The first modern automobile is generally considered to have been designed in 1886 by Karl Benz that featured wire wheels with a four-stroke engine fitted between the rear wheels. After 126 years, cars are still among our most pivotal obsessions. Not surprisingly, the last 126 years have delivered us prodigious automobile trivia. In this article I’ve gathered some of the most interesting car facts you probably did not know, so if you’re motor head or simply looking for some time to kill, as a minimum one of these facts will tickle your fancy.
1. In The USA, States Have Varying Laws On Seat Belts
Seat belt laws vary across states in America. These are split into two sections: primary seat belt laws whereby drivers and passengers can be ticketed for not wearing seat belts and secondary seat belt laws whereby drivers and passengers can only be ticketed for not wearing a belt if another traffic offense has also occurred.
2. Driverless Cars Are Becoming A Reality
There are several entities attempting to create cars that can function without drivers. Google has created 10 different self-driving cars that have travelled a total of 300,000 miles on busy roads and have only resulted in 2 incidents, with one happening while a human was driving and one when another vehicle hit the car. It will be exciting to see the development of this technology and its implications on car related accidents.
3. The Largest Land Vehicle On Earth Weighs Over 45,000 Tons
The Bagger 288 excavator is the largest land vehicle in the world and was created to move massive amounts of earth. This excavator is over 300 feet tall, more than 700 feet long, and comes in at 45,500 tons.
4. As Of 2010 There Are Currently More Than 1 Billion Vehicles Being Used On Earth
In research carried out by Ward in the US, it is estimated that in the year 2010, there were 1.015 billion vehicles being used in the world. These are all motor vehicles including cars, all trucks and buses. The figure does not include construction equipment such as tractors, or off-road vehicles.
5. An Estimated 60 Million Cars Are Made Each Year
In 2012 it was estimated that are over 60 million cars would be produced; a global first. This would equal 165,000 cars being manufactured on a daily basis. The 5 largest producing nations of vehicles are China, Japan, Germany, Soth Korea, and India in that order. China produced 24 percent of all the world’s cars in 2011 and over double Japan, the runner-up. In fact, China produced 4.88 more cars than the US (14.4 million to 2.9 million).
6. The Average Car Has Thousands Of Parts
The average car is made up of around 30,000 parts, including each and every little piece that is in the resulting vehicle. It might seem unbelievable, but when you start calculating equipment like side panels and interior screws, you can imagine how the numbers will start to tally up. In addition to all those parts, a Mercedes-Benz car body is welded in 10,000 places. Car manufacturer companies like Mercedes are now even selling parts online through different vendors such as eEuroparts.com, which allow people to buy OEM parts with convenience.
7. One Horse Does Not Have One Horsepower
The number of “horsepower” advertised with cars considered as a basic unit of mechanical power of that particular vehicle that can be gaged in various ways. Some manufacturers involve converting one horsepower to 745 watts, or 33,000 foot-pounds of torque per minute in a physical conversion. According to these measurements, a real horse averages only about .7 horsepower. Featured photo credit: Travis Wise via flickr.com
