Cars have become part of our lives and they provide one of the best ways to get from point A to point B quickly and comfortably. However, cars are not actually indestructible and they need periodic maintenance in order to function properly. Thanks to the fact that there are hundreds of millions of vehicles all over the world, a plethora of cool and interesting facts about car parts and car maintenance have been discovered. Here are some of them:
Windshield wipers were invented by a woman
In 1903, Mary Anderson invented the windshield wipers, but they became a standard feature for all automobiles only in the 1920s. She got the inspiration for this invention when she visited New York City and saw how a car driver had to take his hand out of the vehicle in order to clean the windshield with a squeegee. Nowadays, there are multiple types of windshield wipers and the blades need to be replaced periodically. Additionally, there are luxurious vehicles which feature heated windshield wipers.
There are almost 1 billion oil changes in a single year
There are tens of millions of vehicles in America only and some studies show that the Americans change the oils in their vehicles a billion times every year. Obviously, vehicles such as trucks or sedans require different amounts of oil, but when everything is put together, American vehicles use more than 1 billion of gallons of oil each year. To cope up with such enormous demands, most of the oil is recycled and used again and again.
Your vehicle has more horsepower than mentioned in the vehicle’s manual
That is because the average horse can pull as much as 70% of the total power represented by a horsepower unit. For example, if a vehicle has 150 horsepower, in reality it features the total amount of power given by 200 real horses.
Airbags can save a lot of lives, but they can also be deadly sometimes
An airbag inflates automatically if the vehicle bumps into something, in order to protect the driver and the passengers. However, some people might get killed by asphyxiation because airbags can be very dangerous sometimes. In some cases, modern vehicles have special mechanisms that discover if there is a child on the front seats and they automatically deactivate the airbags in order to protect him. Still, this amazing invention pioneered by Mercedes save the lives of hundreds of people each year.
Antilock brakes are around for more than 50 years
These days, antilock brakes come as standard in almost every new vehicle that is released and this technology is one of the best safety features installed on cars. However, they were previously invented about 50 years ago by the British engineers and used into production in 1966. Still, at that time, the antilock brakes technology was simply too expensive for car makers to adopt.
Of course, don’t forget that periodic vehicle maintenance is essential in order to enjoy a pleasant and safe driving experience. Make sure that you visit our auto shop if you need to fix up your vehicle and our professional mechanics can provide you with quality car repair services.
