Innovation is one of the most important aspects of the ever-evolving automotive industry. Clever inventions helped change the way manufacturers built cars, inspiring generations of gearheads to tinker and innovate in cars. Those who are afraid to push the limits of their imagination end up closing their shops. Constant innovation is the main reason why the automobile is no longer what he was a century ago.
In their quest for excellence, automakers have launched innovative yet bizarre creations that simply failed. Some ideas are laughably unrealistic, while others fail because of bad timing. Either they don’t understand the economic implications or they are ahead of their time and lack the right technology to make it viable. Some highly innovative features, such as highly automated driving, promise to radically improve the driving experience. Others, however, failed in their quest and flopped miserably.
10/10 saab sensonic gearbox
Saab operates in an innovative culture, and few manufacturers on a tight budget are as innovative as the Swedish outfit. They pioneered innovative features such as headlamps and wipers, made electric seat heaters a standard feature, and introduced the first turbocharged engine with a fuel-injected wastegate. But some of the innovations went wrong too, like the Sensonic gearbox.
The Sensonic gearbox provided a manual driving experience with an automatic clutch and effortless switching between gears. However, parking in reverse on a slope is a nightmare and the car rolls forward when you release the accelerator.
9/10 Olympic parking lot
Parking a car can make even the most experienced driver nervous and leave the learner alone. Modern cars park virtually automatically, thanks to innovations such as smart parking assist systems assisted by sensors and cameras. In the 1930s, there were no such functions as sensors, but engineers dared to dream.
Brooks Walker invented a fifth wheel that pushes down from the rear of the car at a sideways angle to turn the car around in tight spaces. He tried first with his 1933 Packard and again with a Cadillac in the 1950s, but failed because many thought it was too expensive.
8/10 rolls royce toilet
In 1954, New York man Joseph Mash ordered a custom coach-built Rolls-Royce with one of the strangest features in a car. There was a functional toilet in the backseat and the contents could be emptied onto the road.
But it wasn’t the first car with the same features. In 1947, Cadillac built a car with a function car that could drive thousands of miles without stopping. It is no exaggeration to say that the innovation failed miserably.
7/10 bose electromagnetic suspension
Bose is best known for its audio equipment, but over 30 years ago it set out to build an innovative suspension system. They have spent a lot of time developing it to create a dynamic driving experience with the highest level of on-road comfort.
The technology deployed an electromagnet, and after testing it on the Lexus LS400, it proved successful. This was a perfectly working technology, but it failed because it was too expensive and heavy for production cars.
6/10 ford reactor
The nuclear arms race was one of the most disturbing periods in human history, with the constant threat of nuclear war. Meanwhile, Ford was working on something less harmful. Nuclear car, Ford Nucleon. The idea was to build a car that could go over 5,000 miles on a single fill of gas.
This was a very ambitious project in 1958, and even today the technology to make Nucleon a reality has not been developed.
5/10 vinyl player
Playing music from your phone to your car stereo is a modern luxury. It was harder back then. Still, automakers have done their best to provide an enjoyable road trip with features like an in-car vinyl player.
It was an ambitious project, but it had problems that caused it to fail. It was unattractive to buyers because it used a special record when it was necessary to bring a record from home, the player’s needle jumped when hitting a bump, and was offered only as an optional feature.
4/10 Tucker Torpedo Cyclops Eye
The Tucker Torpedo is one of many cars that would have changed the automotive landscape, but with different results. Yet, it’s long-lasting footprint thanks to ingenious innovations like the Cyclop Eye.
The Cyclops Eye is a centrally located headlight on the Torpedo that rotates when the steering wheel is turned 10 degrees or more. Trackers claimed this helped improve safety and gave drivers valuable time to avoid accidents.
3/10 Cadillac V8-6-4
General Motors has gone through quite a bit of downturn, including surviving bankruptcy, all the way up to building the Pontiac Azteca, considered by many to be one of the worst American cars of all time. Long before that, they had developed his revolutionary yet disastrous 4-6-8 cylinder resting engine for Cadillac cars.
The technology was a good idea to save fuel. Instead, it was an immature and flawed innovation that he was a decade ahead of his time and inevitably failed.
2/10 automatic seat belt
Modern cars are equipped with many automatic safety features that actively try to avoid accidents or passively act to keep occupants safe after a collision. In the 90’s, automakers experimented with automated safety features like automatic seatbelts.
When a driver or front passenger occupant enters the vehicle, a motorized thoracic cross belt moves along the A pillar and onto the B pillar, automatically pulling the belt to the occupant’s chest. However, the passenger still had to pull another lap belt to tighten it, but many neglected her second part and was left unprotected in case of an accident.
1/10 goodyear illuminated tires
In the 1950s, Goodyear devised a wheel with 18 central light bulbs that illuminated the translucent “Tomorrow’s Tire” in vibrant hues. The tire compound was unique in that the bulb produced a stunning electroluminescence-like glow and allowed light to pass through.
However, this innovation came with safety concerns. Because the compound did not offer enough grip in wet weather and hard he did not hold well under braking.