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Invention of Seat Belt
Seat belts were invented by George Cayley in the early 19th century, though Edward J. Claghorn of New York, was granted the first patent (U.S. Patent 312,085, on February 10, 1885 for a safety belt). -
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Safety Technology in Vehicles
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Invention of Laminated Windows
Laminated glass was invented in 1903 by the French chemist Edouard Benedictus, inspired by a laboratory accident. A glass flask had become coated with the plastic cellulose nitrate and when dropped shattered but did not break into pieces. Benedictus fabricated a glass-plastic composite to reduce injuries in car accidents. -
Safety Cage
In 1949 SAAB incorporated aircraft safety thinking into automobiles making the Saab 92 the first production SAAB car with a safety cage. -
First Use of ABS (Anti-lock braking system)
In 1958, a Royal Enfield Super Meteor motorcycle was used by the Road Research Laboratory to test the Maxaret anti-lock brake.The experiments demonstrated that anti-lock brakes can be of great value to motorcycles, for which skidding is involved in a high proportion of accidents. Stopping distances were reduced in most of the tests compared with locked wheel braking, particularly on slippery surfaces, in which the improvement could be as much as 30 percent. -
Swedish Saab first introduced seat belts as standard
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Head Rests
In 1959, American Motors Corporation offered the first optional head rests for the front seat. -
Invention of the Crumple Zones
The concept of the crumple zone safety feature was first used by the Mercedes-Benz engineer Bela Barenyi on the 1959 model Mercedes-Benz "Fintail". This innovation was first patented by Mercedes-Benz in the early 1950s. The patent was then granted as patent number 854157, in1952.
