 Safety - History
The history of steering safety began with the first time vehicles were equipped with steering wheels. Initially, it was just a lever, perhaps with a point indicating the direction of travel. The
steering wheel dates back to 1894 and the Frenchman Alfred Vacheron.
Maybach's Phoenix racing cars already featured a slanted steering column, making it easier to operate from the driver's seat. Not much later, levers were added, even replacing the later
accelerator pedal. Even then, the goal was to bring important functions closer to the accelerator.
So for example, the horn or horn ring, which allows for quick response in the event of danger. This isn't the exclusive preserve of postwar Mercedes and VWs; it already existed in the 1920s.
However, omitting it and leaving only the part on the spokes hasn't proven effective.
The ring remained until the entire design disappeared, and in the 1950s, it even took over the function of the turn signal. This was perhaps still possible given the traffic conditions of the time.
However, it was soon replaced by a solid lever on the steering wheel, which, much later, could also be reset automatically thanks to a sophisticated mechanism.
Completely unjustly, another invention disappeared into obscurity long before the end of the manual transmission: the steering wheel gearshift. It received a further boost with the introduction
of automatic transmission, which eliminated the need for separate levels, but at least for German manufacturers, the positive effect of eliminating the center console and the potential for step-
through wasn't that important.
The opposite is true of another steering wheel feature: the headlight flasher, introduced in 1955. It was ostensibly a warning device for greater safety, but it quickly mutated into the law of the
jungle. What one might not readily suspect today is the power steering has been around since 1958.
We're back to Mercedes, where for a very long time, most of the ideas for increased safety have been implemented. And when you're introducing, among other things, a crumple zone at the
front, the idea of reducing the steering wheel's penetration into the interior isn't far off. The large impact absorber fits in with this.
Before the first airbag was installed in the steering wheel, the horn button replaced the horn ring. For a while, it wasn't clear whether the two interfered with each other. But the button could
remain, after the airbag became more compact. It was launched in 1992, and the one for the front passenger followed two years later.
From 1998 onwards, there was no stopping it. People began to overload the steering wheel with controls that actually belonged at levers or the dashboard. In retrospect, it's unclear whether
this improved or compromised safety. Today, the range of functions in most vehicles has been again somewhat reduced.
The shift paddles, on the other hand, have proven very useful if you like to meddle with the automatic transmission. They have been seamlessly carried over into the age of electric cars, because there is a real need for
recuperation control.
And long before the steering wheel is perhaps abolished, it will still have the special function of ensuring that the driver can quickly take over at any time by controlling touch or hand movements. However, this function is
already being lost because it can now also be determined through electronic observation.
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