Like everything else, suspensions have a history. The problem with stories from long ago is that one cannot verify its truthfulness. Although this is the case, there will be no smoke if there’s no fire and stories always sprung from somewhere. The history of suspensions may very well sound like a tall tale but here it goes. It was believed that sometime in the sixteenth century, wagon and carriage users have had the problem of constantly enduring every bump in the road. They tried coming up with a means to lessen, if not totally eliminate, having to feel the bumps in the road. As a probable solution, they sling the carriage body from leather straps attached to four posts of a chassis that resembled an upturned table. With this, the carriage body was suspended from the chassis. This system eventually came to be coined as a “suspension.”

Their improvised slung-body suspension was not a true springing system. Although this is the case, it made possible for the body and wheels of the carriage to move independently. After this improvisation, many things start to happen when it comes to suspension. Semi-elliptical spring designs, also known as cart springs, quickly replaced the leather-strap suspension. It became popular on wagons, buggies and carriages. The semi-elliptical springs back then were often used on both the front and rear axles. The downside of this is that it tended to allow forward and backward motion in the vehicle. Aside from this, it also had a high center of gravity. That was back in the sixteenth century. When modernity came and along with it, powered vehicles started hitting the road and more efficient springing systems from Bilstein shocks began to be developed. These developments and products like Daewoo Shocks, Cadillac Struts, and Saab Shock Absorber among others have helped a lot in providing modern vehicles with a smooth ride.