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Benz Patent Motor Car. Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. -
Nearly a century before the Toyota Prius, Ferdinand Porsche debuts Austria’s Lohner-Porsche, a radical hybrid car that generates electricity from two small gasoline engines to power its front wheels. -
With war looming, the U.S. Army seeks bids from 135 automakers to design a “light reconnaissance vehicle” that could handle tough military duty. Only three companies respond: Ford, Bantam and Ohio’s Willys-Overland. -
Looking for a better way to get the car running, Chrysler invented a technology to start both the electric starter and the ignition. It placed this power inside a key, and soon everyone was using one.
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The Chrysler Imperial was the first production car to have air conditioning as an option. It came with three settings: low, medium and high. The following year, the Nash “Integrated” system offered front end heating, ventilation and air conditioning, making driving a much more pleasurable experience in the summer.
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An ex-aviation engineer who worked on flight ejection seats—develops a V-shaped, three-point front seat belt for Volvo. The automaker’s first customer is the Swedish buyer of a PV544 sedan. Yet the groundbreaking safety device takes years to gain widespread use, and the U.S. doesn’t mandate seat belts until 1968. -
The smooth buzz of rolling down an electric window was originally only available on luxury models, and it was usually an optional extra on most cars until quite recently. But eventually, winding down your car windows became a thing of the past.
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Until this point, windscreen wipers had only had one speed, no matter the weather. Ford changed this to adjust the speed.
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In the 1970s, carmakers began adding stereos that could play the latest cassette tape technology. Now, drivers could blast out their favorite Led Zeppelin albums from their cars.
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Move over analogue dials! The first digital dashboard display appeared in an Aston Martin Lagonda. It included trip computers, speed, and temperature readings and fuel economy measures. However, digital dashboards weren’t that popular with drivers at the time, and most cars today still use an analogue speedometer alongside the digital displays.
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Previous iterations of airbags were installed in US government cars from the 1970s, but in 1988 Chrysler introduced the first production airbag. Originally they were just for drivers, but today airbag technology can be placed all around the car to protect all passengers.