Clad in a skeleton costume, Miss Unsafe Brakes appeared at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show to drive home the importance of car owners keeping their brakes in good repair.

With fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles travelled in 1939 almost 10 times higher than today, well-maintained brakes represented the beginning of the auto industry's solutions to the hazards of driving.

Over the next few decades, automakers added safety features such as seat belts, headrests, and shatter-resistant windshields. In time, deaths slowed to an all-time low in 2012.