The Most Important Car Features That Filtered Down From High-End Cars

One of the oldest truths in life is that innovations often start at the top. R&D is expensive and time-consuming, and companies are often concerned that all their effort will be wasted unless it leads to great sales in the future. One way to protect against this is to sell their innovation at a premium, packaging it as a luxury item, and allowing them to add a few more zeros to its price tag. Automakers are famous for doing this, introducing some incredible features in their top-of-the-line cars, brands, and even motorsport before they trickle down to mainstream vehicles.

These innovations encompass everything from new creature comforts to lifesaving advancements, and over the decades features once thought true luxuries have become so common it’s hard to imagine a brand-new car without them. We’ve compiled a list of 10 of the best innovations that have trickled down to mainstream models, and while it’s by no means a comprehensive list, it does cover some of our favorites.

10 Air Conditioning (1940)

The first factory-installed air conditioning system appeared in the 1940 Packard when the brand was still a leader in innovation. This system, referred to as “Weather Conditioning,” could cool the car’s interior on hot days by using a refrigeration unit mounted in the trunk. Created by Bishop and Babcock, it was an expensive add-on for the vehicles, and thus it’s only reported that a couple of thousand were ever produced with it.

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The system had notable limitations, including its large size and inefficiency, and it could only be turned on or off, so no fine-tuning of the temperature. By the 1970s, it had become a popular option in mid-range cars, and by the 2000s it was almost unthinkable that a brand-new car would be produced without it.

9 Power Windows (1940)

Bet you didn’t expect two from Packard right off the bat, but this company was on a roll in the early 1940s. Power windows were first introduced on the 1940 Packard 180, finally offering drivers an alternative to manually cranking their own windows up and down. The system was a hydroelectric one that stemmed from the innovations produced for automatic convertible tops. Lincoln and Cadillac introduced their own versions soon after.

As the technology became simpler and cheaper to produce, power windows transitioned from a luxury to a near-universal feature, but there were still plenty of vehicles that offered hand crank windows into the modern day in order to cut costs. The last car to offer them in the US, the Jeep Wrangler, just dropped them in 2025, a little over 80 years after the technology was invented, so it truly is the end of an era.

8 Power Steering (1951)

The first production car to feature power steering was the 1951 Chrysler Imperial, equipped with Chrysler’s “Hydraguide” system, but there were earlier patents for such systems that never found widespread use. Using hydraulic assistance, they amplified the input of the driver, allowing customers to maneuver larger vehicles easier than ever before at slow speeds and making driving less of a hassle.

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Chrysler’s version was based on a system first created by Francis W. Davis, who made the system before moving to GM, but the company decided it wasn’t going to have a market at the time. Once his patents expired, Chrysler took advantage of the situation. Once automakers saw its potential, it started finding widespread use, but smaller vehicles could still be found without it for decades, since they weren’t as necessary. Today, the system has started to be supplanted by drive-by-wire systems that take the mechanical and hydraulic systems out of the equation but are far from perfect.

7 Three Point Seatbelts (1959)

It’s well known that we owe it to Volvo for the seatbelt design we use today. Perfected by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959, the system was seen as so important the company decided not to patent it, allowing automakers around the world to utilize it and save countless lives ever since. The PV544 and Amazon models were the first to ever use the revolutionary design which combined a lap belt and shoulder harness into one system.

It took a little while for it to catch on, but once customers started demanding better safety, automakers around the world started utilizing it. It’s hard to pinpoint the last car sold without the safety device, but once governments started getting involved in mandating them, it was quickly found everywhere. Today, it would truly be unthinkable for a new car to arrive without them, not to mention illegal.

6 Backup Camera (1956)

While not a production vehicle, the first recorded use of a backup camera appeared in the groundbreaking 1956 Buick Centurion concept car. The concept was unveiled at the General Motors Motorama and featured a rear-mounted TV camera that transmitted a live video feed to a screen embedded in the dashboard. It was incredible for the time, but the technology just wasn’t there for widespread use.

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It wasn’t until the JDM-only Toyota Soarer arrived in 1991 that it finally arrived in a production car, and then it slowly proliferated over the next few decades. As of May 1st, 2018, this technology is mandatory in every new car sold in the US, and there are plenty of ways to add the technology to older cars too.

5 Heated Seats (1966)

Heated seats debuted on the 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood, and it was barely a footnote at the time. The electric seat warmer offered customers a way to make the cold car seats a little more comfortable on a frigid day, and it was only available in the rear on the Fleetwood Seventy-Five models. It was a major luxury innovation at the time, but that was all it was, a luxury, and it continued like that for decades. While still not standard on new vehicles, it’s one of the first options and usually comes in a cold-weather package, but the frequent modern recalls make us wonder how dangerous the first versions could have been.

4 Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) (1978)

The Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) made its debut in the 1978 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and it’s another of those life-saving innovations that we owe a great debt to. ABS prevents wheels from locking up during hard braking, allowing the driver to maintain steering control even in slippery conditions. The system Mercedes introduced was created with the help of Bosch, and during testing, it was impossible not to see how game-changing it was going to be.

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Unfortunately, it was a complicated system, so it was only reserved for luxury vehicles for quite a while. Even into the 2000s, it was common to find base model cars without the protective feature. The base model 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt was the last US production car sold without the system, and since 2011 it’s been legally required on all new vehicles sold in the US.

3 Touchscreen Infotainment Systems (1986)

While not everyone loves touchscreens in cars today, they’re undoubtedly better than the ones offered in cars back in the day. The first ones were introduced in the 1986 Buick Riviera as a way to lure buyers away from European rivals. Sitting in the middle of the dash, the CRT-based system glowed with a turquoise hue and allowed drivers to control audio and climate systems in the car.

It was a bold step in car technology innovation, but it was also crude, had to use, and the lights would burn out over time. Luxury brands like Lexus and BMW built on this concept in the 1990s and early 2000s, refining the interface and adding navigation functionality, and soon it trickled down into everyday vehicles, becoming a staple with impressive levels of functionality today.

2 Blind Spot Monitoring (2007)

If you’ve ever been saved by your car from accidentally merging into a vehicle conveniently hiding in your blindspot, you have Volvo to thank. Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) debuted on the 2003 Volvo XC90 as part of the brand’s mission to reduce accidents caused by lane-changing maneuvers. Using sensors mounted on the sides of the vehicle, the system detected cars in the driver’s blind spots and issued visual and audible alerts to prevent collisions.

Its life-saving potential immediately became apparent, and it spread by wildfire across the industry. Soon it was joined by other systems like lane-keeping, pedestrian monitoring, and more, all included in driver assistance suites aimed to protect the driver and those around them. Now systems like them can be found in nearly every new vehicle, revolutionizing the way we drive.

1 LED Headlights (2006)

Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no denying that LED headlights have revolutionized the way we see in dark situations. As a replacement for incandescent bulbs, they’re significantly brighter in nearly every situation and more energy efficient, alerting drivers earlier to dangers that may be awaiting them ahead and saving you money in the long run.

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The first production car to feature LED headlights was the 2006 Lexus LS 600h, but they were only for low beams. It wasn’t until the Audi R8 first arrived that a car’s entire bulb cluster featured the new technology. While some believe that headlights have gotten too bright in recent years, we think the bigger issue is preventing even further headlight innovations from reaching our shores thanks to outdated laws.

Sources:
Packard Info
, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, GM, Chrysler