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Major Changes to Car Companies You Never Saw Coming

From headlamps to hybrids, here are some of the biggest changes to car companies since the 1990s.

By Joseph D. N. KendrickPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Photo by Samuele Errico Piccarini on Unsplash

The automotive industry is constantly evolving. The competitive nature of automotive manufacturing makes it a perfect arena for industry titans like Fiat Chrysler, BMW, and Toyota to develop new, vital, and novel technologies in their efforts to corner the car market. Some changes to car companies have come about in response to increasing safety concerns, while others have come about as a result of unexpected technological developments. Here are some of the most unexpected developments in the auto industry in the past few decades.

High Tech Headlights

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Gone are the days of universal incandescent and halogen headlights. One of the most noticeable changes of car companies in the past 20 years has been a shift toward brighter, more powerful LED headlights. More recently, these advanced lights have even shown to be adaptive and responsive to exterior lighting and road conditions to provide optimum illumination. Some German automakers are experimenting with laser-based headlamps as the next level of headlight technology. Though not yet legal in the United States, these new headlamps may prove to be even more powerful and efficient than LED lights.

Smart Keys

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As someone who still drives an older car, the concept of "smart keys" and one-touch ignition vehicles still seems like a recent development in automotive manufacturing. It was surprising, then, to realize that the first keyless ignition was introduced by Mercedes-Benz a full 20 years ago, in 1998. Nowadays, even mid-level cars include this feature, which allows us to unlock our doors and start our vehicles without ever having to take our key from out of our pockets.

Rearview Cameras

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Like push-button ignitions, rearview "backup" cameras have changed the way many of us drive. First introduced in 2002 by Japanese car company Infiniti, rearview cameras soon became an extremely popular feature for their ease of use and the improved safety they provide. As of May 2018, rearview cameras are actually required of all newly manufactured vehicles in the United States. Higher-end car companies already include rearview cameras on all their models, and many have further upped the ante with additional cameras that provide a 360º view around the vehicle.

Electric Vehicles

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Fossil fuel reserves are slowly dying out, and the damage combustible fuels have wreaked on the environment is incalculable. The move to internal battery electric vehicles has been a long time coming, but the history of electric cars begins earlier than you may think. While companies like Tesla Motor Company have been bringing electric vehicles back into the limelight, the mainstream automotive industry has quietly been developing their own electric vehicles since at least the early 1990s. In fact, General Motors released the EV1, a fully electric car, in 1991. At the time, the technology still couldn't hold a candle to the internal combustion engine. Today, however, more and more companies are exploring the possibilities of fully electric vehicles.

Hybrids

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It may seem counterintuitive to think of the fully electric vehicle as an older concept than the hybrid. The first mass-produced hybrid, however, didn't come onto the scene until 1998, when Toyota released the first Prius. Although initially unpopular, the Prius—and hybrid technology as a whole—was revolutionary, increasing fuel economy to lofty new heights by incorporating electric power without fully abandoning gas power. The fewer fossil fuels we can use, the better, and the hybrid gas-electric engine was the world's first proof that an electric car didn't have to be limited to long recharge times and short drives. Don't be surprised if this 90s technology is an installment worked on extensively so that it'll be a top car feature in the future.

Autonomous Cars

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The idea of a self-driving car has been around for almost as long as cars in general. However, it hasn't been until the past few decades that serious scientific effort has been placed on producing functionally autonomous vehicles. Even then, the technology behind self-driving cars was so far off that it wasn't until just a few years ago that people and governments have begun to seriously consider the implications of autonomous vehicles. While companies from Tesla to the Ford Motor Company to Google get closer and closer to perfecting self-driving technology, questions of safety and liability will soon need to be answered if this technology is going to be widely adopted.

Airbags

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It seems crazy to think that a safety feature as ubiquitous as the modern airbag is barely older than the electric vehicle or one-button ignition. It wasn't until the 1980s though that luxury car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz began implementing the airbag as we know it today. The Ford Motor Company made it a standard feature on their vehicles by 1990, but airbags weren't legally required until 1998—a landmark year for changes to car companies. Today, even lower-end production vehicles feature advanced airbag systems, and airbags have saved tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives since their adoption.

GPS

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Global Positioning Systems have been an absolute game changer in the way the world travels. Just a generation ago, glove compartments were practically dedicated to map storage. Any time you needed to go anywhere new or travel out of town, you had to frequently consult a map to get your bearings. Being a passenger often meant you became the dedicated navigator. GPSes have absolutely altered the way we approach driving. After the technology's short journey from the government sector to widespread civilian accessibility, maps and atlases have all but died out when it comes to standard car travel.

Electronic Stability Control

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One of the lesser-talked-about changes to car companies in recent years is actually one of the most important. Ice, rain, and other road conditions can cause dangerous accidents even with the most skilled drivers. In the 1970s, the auto industry took its first steps in minimizing the danger in these situations by introducing anti-lock braking systems. As computing technology became more advanced and easily accessible, automotive manufacturing companies were able to modernize and update this system by programming the car to only brake certain wheels at a time, allowing a car to realign and reduce the chance of a damaging wreck. This technology, known as Electronic Stability Control, first appeared on luxury cars in Europe in the 1990s. By the turn of the century, Electronic Stability Control made its way to North America, and has been a legal requirement on North American passenger vehicles since 2012.

Bluetooth

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When Bluetooth technology first appeared in the 1990s, it wasn't immediately apparent how much of an impact it would have on the automotive industry. Its higher prices and unreliable behavior at its outset made it seem more like a novelty than anything else. As the technology evolved, however, it became closely tied to the car market as a way for people to talk on their phones and perform other activities hands-free while driving. Today, Bluetooth technology is a standard feature on many new vehicles and, in fact, the only way to legally talk on your phone in multiple US states.

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About the Creator

Joseph D. N. Kendrick

Writer of words. Haver of cats. joeykendrick.com

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