In Season 2, Episode 2 of Futurismo, “Patent No. US3359539,” we tell the story of the seat-belt ignition interlock and alarm, a device that requires drivers to buckle up in order to start the car. We delve into how it was born, how, in just a few years, it became the center of a national conversation, and finally we’ll learn how it failed. Engineers working on advanced safety systems today and the self-driving car of tomorrow should heed this cautionary tale, because if one truism holds true through history is that humans can be fickle users.
