USA Motoring Trivia Timeline – 20th Century

1899	First rental car business opened – Back Bay Cycle & Motor Company of Boston, Massachusett.
1906	First roadside petrol pumps introduced.
1907	Speed humps (‘sleeping policeman’) installed in Glencoe, Illinois.
1910	First drive-in gasoline station with island pumps on Detroit.
1915	Stop lights fitted to cars.
	Cadillacs fitted with dipping headlamps.
1919	Three-colour traffic lights installed in Detroit.
1922	Electrically synchronised traffic lights in operation in Houston, Texas.
1925	First motel opened – The Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, California.
1927	Car radios become available – from the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company.
1932	First mass produced V8 engine fitted to the Ford Model A.
1933	First Drive-In cinema opened in Camden, New Jersey.
1937	First Drive-In bank opened in Los Angeles, California.
1946	Radio telephones first used.
1950	Nash Ramblers offered with seatbelts.
1951	Power steering fitted on Chrysler Imperials.
1955	Sealed-beam headlamps standardised.
1959	Chryslers fitted with electronically actuated interior mirrors which automatically dipped.
1962	Amber front turn indicators replaced white signals.
1963	Chevrolet Corvette pop-up headlamps operated by push- button.
1967	Concealed windscreen wipers pioneered on GM models.
	Warning buzzer fitted/sounded on GM models for keys left in the ignition.
	Exhaust emission control systems fitted as standard.
1968	Airbag experiments began.
1969	Electric sunroof appeared on Cadillac’s.
1970	Every american production car fitted with radial tyres.
	All engines redesigned to run on unleaded fuel.
1973	GM production cars offered with airbags.
1981	Delorean was the first production car with external stainless steel panelling.
1985	Official testing of airbags began.
1988	Chryslers fitted airbags to their cars.
1996	On-board diagnostics (OBD) compulsory in cars.
	GM launched a connected system in their cars called OnStar.