Our family of eight rode thousands of miles on vacations WITHOUT seatbelts, with Dad smoking his stogie in an enclosed car. Those things (seatbelts) were once novelties!
...boot mounted luggage rack, ash tray, AM radio, heater, wire knock-off wheels,and lap belts. I remember my folks fretting that I would be thrown from the vehicle in an accident. I assured them that in the case of an accident I would be firmly impaled by the non-collapsible steering column which was essentially a piece of pipe pointed directly at the driver's heart.