Story behind life-saving safety devices we take for granted

We’ve been living with advanced driver assistance systems for around two decades, and they’ve done a great deal to improve road safety. Adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and active lane keeping are three of the most widely used systems you’ll find in a modern car.

It means that early forms of driver and road safety are often taken for granted, as manufacturers showcase their latest technology. To readdress the balance, we’ve pulled together the story behind the early tech helping to keep us safe on the road:

The three-point seatbelt was created by Volvo in 1959, with the Swedish company making the patent available to other manufacturers for free. Volvo was also the first manufacturer to fit three-point seatbelts as standard equipment, from 1963.

UK Legislation introduced in 1968 made it compulsory for cars to have seat belts fitted in the driver’s seat, with the law retrospectively applying to all cars registered from 1965 onwards. It wasn’t until 1983 that a law requiring all drivers and front-seat passengers to buckle up came into force. The law changed again in 1989, when it became a legal requirement for children travelling in the back of cars to wear seat belts, followed by a widening of the law in 1991 to make it compulsory for adults. In America, Federal regulations made seat belts compulsory from the 1968 model year onwards, while New York commanded their use from 1984, the first US state to do so.

The earliest recorded mention of a windscreen washer jet was in a 1931 edition of Popular Mechanics. It describes a windscreen wiper equipped with a rubber bulb filled with denatured alcohol. Slight pressure on the bulb would fill the tube with alcohol, which was used to clear snow or sleet. In the summer, the bulb was filled with water which was sprayed on the wiper to wash the glass automatically.

Today’s washer jets work on the same principle of spraying washer fluid over the windscreen or headlights to clear the glass of grime and road dirt. In 2012, Valeo developed a system which distributes fluid across the entire length of the wiper blade. 

Predictably, the windscreen wiper predates washer jets by a few decades. In November 1903, Mary Anderson (1866-1953) received a patent for a “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window.” Having sketched an initial design while travelling in a car in New York City, her eventual prototype consisted of wooden and rubber wiper arms operated by a lever near the steering wheel.

The patent expired after Anderson failed to sell the idea to manufacturers, so the inventor gained nothing for her endeavours other than an acknowledgement that she probably created the first operational windscreen wiper. Other similar patents date back to late 19th century, while in 1921, Birmingham-based Mills Munitions became the first British company to patent the wiper.

Inventor Benjamin Katz was granted a US patent for a “headrest for automobile seats and the like” in 1921. Though commonly referred to as ‘head rests’, they’re designed for safety rather than comfort reasons. The aim is to limit head movement in the event of a collision, helping to reduce the probability of a neck injury and reduce the severity of whiplash.

In 1968, Volvo introduced the first front-seat head restraints to protect the head and neck. These were added to the 140 model series in autumn 1969.

These were invented by Percy Shaw, a Briton. His invention was dubbed: “The most brilliant invention ever produced in the interests of road safety.” Having been plunged into darkness on a road he had driven many times before, the inventor noticed that his car’s headlights had caught the eyes of a cat on a fence. His idea was brilliantly simple and simply brilliant: could he create a reflecting device that could be fitted to the surface of a road?

After several trials, Shaw patented the reflective road stud, or cat’s eye, in 1934. A year later, Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd was incorporated, and the rest is history. 

Although the modern history of anti-lock brakes (ABS) dates back to 1978, engineers and inventors began experimenting with the idea as far back as the 1920s. The German Karl Wessel had been granted a patent for a braking force regulator for cars in 1928, but this never progressed beyond the design stage.

Development and experimentation continued until 1978, when Mercedes-Benz launched what it claims was the world’s first ABS system. Only it wasn’t, because the Jensen FF featured a mechanical form of ABS in 1966, while the Chrysler Imperial of 1971 featured an electronic system called Sure-Brake. In fairness to Mercedes-Benz, it certainly propelled ABS to a wider audience. The Ford Granada Mk3 was the first European car to feature ABS as standard.

The idea of a collapsible steering column appears to date back to the 1930s. The November 1934 issue of Popular Science previews “a new safety steering post collapses like a telescope when a driver is thrown forward by the impact of a collision”. Clever stuff, so you have to wonder why it took until the 1960s for the idea to catch on.

In 1968, the first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in the United States made it mandatory to fit collapsible steering columns in cars. Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz were the first to market in 1967.

The concept of using an inflatable cushion to absorb impact can be traced back to the early 1950s in the United States and Europe. Early attempts at creating an airbag had failed due to defective sensors and triggering mechanisms, which put the brakes on development of the safety system. In 1976, Bosch applied for a patent for a “triggering apparatus for an inflation process in a bag”.

Bosch’s electronic control unit (ECU) was crucial in the development of the first airbag, which was previewed at an event in December 1980. The first Mercedes-Benz S-Class models to feature an airbag rolled off the production line in early 1981. Today’s cars feature multiple airbags to keep occupants safe, while the first pedestrian airbag premiered in the Volvo V40 in 2012.

Laminated windscreens were one of the first safety devices to appear on a car. Until their arrival, motorists would drive around with plate glass in front of them, often with disastrous consequences. In the event of an accident, drivers were at risk of being struck by large shards of glass, leading to many cases of lawsuits filed against manufacturers.

Safety glass was discovered by chance in 1903 when a chemist knocked a glass jar off his desk. Rather than shattering, the glass stayed together thanks to a coating of plastic cellulose nitrate, which had dried and formed a kind of adhesive. Henry Ford introduced laminated windscreens to his vehicles in 1919, before the concept gained widespread adoption in the late 1920s.

