... was based in Kenosha, Washington, from where it operated between 1916 and 1937. It then merged with Kelvinator, a company that manufactured domestic appliances. The resultant company became part of the American Motor Corporation in 1954, and that was taken over by Chrysler in 1990.
Wikipedia states that "Nash was the first American car manufacturer to offer seat belts as a factory option in its 1949 models". It mentions no company outside the USA that was doing so earlier, so it would seem fair to infer that Nash was indeed "the first car manufacturer to offer [seat belts] as a safety feature".
Apparently the new feature didn't go down too well with the American public. "They were installed in 40,000 cars, but buyers did not want them and requested dealers to remove them. The feature was 'met with insurmountable sales resistance' and Nash reported that after one year 'only 1,000 had been used' by customers. Even in 1956, after seat belts were introduced by Ford, "only 2% of Ford buyers [chose] to pay for seatbelts".
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