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An automobile or '''motor car''' (usually shortened to just '''car''') is a Wheel ed Passenger Vehicle that carries its own Motor . Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the Transport of people rather than goods.1 However, the term is far from precise. As of 2002, there were 590 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car for every eleven people).2 HISTORY See Also: History of the automobile An automobile powered by an Otto Gasoline Engine was built in Mannheim , Germany by Karl Benz in 1885 and granted a Patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie. which was founded in 1883. Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler , Wilhelm Maybach , and Siegfried Marcus ) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz is generally acknowledged as the Inventor of the modern automobile. In 1879 Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle and in 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion Flat Engine . Approximately 25 Benz vehicles were built and sold before 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France , already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company, DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890 and under the brand name, Daimler, sold their first automobile in 1892. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after falling out with their backers. Benz and Daimler seem to have been unaware of each other's early work and worked independently. Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed a model named ''Daimler-Mercedes'', special-ordered by Emil Jellinek . Two years later, a new model DMG automobile was produced and named Mercedes after the engine. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the ''Daimler'' brand name were sold to other manufacturers. Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later and in 1924 they signed an ''Agreement of Mutual Interest'' valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the ''Daimler-Benz'' company, baptizing all of its automobiles ''Mercedes Benz'' honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the ''1902 Mercedes-35hp'', along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929. In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel got a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897 he built the first Diesel Engine . In 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent() for a Two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered more than encouraged development of autos in the United States . Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. .]] The large-scale, Production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This assembly line concept was then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric Ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering , for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. Although various Pistonless Rotary Engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional Piston and Crankshaft design, only Mazda 's version of the Wankel Engine has had more than very limited success. , 1927, regarded as the first affordable automobile]] Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. The makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac ; the LaSalle of the 1930s, sold by Cadillac , used cheaper mechanical parts made by the Oldsmobile division. DESIGN See Also: Automotive design ; revolutionary visual design and technological innovation.]] The design of modern cars is typically handled by a large team of designers and engineers from many different disciplines. As part of the product development effort the team of designers will work closely with teams of design engineers responsible for all aspects of the vehicle. These engineering teams include: Chassis , body and Trim , powertrain, electrical and production. The design team under the leadership of the design director will typically comprise of an exterior designer, an interior designer (usually referred to as stylists), and a color and materials designer. A few other designers will be involved in detail design of both exterior and interior. For example, a designer might be tasked with designing the rear light clusters or the steering wheel. The color and materials designer will work closely with the exterior and interior designers in developing exterior color paints, interior colors, fabrics, leathers, carpet, wood trim, and so on. In 1924 the American national automobile market began reaching saturation. To maintain unit sales, General Motors instituted annual model-year design changes (also credited to Alfred Sloan) in order to convince car owners they needed a replacement each year. Since 1935 automotive form has been driven more by consumer expectations than engineering improvement. Acceleration , Braking , and measures of turning or Agility vary widely between different makes and models of automobile. The automotive publication industry has developed around these performance measures as a way to quantify and qualify the characteristics of a particular vehicle. See Quarter Mile and 0 To 60 mph . FUEL AND PROPULSION TECHNOLOGIES See Also: Alternative fuel vehicle
Diesel Gasoline Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work at higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high performance sports cars. Continuous development of gasoline engines for over a hundred years has produced improvements in efficiency and reduced pollution. The Carburetor was used on nearly all road car engines until the 1980s but it was long realised better control of the fuel/air mixture could be achieved with Fuel Injection . Indirect fuel injection was first used in aircraft engines from 1909, in racing car engines from the 1930s, and road cars from the late 1950s. Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now starting to appear in production vehicles such as the 2007 BMW MINI . Exhaust gases are also cleaned up by fitting a catalytic converter into the exhaust system. Clean air legislation in many of the car industries most important markets has made both catalysts and fuel injection virtually universal fittings. Most modern gasoline engines are also capable of running with up to 15% Ethanol mixed into the gasoline - older vehicles may have seals and hoses that can be harmed by ethanol. With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. 