These are the innovations that the automobile industry owes to Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes Benz It is not a manufacturer like the others, more than anything because it is considered the car inventor as we know it. But his contribution to this industry is not limited to that unique fact. Since its creation, Mercedes-Benz's contribution to the industry has been significant in terms of innovation. This is a small summary of the innovations, own or others, that the star brand popularized and became standard. And sometimes it is not so important who invents, but who markets it successfully and makes it popular, as was the case of the coupe-cabris invented by Peugeot in 1931 and that Mercedes-Benz popularized with the 1996 SLK.

It was in 1886 that the German inventor Carl Benz patented a peculiar invention: the first "Motorwagen" that moves by itself; the car. It equipped a single cylinder engine in rear position. Over the years, Benz was perfecting his invention, but did not reach the stage of industrialization. Benz was a brilliant engineer, but he didn't know how to promote himself.

So one summer morning, his wife Bertha Benz and their children Eugen and Richard, took the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Typ III from the workshop without waking the rest of the family. The goal is to make a 200 km round trip to visit their parents. He not only demonstrated the viability and relevance of the invention, but also improved the brakes by adding leather to the wooden shoes.

About 100km from the town of Karl Benz, another brilliant engine specialist engineer, Gottlieb Daimler, he saw that the engines could also be used to move carriages. Daimler with the help of his faithful friend Maybach they also manufactured a car in 1886.

Both inventors never met or mediated. But nevertheless, in 1926 the two oldest manufacturers in the world joined together to create Mercedes-Benz (Daimler's models became known as Mercedes, thanks to the financing of Emil Jellinek and his success in competition, with a car designed by Maybach).

With such illustrious founders, the brand never ceased to innovate or detect innovations that would allow to provide a plus in security. Over time, the innovations adopted by Mercedes-Benz became standard for the industry. In fact, some are already even mandatory by law in new cars.

Four-wheel independent suspension

Mercedes-Benz tends to be very comfortable cars and at the same time they show poise on the road. All this thanks to the four-wheel suspension, invented by Lancia and which first hit the market in 1922 with the Lancia Lambda. Mercedos introduced her to the Mercedes 170 in 1931 and thereafter, more and more manufacturers were betting on that type of suspension.

Hydraulic brakes

The braking systems were quite rudimentary at the beginning of the car. From a wooden shoe that touched the wooden wheel to the drum brakes, when the wheels went on to fit tires thanks to Dunlop and Michelin. However, in both cases they were manual or mechanical systems.

In 1918, Malcolm Loughead, one of the founders of what would later be Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, created a system of hydraulic brakes for the four wheels of a car. The manufacturer to equip their cars with this system was Duesenberg in 1918. In Mercedes-Benz he arrived in 1931 with the 170 model.

Diesel cars

Mercedes-Benz did not invent the diesel engine, we owe it to Rudolf Diesel, however it was the first manufacturer to successfully propose a diesel-powered car. It was not the first, already in 1929 there was a first attempt in Germany of a car with diesel engine, but it was not until Mercedes proposed it in its range in 1935, with the 260D, that the public looked with other eyes an engine that was used only for industrial, agricultural and even aviation vehicles (Junker Jumo 205)

Programmable deformation zones

The idea of ​​throwing a car against an obstacle to see what happens and to improve it is quite old. In 1934, General Motors conducted the first crash test against a barrier. However it was thanks to Mercedes-Benz and its engineer Béla Barényi, hired in 1939, who devised the first security cells and zones of programmed deformation.

Béla Barényi's work culminated in 1951 with the W111 series model. That car was the first in history to have a rear and a front that deformed in a predetermined way in the event of a crash to absorb kinetic energy and try to keep the cabin intact. The first crash tests carried out by the brand in 1959 demonstrated the relevance of Béla Barényi's work. That was the way to go. Today, all cars have zones of programmed deformation.

ABS brakes

Again, the ABS brakes They are not an exclusive invention of Mercedes-Benz or its technical partner in this invention, Bosch. We owe the first system to Jensen whose sporty FF Interceptor was the first car to standardize the ABS (a Teves).

However, it was the incorporation of Bosch ABS in the 1978 Mercedes S-Class that would take that invention to the top and allow further progress. As ABS can individually brake a wheel, this opened the door to innovations, such as the stability control (1995), the self-locking differential emulator or the lane maintenance assistant.