The humble car headlight has come a long way. From the days of acetylene or oil-fuelled lamps to the modern LED and laser beams, the innovation is, ahem… clear to see. The Columbia Electric Car of 1898 is listed as the first car to feature electric headlights, while Peerless was the first company to fit them as standard in 1908.

Technology continued to develop, through sealed beams in 1939, vehicle-mounted halogen lights in 1962, and high-intensity discharge (HID) lights around the turn of the millennium. Lexus was the first manufacturer to fit LED headlights, when they debuted on the LS 600h of 2007. Three years earlier, Audi introduced the first LED daytime running lights on the A8.

An auto-dimming rear-view mirror is one of life’s little luxuries, especially in an era of LED headlights and laser beams. The rear-view mirror safety device dates back to the earliest years of the 20th century; Frenchman Henri Cain patented a “warning mirror device for automobiles” in 1906.

One of the most famous examples of a rear-view mirror stems from the 1911 Indianapolis 500, when 39 of the 40 cars lined up with two people aboard. Ray Harroun was alone, having chosen to race without his second man, whose job it was to keep an eye on events behind the car. Instead, he used a rear-view mirror, giving him a weight advantage over his fellow racers.

According to Stephen Laing of the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, indicators have been in use since the beginning of the 20th century. He told the BBC: “A semaphore arm (sometimes with a pointing hand at the end) was used as a direction indicator from the early 1900s, operated mechanically (e.g., by a cable) or pneumatically.

“The addition of a lamp was certainly made by 1908. Electrically operated semaphores were available by 1918 (invented in the US) and solenoid operated ones became available five years or so after that.” Laing went on to say that the first flashing indicator lights were fitted by Buick in 1939.

Disc brakes date back to a late 19th century American electric car, but the Birmingham-based Lanchester Motor Company is recognised as developing and patenting the first British system in 1902. No further progress was made until Dunlop and Jaguar teamed up to equip the C-Type with fade-resistant disc brakes for the 1953 Mille Miglia.

Over in the United States, Chrysler had introduced a similar system on the 1949 Chrysler Imperial, while the 1949 Crosley featured Goodyear/Hawley disc brakes on all four wheels. As for the first volume production car with disc brakes: that’d be the Citroën DS of 1955 (pictured).

The side impact protection system is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021. Introduced in 1991, Volvo’s system, known as SIPS, featured a very strong structure and energy-absorbing materials on the inside, a cross-member in the floor and reinforced seats. It has been standard on all new Volvo models since.

In 1994, Volvo followed SIPS with the world’s first side-impact airbags, first seen on its 850 model.

Tucker was one of the most innovative car manufacturers in America; the story of Preston Tucker’s car company is a classic case of what might have been. Among its many features, the Tucker 48 featured a padded dashboard to protect front-seat occupants in the event of a collision. Just 51 cars were built.

Volvo introduced padded dashboards to its range of cars in 1960.

To get a maximum five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2021, a new car must feature a plethora of driver assistance systems. Occupant protection remains highly important, but the two-star rating awarded to the new Dacia Sandero highlights the importance of the latest software, radar and camera systems.

General Motors undertook the first crash test in 1934, while ‘Sierra Sam’, the world’s first crash test dummy was ‘born’ in 1949. Euro NCAP conducted its first safety test in 1997, with the Renault Laguna achieving the first five-star rating in 2001.

In an age of systems designed to prevent collisions, it’s too easy to overlook the importance of the crumple zone. Before its introduction in 1952, car occupants were hopelessly exposed to the dangers of a collision, often with tragic consequences. We have a lot to thank Béla Barényi (1907-1997) for.

In 1951, the Austro-Hungarian registered a patent for what has become known as the crumple zone; he was the first to recognise that energy should be dissipated by deformation – the vehicle must sacrifice itself in effect - so as not to harm the occupants of a vehicle. The crumple zone first appeared on the Mercedes-Benz W111 in 1959. More than 2500 patents originated from Barényi.

Letchworth Garden City is home to Britain’s first roundabout, built in 1907, but it wasn’t the world’s first. The concept of a ‘traffic circle’ can trace its roots back to Pierre L’Enfant’s Street design for Washington, DC in the 1790s, with the Dupont Circle the most famous of the intersections.

William Eno, known as the “father of traffic safety” revived the concept of a roundabout for the motoring era, most notably the Columbus Circle in New York City. He also designed the roundabout that surrounds the Arc De Triomphe, along with Piccadilly Circus in 1926. The modern concept of a mini-roundabout was introduced in the UK as a means to improve capacity and reduce congestion at busy junctions. They’re also used as a traffic calming measure.

The British Highway Code launched in 1931 when there were just 2.3 million vehicles on the road, yet around 7000 people were killed in road collisions every year. Much has changed: the first edition had no mention of mirrors and drivers were advised to sound their horn when overtaking.

It also advised drivers of horse drawn vehicles to “rotate the whip above the head; then incline the whip to the right or left to show the direction in which the turn is to be made.” Try doing that at the wheel of a Nissan Qashqai.

Much like The Highway Code, the driving test has changed considerably since Mr Beere became the first person to pass the test in 1935. There were no test centres; drivers had to meet the examiner at somewhere like a post office, town hall or railway station.

Hand signals were removed from the test in 1975, before the theory test was introduced in 1996, replacing questions about The Highway Code. To date, more than 46 million driving tests have been taken in the UK.