“Cars…They don’t make it like they used to.”

I was in an autoshow in Manila a few weeks ago when I overheard an old man who sat on one of the latest cars on display say, “They don’t make it like they used to.”  At that moment, my mind began to wonder at what aspect were the cars before better than they are now. 

To start with the rebuttal inside my head, I only had to point out one very important aspect - safety.  Lot of what we take for granted in the modern automobile has come along only after a great deal of trial and error, at the expense of death.   Take, for instance, the humble safety glass. Not all people know that “latter” cars are equipped with a special laminated glass. Imagine the ordinary glass that would shatter into large shards upon impact.

Since the introduction of automobile in the late 19th century, the wheeled vehicle has improved by leaps and bounds and has created over 10,000 patents throughout the decades. In the 21st Century, majority of the significant innovations were geared on safety.  Why safety? Ever since the first recorded car accident fatality in 1899, this transportation marvel has lead to over a million deaths with an average of 37,000 fatalities per year in the US (source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).In the Philippines, road accidents are the fourth leading cause of death.  Yet with the increase in population, road fatalities have steadily dropped since 2004. This can all be attributed to safer cars.

Here are a few very significant improvements to car safety for the past decades.

Safety Glass or Laminated Glass was a milestone introduced in 1919 and became standard in all cars in 1927.

Seatbelts, which come standard in cars today, were never mandatory until the 70s in the United States. Volvo, a leader in car safety technology, gets the credits for fitting the first standard seatbelts in their cars in 1959.  In the Philippines, seatbelts were present in all the cars, at least the imported ones, in the late 1970’s .

The first crash testing was done by Mercedes Benz in 1959. Although the cars did not carry “Crash Test Dummies,” early test was essential in studying “post-collision reactions” of cars.  Today, all cars undergo stringent crash testing aided with electronic sensors to accurately record readings. Crash Test Dummies on board are also hooked up to a computer to monitor impact readings.   Soon enough, cars were designed in a way that energy absorbent structures and materials were made to crumple during impact, minimizing the deadly forces encountered by the passengers.  This is called the “Crumple Zone Design”.

Volvo also introduced padded dashboards in 1960 to greatly reduce facial and chest injuries from frontal collisions.

In 1966, inventor Jensen FF developed and installed the first Anti-lock Brakes System in a hand-built luxury sports car.  The technology, which he borrowed from aircraft technology, was aimed to make cars more controllable under heavy braking by individually modulating brake pressure in each wheel.  Electronic Antilock Brakes System soon followed in 1978 with Mercedes Benz being the first company to put it into production.

In 1968, Volvo offered Front Seat Head restraints aimed at protecting head and neck injuries in rear end collisions. 

The 1981 Mercedes Benz S-Class was the first production car with standard driver’s airbags. Although introduced as an option in selected General Motor cars in 1974, it was hard to sell as the public barely used the standard seatbelts.

Traction Control System, an innovation that trickled down to road cars from racecar engineering, was found in BMW cars in the early 80’s. Although initially introduced as standard on powerful luxury cars, TCS has found its way to everyday cars with the aim of giving more control under slippery conditions.

A large amount of legislation has also aided the speedy development of the automobile.  Although we are not a car manufacturing country, we stand to gain from these innovations as the Philippine automobile market grows each year. Your car today could easily have numerous airbags than seats, with technology commanding deployment at different times in any given situation.  By then, you’ll thank them that you lived to watch your grandson grow.