Mercedes?? no thanks.
Disk brakes:
UK: The first caliper-type automobile disc brake was patented by Frederick William Lanchester in his Birmingham factory in 1902 and used successfully on Lanchester cars.
US: (47 years later)
The 1950 Crosley Hot Shot is often given credit for the first U.S. production disc brakes but the Chrysler Crown Imperial actually had them first as standard equipment at the beginning of the 1949 model year
ABS:
France: Got there first in 1929 on Aeroplane brakes
UK: Tested on motorbikes in the late 50's.
Cars... Jaguar experimented with Dunlop's Maxaret system starting in 1959, predating all other manufacturers. The first production car to have this system was the 1966 Jensen FF.
US: only 3 years behind this time..
Mercedes: 1978
The UK now?? Sadly, the UK supply base (and UK vehicle manufacturers) were not doing well in the 70's or 80's.
AP Lockheed had expanded globally in the brakes and clutch business, but hit hard times and were trying to get back in the game (e.g. for ABS) in the late 80's but didn't really compete well - they had a few production programs but mainly commercial vehicles. AP's hard times got even worse in the 90's.
Therefore for ABS, the Germans are now probably the main Tier 1 suppliers for most of the world's car industry.
Hazard lights
That's a tough one - unless anyone finds a better reference they were aftermarket equipment first available in 1951 in the US (well before Europe had amber indicators as standard in the 60's leading to standardisation of our current hazard warning lights)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pCED ... e&q&f=true
Electric Windows
UK: Daimler were the first to introduce electric windows in cars in 1948. (That's the UK midlands Daimler, later Jaguar / Daimler NOT the other one "Daimler Benz" aka Mercedes)
Traction control
That depends on your definition - Yank tanks started with LSD's due to lots of torque to the rear axle & limited grip. I think this was the 50's. The systems continued to develop but didn't really become 'modern TCS/ABS/ESP combined systems' until the late 80's when the likes of Bosch etc. had put the systems together with a central controller that could work the brakes individually to reduce wheelspin or modulate the brakes and engine together for better traction or stability.
Dual clutch gearboxes
Whilst we're moving through the ages, something a bit more modern!
The first production DSG (dual shift gearbox, aka twin clutch gearbox) was by Porsche in the 80's. Then in the 90's VW/Audi developed DSG gearboxes for the mass market before the French, Ford and GM caught up. However it was the UK (AP) and Renault that really started the sector.
The DSG idea had been around since the 70's (I once saw seen a desktop demonstrator from the 80's at AP Lockheed) but wasn't achievable until efficient synchro boxes (manual gearboxes) could be automated reliably. In Germany, Borg Warner had also been developing this and got into bed with VW for that.
The first mass market automated clutch was back in the 40's & 50's (e.g. AP Lockheed Manumatic system) and there were similar stunted attempts in the US. It wasn't until the late 80's that it became viable with computer control - This was released to the world by the French on the Renault Twingo 'easy' using the system designed & built in the UK by AP.
AP sold the business as it couldn't fund the continued development and the subsequent owners of the Leamington firm 'Kongsberg TechMatic aka KTM' worked with VW to deliver the Lupo 'auto shifting manual gearbox' on the market - VW continued onwards into launching DSG.
Other German groups (e.g ZF) responded to ASG & DSG by making slush box automatics behave much more efficiently.. and whilst that was good for US market and big cars that tend to have slush boxes, the small car market was missed.
LuK saw an opportunity and bought out KTM, and now supply DSG systems / components for VW, Renault, Ford, GM etc... & later closed the UK development centre in preference of Germany during the 2009 recession
Are you spotting a theme here?? (UK leads auto innovation.. but unlike the Germans it's not sustained, especially during hard times.).
The US vehicle manufacturers / US Tier 1's have been slower to innovate and now seem to be following the UK into decline.
