Most of us own at least one car, you might even own two but what do you really know about your vehicles? Do you know how many parts it has? How about the first ever speeding ticket or the most expensive speeding ticket ever written? Find out right here with ignorant facts 70 amazing car facts you’d never guess we’re true.
Raw Numbers
- 115 cars are produced per minute.
- 6875 cars are produced every hour.
- 165,000 cars are produced per day.
- 60 million cars are produced every year.
- It is estimated there are 1.2 billion cars currently in use on the planet.
- It’s estimated there will be a total of 2 billion cars on the planet by 2040.
- From 1909 to 1927, Ford built more than 15 million cars.
- In 1927 Ford could assemble a car in just 24 seconds.
- Since 1966 Toyota has sold 44.1 million Corollas.
- About 9,770,000 cars were made in Japan in 2014. Toyota made about 3,270,000 of these cars.
- The average car contains around 30,000 parts.
- 95% of a car’s lifetime is spent parked.
- 12 million vehicles are recycled in the United States every year.
- 80% of the parts on a vehicle are recyclable.
- 65% of the world’s population drives on the right side of the road.
- 95% of the cars in the U.S. have automatic transmission.
- In Europe and Japan, more than 80% of cars sold have manual transmissions.
- 1 in 4 cars on the road in the UK were made in China.
- 75% of all cars produced by Rolls Royce are still on the road.
- The vehicle with the highest mileage covered a total of 2,850,000 miles (4,586,630 km).
- According to a study commissioned by Quadrant Information Services, the average cost of car insurance in America is just over $1300. The highest annual cost of car insurance was recorded in Michigan at $2,000.
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Speed
- In case of a crash or an impact, airbags inflate in just 30 milliseconds.
- With a top speed of 270.49mph The Hennessey Venom GT is the world’s fastest production car. making it faster than the Bugatti Veyron by around 0.8 of a second.
- It would take less than 6 months to get to the moon by car at 60mph.
- The largest speeding ticket ever written was €1,000,000 in Sweden for driving 180mph.
- 42 seconds is the record for the fastest time to remove an engine, it was set by mechanics working on a Ford Escort on November 21, 1985.
- A modern Formula 1 car produces g force of 3.5 which means it can drive upside down in a tunnel at 120mph.
- The world’s first speeding ticket was issued in 1902 for traveling a blistering 45mph.
- On 15 September 1938, the Railton Mobile Special is the first car in the history to go faster than 350 mph (563.27 km/h). After further development, On 16 September 1947, John Cobb was able to break 400 mph (640 km/h) in a measured test.
Accidents and Sitting In Traffic
- According to the cars.com, the Ferrari 458 Spider, 563 is the most accident-prone car in the world.
- The least accident prone-vehicle according to the website is the Ford F-150 Super Crew, 42.
- Three-point seat belts save one life every six seconds.
- A crash typically happens within an average of three seconds after a driver is distracted.
- Texting while driving increases the chances of an accident by 23 times.
- The average American spends about 38 hours a year stuck in traffic.
- The average British driver will spend around 99 days of their life stuck in traffic.
- The odds of dying in a car accident are around 1 in 5,000.
- The first car accident occurred in 1891, in Ohio.
- Car wrecks are the number one cause of death for Americans under 35.
Volkswagen owns 12 car brands
- Volkswagen Passenger Cars
- Volkswagen Vehicles
- Audi
- Seat
- Skoda
- Bentley
- Bugatti
- Lamborghini
- Porsche
- Ducati
- Scania
- MAN
Tickets
- It is a criminal offense to drive around in a dirty car in Russia.
- The world’s first speeding ticket was issued in 1902 for traveling a blistering 45mph.
- The largest speeding ticket ever written was €1,000,000 in Sweden for driving 180mph.
Interesting, Weird and Hard To Believe
- In 1941, Henry Ford made a car out of soybeans. The car weighed 2000 lbs and had a tubular steel frame that had 14 plastic panels attached to it.
- Astonishingly, by the mid-1960s, American made cars were delivered to retail buyers with an average 24 defects a unit, and many of these defects were safety related.
- Did you know that large cars are more profitable than small cars.
- Benz and Mercedes were competitors until 1920. When these companies merged, the newly formed company started selling cars under the brand name ‘Mercedes-Benz’.
- Charles Goodyear invented the process of vulcanization of rubber(the rubber used in tires) when he was in jail and was experimenting with a piece of rubber and a pin. He accidentally dropped the piece of the rubber on the hot stove and the rubber became black and tough.
- Interestingly, the Beetle (from 1938 until 2003; total 21,529,464 units produced) came into existence when Adolf Hitler inspired by Henry Ford ordered the German carmaker, Dr. Ferdinand Porche, to develop a people’s car or “Volks Wagen” called the KDF (Kraft durch Frende).
- In 1982, the automobile industry provided one of every 6 jobs in the U.S.
- The new car smell is produced by over 50 volatile organic compounds.
- The longest car in the world, a custom built limo, is 100 meters long.
- The car also has a swimming pool and helicopter pad built in.
- When the car radio was introduced, some states wanted to ban it, arguing that it could distract drivers and cause accidents.
- There are more cars than people in Los Angeles.
- Ralph Teetor the inventor of cruise control was blind. He was inspired to create it by his lawyer who was apparently a very bad driver.
- Most new cars fake engine noise through speakers. They are quite silent otherwise.
- Up to 19 girls can be crammed into a Smart car.
- Toyota sells 1 Corolla every 15 seconds.
- The Rolls Royce HP-15 is one of the rarest cars on the planet? Wondering why? Learn that a total of 6 of these cars were made. Only one of these cars is still available in the world. And it is estimated worth is $35 million. The car had 3 cylinders and a top speed of 39 miles per hour.
- Leonardo Da Vinci invented the first ever car on paper in 1478.
Everything Else
- In the U.K, almost £70,000 is spent on fuel by the average motorist over their lifetime.
- The world’s first automobile the motorcar was developed by Karl Benz in 1885.
- The top speed of the motor car was 16 km per hour.
- Karl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine” on January 29, 1886.
- The first car available to the public was the Model T invented by Henry Ford.
- In 1941, Henry Ford made a car out of soy beans.
- The world’s first electric traffic signal is put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 5th, 1914.
- The first self-propelled vehicle–Cugnot Fardier—was made by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. It was a steam-powered tricycle.
- The world’s first IC engine–The Pyréolophore–was probably built by Nicephore Niepce in 1807. The inventor is also credited with the invention of photography.
- In 2013, white was the world’s most favorite car color.
- According to an Australian study, white vehicles are 10% less likely to be involved in an accident.
