1967 Chevrolet Energy-Absorbing Steering Column
date: label: date made
content: 1967
name: label: maker
content: General Motors Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: In the 1930s, several inventors were issued patents for steering columns that collapsed on impact, sparing the driver from being impaled on the column in a crash. Scissors, piston, and spring designs were proposed. But collapsible steering columns did not enter production until 1967, when General Motors began installing two-piece columns with steel mesh that crumpled under pressure as the column telescoped. The mesh slowed impact by absorbing energy. Chrysler adopted a similar column in 1967, and Ford introduced its own collapsible design in 1968. This example was designed for a 1967 Chevrolet Chevy II.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Road Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Keith Adelsberg
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2010.0113.01
label: catalog number
content: 2010.0113.01
label: accession number
content: 2010.0113
objectType: label: Object Name
content: steering column
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 39 in x 4 in; 99.06 cm x 10.16 cm