BORGWARD Pioneered Direction Indicators: In 1949 the Bremen-based Company Introduced This Beacon of Modern Safety Systems as Standard Equipment

PR62427

STUTTGART, Germany, Nov. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- Pioneering Innovations

Many technical features that are taken for granted in today's automobiles were

only introduced as standard equipment because of the determined efforts of

valiant pioneers. Carl F. W. Borgward (1890-1963) was one of them. The

direction indicator was one of the trendsetting technical innovations that made

the post-war BORGWARD Hansa 1500 a milestone of automotive history. That's

because this 1949 model was the first German automobile to feature a direction

indicator system as standard equipment.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151104/283717 )

Although Carl F. W. Borgward practically devoured almost all the automotive

technology magazines he could get his hands on and was virtually unmatched in

his efforts to successfully bring together all of the new research findings in

the automotive sector, he got his idea for the direction indicator simply from

his close observation of the army vehicles of the U.S. forces that occupied

Bremen after World War II. He noticed that almost all of these vehicles were

equipped with advanced direction indicator systems. This fired the imagination

of the automobile developers at BORGWARD.

Electro-mechanical trafficators had been introduced in Germany in 1928. These

systems were attached to the sides of vehicles, where they were supposed to

clearly indicate the direction in which a driver wished to turn by extending a

signal arm. Because it changed a vehicle's silhouette, an extended trafficator

was clearly visible in good light. However, this technology was very fragile

from a mechanical standpoint and it greatly restricted the possibilities of

body design. Moreover, whenever a vehicle travelled at high speeds the

increased air resistance prevented the signal arms, which were operated by

electromagnets, from extending. As a result, trafficators were no longer

state-of-the-art for advanced automobiles after World War II.

The better is the enemy of the good. BORGWARD immediately recognised the

advantages of the new technology, which was already being successfully used in

the USA. With its typical determination, the German carmaker spared no effort

to introduce direction indicators as standard equipment. Several German

supplier companies such as Bosch also began to experiment with direction

indicators during this time. The suppliers used a bimetal element to ensure

that the lights would flash reliably.

When Carl F. W. Borgward surprised the automotive world in 1949 with Germany's

first newly designed post-war car, the Hansa 1500 not only boasted a breath

taking pontoon shape but also served as a shining example of progress, thanks

to its standard-fitted direction indicator system.

BORGWARD introduced this innovation much earlier than required, as legislators

didn't "see the light" until some years later. The German government made

direction indicators mandatory for all vehicles in 1961, as traffic continued

to increase in the country as a result of Germany's "economic miracle".

BORGWARD Group AG

Kriegsbergstrasse 11

70174 Stuttgart, Germany

Marco Dalan

Head of Global Communications

Telephone +49-711-7941851000

e-mail media@borgward.com

http://www.borgward.com          

Source: BORGWARD Group AG