Practical, affordable innovation starts with a passion for excellence
Around the world, leading vehicle manufacturers, seating providers, aftermarket distributors and child safety seat manufacturers trust SHIELD for quality occupant safety systems and restraints. Just like you, we care deeply about the safety of your customers. Our global team of experts is close by, offering complete in-house design, development and testing capabilities to ensure outstanding product performance and reliability.
We produce more than 20 MILLION SEATBELTS A YEAR, all rigorously engineered, tested and delivered on time at fair prices with great customer service. We deliver practical, affordable, and innovative solutions that go beyond standards. This is what SHIELD is all about.
Our Locations
A Global Footprint to Serve You Anywhere.
Our History
The SHIELD legacy begins with the first metal seatbelt buckle.
Back in the 1950s, a little company called Cummings and Sanders introduced and patented the first lift lever, metal-to-metal lap belt buckle. That single innovation created a completely new industry. Cummings and Sanders eventually became known as AmSafe, which is now the a world’s leading provider of safety and securement products for the aerospace, defense and ground transportation markets. Innovation fueled consistent growth, leading to the formation of AmSafe Commercial Products (ACP). Bringing full-time focus to safety systems for ground-based vehicles, ACP built a reputation for quality and reliability and grew rapidly to provide solutions for manufacturers of all types of vehicles around the globe.
At SHIELD, we carry on the legacy of pioneers whose vision and passion form our heritage. Our products reflect their innovative spirit and the commitment to quality and reliability that has become our hallmark. SHIELD was born when ACP and Beam’s Seatbelts – two of the world’s longest tenured manufacturers of occupant safety systems – merged in early 2013.
-
1955
First Metal to Metal Seat Belt Buckle
Cummings & Sanders is awarded a patent for the first metal-to-metal seat belt buckle.
-
1978
A Brand is Born!
The company changed its name from Cummings and Sanders to The American Safety Corporation. (AmSafe for short)
-
1994
Expansion into Commercial Products
The AmSafe Commercial Product Unit is formed, bringing a full time focus to ground-based vehicle safety systems.
-
2002
A Key Acquisition
AmSafe acquired SafeTex, a company based in the United Kingdom and opened wholly owned subsidiary and high-volume manufacturing operation in Kunshan, China .
-
2006
A New Home
AmSafe Commercial products relocated its headquarters and North American manufacturing to Elkhart, IN USA.
-
2012
We are acquired
AmSafe is acquired by TransDigm Group
-
2013
Continued Growth
The company acquires Beam's Seat Belts, one of the world's longest tenured seatbelt manufacturer.
-
2014
Rebranding the Company
Amsafe Commerical Products spins off from AmSafe and rebrands itself Shield Restraint Systems. The company is focused on ground-based restraints for a multitude of markets outside of aviation.
-
2017
Capacity Expansion
SHIELD doubles the size of its Elkhart, IN manufacturing operations, adds automation, and further vertically integrates it supply chain.