Stuttgart. On 23 January 1951, Daimler-Benz AG registered a patent for the passenger car body with a passenger safety cell. This invention by Béla Barényi was granted Patent No. 845 157 with the title “Motor vehicle, specifically for personal transport”. This was a trailblazing innovation, as it is still seen as the fundamental feature of passive automotive safety to this day. In 1959 the safety body with its rigid passenger cell entered series production for the first time in the Mercedes-Benz W 111 series (model 220b). Together with numerous other developments, the passenger safety cell patented in 1951 is one of the technical standards that Mercedes-Benz continues to set worldwide for improvements in passive automotive safety. Continue reading →