10 Great Car Improvement Ideas Which Never Came True

2. Saab Joystick Controlled Car

Despite using steering wheels to drive our cars since cars were invented, Saab attempted to innovate the manner by which drivers steered their vehicles. The big innovation was to use a joystick in the Saab 9000, known as the Prometheus, instead of a steering wheel. The joystick was located in the center console and was designed to steer the car by twisting it left and right to change the direction the vehicle was traveling. One of the primary motivations behind the innovation was to reduce driver injuries that occurred by hitting the steering wheel during a car accident. The joystick ultimately failed where the steering wheel is very good—in making fine-tuned adjustments to how the vehicle is being steered. Saab found that a single joystick actually created too much driver fatigue and had plans to adopt a second one before ultimately scratching this car improvement idea which has never come back on other auto models.