World’s first automobile field trial was in August 1888 from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back

Bertha Benz took this road trip with their two sons to help her husband Karl Friedrich Benz in his automobile business. The entire trip was of 180 km. Minor repairs were carried out by Bertha herself, like cleaning fuel line with a hat pin or using a garter to insulate worn out ignition wire. Bertha filled the thermosiphon cooling system with water from public houses, streams and sometimes from ditches! This field trial leads to improve brake and driving system. She also proved the importance of extreme field trials for product development.