9 GENIUS Car Features That Took Detroit 30 Years to Catch Up To

Pull up a stool. Pop's been working on these since before you were born. Ralph Teetor was a mechanical engineer blinded in a childhood accident at age five. In the nineteen forties, he was riding with his lawyer whose foot lurched on the accelerator every time he made a point in conversation, and it annoyed Teetor enough that he went home and invented cruise control. Chrysler shipped his system in nineteen fifty-eight as Auto-Pilot. It took Detroit until the nineteen nineties to make it standard. Tonight Pop walks you through nine genius features that shipped in American cars decades before they became universal — the engineer who invented each one, the year it appeared, and the year Detroit finally caught up. 🔧 New episodes every Tuesday and Saturday 🛠️ "They Had This In…?" shorts every Thursday 🏁 Subscribe and pull up a stool. Pop's got the floor. Chapters: 0:00 Pop pulls up a stool 0:45 #9 — Ralph Teetor's Auto-Pilot (Chrysler 1958) 2:55 #8 — Rochester mechanical fuel injection (Corvette 1957) 5:05 #7 — Corvair Monza turbocharger (1962) 7:15 #6 — Corvette independent rear suspension (1963) 9:25 #5 — Cadillac automatic climate control (1964) 11:35 #4 — Cadillac rear-window defroster (1965) 13:45 #3 — Ford Mustang factory 8-track (1965) 15:55 #2 — Chrysler Imperial anti-lock brakes (1971) 18:05 #1 — Ford LTD keyless entry prototype (1980) Source : 2008 Dodge Avenger Acceleration by CMBJ - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Aerial views of a car driving in snow through a forest by Vladislav Sanikovich - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Assembly line by Automotive garage - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Automobile museum in Mezhyhirya after Russian attack, 2025-01-28 (001) by State Emergency Service of Ukraine - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Ayalon trafic congestion time lapse by Saifunny - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Barcode scanning device (cash register) by User:Mateus2019 - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Cars drifting around a race track at twilight and night as viewed from FPV drone by anotherview - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Cars driving at night by    / editor   - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Drone footage of the Ford Rouge Center, Dearborn, MI. - 03.06.22 by Chris Cafiero - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Farthinder Brunnsjögatan Hedemora 20201124 by Calle Eklund - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Mondial de l'automobile de Paris 2014 - Moteur Renault DCI 160 Twin turbo EDC by Thesupermat - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... The nighttime attack of freezing rain rattled the front windows of the car. by Fumikas Sagisavas - CC-BY - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Verkehr auf Autobahn A4 bei Bautzen (1) by Fiver, der Hellseher - CC-BY-SA - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...