100% ethanol is used in some parts of the world (such as Brazil ), but vehicles must be started on pure gasoline and switched over to ethanol once the engine is running. Most gasoline engined cars can also run on LPG with the addition of an LPG Tank for fuel storage and carburetion modifications to add an LPG mixer. LPG produces fewer toxic emissions and is a popular fuel for fork lift trucks that have to operate inside buildings. Electric See Also: Battery electric vehicle , the first modern (transistor-controlled) electric car.]] ]] The first (1.74 l/100 km). Steam Steam power, usually using an oil or gas heated boiler, was also in use until the 1930s but had the major disadvantage of being unable to power the car until boiler pressure was available. It has the advantage of being able to produce very low emissions as the combustion process can be carefully controlled. Its disadvantages include poor heat efficiency and extensive requirements for electric auxiliaries.Setright, L.J.K. "Steam: The Romantic Illusion", in Ward, Ian, ed., ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis Publishing, 1974), pp.2168-2173.) Gas turbine In the 1950s there was a brief interest in using Gas Turbine (jet) engines and several makers including Rover produced prototypes. In spite of the power units being very compact, high fuel consumption, severe delay in throttle response, and lack of engine braking meant no cars reached production. Rotary (Wankel) engines Rotary Wankel Engine s were introduced into road cars by NSU with the Ro 80 and later were seen in several Mazda models. In spite of their impressive smoothness, poor reliability and fuel economy led to them largely disappearing. Mazda, however, has continued research on these engines and overcame most of the earlier problems. Future developments Much current research and development is centered on Hybrid vehicles that use both electric power and internal combustion. Research into alternative forms of power also focus on developing Fuel Cells , Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) , Stirling Engine s9, and even using the stored energy of compressed air or Liquid Nitrogen . SAFETY See Also: Car safety Automobile accident .]] Cars have many basic safety problems - for example, they have human drivers who make mistakes, wheels that lose traction when the braking, turning or acceleration forces are too high. Some vehicles have a high Center Of Gravity and therefore an increased tendency to roll over. When driven at high speeds, collisions can have very serious or fatal consequences. Early safety research focused on increasing the reliability of brakes and reducing the flammability of fuel systems. For example, modern engine compartments are open at the bottom so that fuel vapors, which are heavier than air, vent to the open air. Brakes are hydraulic and dual circuit so that failures are slow leaks, rather than abrupt cable breaks. Systematic research on crash safety started in 1958 at Ford Motor Company . Since then, most research has focused on absorbing external crash energy with crushable panels and reducing the motion of human bodies in the passenger compartment. This is reflected in most cars produced today. , a modern component of Automobile Safety ]] Significant reductions in death and injury have come from the addition of Safety Belt s and laws in many countries to require vehicle occupants to wear them. Airbags and specialised child restraint systems have improved on that. Structural changes such as side-impact protection bars in the doors and side panels of the car mitigate the effect of impacts to the side of the vehicle. Many cars now include radar or sonar detectors mounted to the rear of the car to warn the driver if he or she is about to reverse into an obstacle or a pedestrian. Some vehicle manufacturers are producing cars with devices that also measure the proximity to obstacles and other vehicles in front of the car and are using these to apply the brakes when a collision is inevitable. There have also been limited efforts to use Heads Up Display s and Thermal Imaging technologies similar to those used in military aircraft to provide the driver with a better view of the road at night. Despite technological advances, there is still significant loss of life from car accidents: About 40,000 people die every year in the United States , with similar figures in Europe an nations. This figure increases annually in step with rising population and increasing travel if no measures are taken, but the rate '' Per Capita '' and ''per'' mile traveled decreases steadily. The death toll is expected to nearly double worldwide by 2020. A much higher number of accidents result in injury or permanent Disability . The highest accident figures are reported in China and India. The European Union has a rigid program to cut the death toll in half by 2010, and member states have started implementing measures. Automated Control has been seriously proposed and successfully prototyped. Shoulder-belted passengers could tolerate a 32 G emergency stop (reducing the safe inter-vehicle gap 64-fold) if high-speed roads incorporated a steel rail for emergency braking. Both safety modifications of the roadway are thought to be too expensive by most funding authorities, although these modifications could dramatically increase the number of vehicles able to safely use a high-speed Highway . This makes clear the often-ignored fact Road Design and Traffic Control also play a part in car wrecks; unclear traffic signs, inadequate signal light placing, and poor planning (curved bridge approaches which become icy in winter, for example), also contribute. ECONOMICS AND IMPACTS ) was developed by Toyota in 2005]] Cost and benefits of ownership See Also: Economics of automobile ownership Cost and benefits to society See Also: Effects of the automobile on societies Impacts on society Improving the positive and reducing the negative impacts FUTURE CAR TECHNOLOGIES See Also: Future car technologies Automobile propulsion technologies under development include Hybrid Car s, Battery Electric Vehicle s, Hydrogen Car s, and various Alternative Fuel s. New materials which may replace steel car bodies include Duraluminum , Fiberglass , Carbon Fiber , and Carbon Nanotube s. ALTERNATIVES TO THE AUTOMOBILE See Also: Alternatives to the automobile FURTHER READING Other automotive topics
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