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TECHNOLOGY, EH? YOU can’t deny it’s changed how we live immeasurably.
And it’s definitely changed how we drive.
We decided to take a look back over the last forty years and see how many innovations and changes have been made to your car. Changes that probably bordered on futuristic when they were mooted and are now standard or almost standard.
Doesn’t time fly? Although sadly our cars don’t… yet.
When headlights were first introduced to cars in the 1880s (believe it or not, they weren’t a mandatory feature – or even a feature at all), they were an acetylene and oil mix lamp, similar to gas lamps. But the high cost of oil meant a new system quickly needed to be introduced. Along came electric lamps – although they weren’t without their problems. For a start the filament kept burning out, so the car manufacturers kept working away on a solution.
In 1962, halogen lamps were introduced and became mandatory in many countries – although the US still used non-halogen lamps until 1978.
Enter xenon headlights which gave an even brighter light than halogen and were introduced in 1991. Again, there was some controversy around xenon – who knew car headlights had such a chequered history? Not only is it an expensive way to produce headlights, there’s way more glare from xenon headlights than previous iterations, so new technology had to be developed to counteract that.
It goes without saying how important your brakes are and even since ABS have become standard improvements have been made.
ABS, which were developed for aircraft way back in 1929, works by helping to stop the wheels locking in order to avoid uncontrolled skidding.
In normal driving conditions, on tarmac rather than snow or ice conditions, ABS has been proven to improve braking distance (making it shorter) but in snowy conditions the reverse actually happens. While the wheels of cars without ABS would lock and dig in, the ABS prevents this happening. However, measures have been taken to fix this such as calibrating the ABS to slow down the cycles allowing the wheels to lock and unlock, briefly.
There you are now.
It’s far from airbags you were reared, but they’ve become a (welcome, logical) safety standard.
Around since 1941, if you can believe that – although air-filled bladders don’t have quite the same ring – two patents were given for airbags in 1953, one in Germany and one in America. It was quickly found that the German airbag didn’t inflate fast enough for maximum safety.
Airbags have developed since then with a breakthrough in 1967 involving airbag sensors that would inflate an airbag in under 30 milliseconds.
Now, there are airbags in all sorts of places – side airbags, seat airbags, rear curtain airbags and a knee airbag – although they’re not standard in all models.
Those poor carburetors are a thing of the past.
Carburetors were a device that blended air and fuel for an internal combustion engine, but they’ve been forced aside since the late ’80s by the superior fuel injection.
The main difference between a carburetor and a fuel injection is that the fuel injection atomises the fuel through a small nozzle under high pressure, while the carburetor uses suction.
The benefits of the fuel injection is a smoother throttle and it generally increases fuel efficiency.
Nowadays you can get engines that are part electric and part petrol/diesel. These fancy-pants engines are the way of the future, with their ability to conserve fuel while the car is idling by switching to the electric part of the engine.
While the technology has been around for some time the costs of hybrid energy prohibited them being used in smaller vehicles such as cars and trucks, but that has been overcome and more and more hybrid cars are becoming available on the market.
Probably the most epic change in cars is how much technology there is everywhere. From your side mirrors being motorised to your mechanic almost needing some sort of PhD in electronics just do to a check up of your engine, there’s definitely more pros than cons in having so much computerised technology in your car. Being able to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with your car surely beats tinkering with the engine for hours on end, right?
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If only someone would invent blinkey things that indicate that the driver intends to change lane. What an advancement that would be.
There is a rumour that BMW and Audi are going to introduce them on their 2019 models. They are currently organising a proximity radar that warns the hedgehog behind the wheel when the car is less than a metre from the vehicle in front.
The car on the right is always an a**hole in an Audi/BMW.
I’d have said mercedes benz. that seem to attract that type
Reminds me of an old joke Sergeant. What’s the difference between a hedgehog and a BMW?. On a hedgehog the pr*cks are on the outside.
If your job ever feels pointless just remember it’s someone’s job to put indicators into a BMW
That would make motoring predictable
Where’s the fun in that?
My first car was a 1979 mini cooper, no seatbelts in the back, complete with hand crank windows and a horn that sounded like a dying duck, had to slap the radio to turn it on and the lights would flicker embarrassingly when idling in traffic probably because they were powered by a dynamo. Every time I drove to Dublin for a weekend some scrote would rip off the drivers side windscreen wiper to use as a means of breaking into another car!. Had to call a locksmith once because I’d locked my keys into the car. Not a gadget or gizmo in sight, god, I loved that car.
brilliant post.
Thanks Mike, me and Betsy (yea, I name my cars) have one thing in common now, we are both antiques.
Don’t buy a Bmw 3er!!! Especially the 4 pot ones…. They break ALOT (BMW do u want my car back?)
Also you could have mentioned the advances in tyre technology.
Cars are making fantastic advances…shame about the people driving them
Servo assist brakes safety glass,power steering. 40 years ago or so car was a moving coffin. 652 dead in 1971. Drop in road deaths mainly due to car safe features which did not exist 40 years ago. Drivers r much worse now and no enforcement. Bus lane near me would have millions in fines if enforcement.
Only good thing about my debut car, a fiat 128 was that no one would be dumb enough to steal it.
The worst drivers are yummy mummies in SUV’s, Merks & Beemers. Next ass hole men usually in their 30′s/40′s
I don’t think insurance companies would agree with you.
For all the great advancements they still haven’t standardised one side for the petrol flap.
At least the petrol/gasoline icon on the dash indicates the gas cap side. Icon hose right, gas cap is on the right. I drive a lot of rental cars and this is a very convenient feature.
I’m driving 25 years and I only learned recently what the arrow beside the fuel light means!
In last 20 all these safety features became available in most cars not only the most expensive ones; while this is obviously a good thing, it resulted in a significant drop in organs available for people who need transplants. It’s donating should be regulated on ‘opt out’ rather than ‘opt in’ basis. In the meantime don’t forget to tick that box on your licence, you can literally save someone’s life.
Good shout. I’ll pull the abs fuse from my car this evening before the spin home. sure with a bit of luck and a good aim I’ll cause a multi car pile up. Organs for everyone!
My most modern car (built in 1977) has a little light that comes on when I open the door – it also has a little light that tells me my seat belt is not done up. As for abs I used to have them years ago but too much good food and drink has meant that, alas, they are no longer with us!
I wish there were automatic headlights and fog lights especially. Amazing how often the usually-but-not-always-female nuts behind the wheel forget where the light switches are!!!
Marie, auto light, and wipers, have been around for years.
My first car a fiat 850 next a anvenger then a hillman imp then a triumph acclaim then a Nissan bluebird then a Honda Accord followed by a Honda Accord next a Volvo S80 and last a BMW520
Had great times in them all except for the avenger broke down every time it looked like raining
have your say