evolved into the manufacturing of entire airbags.

In 1989, the company split into two separate parts, with Morton ASP focusing on the automotive safety market.

Image: The pyrotechnical component inside the airbag. Picture taken 2014. Photographer unknown.

Did you know that.....the reason Thiokol (which later became Morton Thiokol) ended up in Utah was because the unpopulated deserts of this US state were perfect for rocket testing?

One fine day in the mid-1950s, representatives for the company arrived in the state to explore its possibilities. The young farmer’s son Ken Holmgren knew that there was only one tavern on the road between Promontory and Brigham City where the travelers could be expected to stop. He went there to meet them, and the rest is history.

Thiokol set up in the area and Holmgren eventually became President of the company and then CEO for Morton Thiokol when the two companies merged.

Image: Promontory area in the US. Picture taken between 1990 and 1994. Photographer unknown.