I'd be guessing saying Bosch
piezo crystals have been around a long time
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The Buick Motor Division developed them (and distributor-less ignition) for their turbo V-6 Grand National cars in the mid-70s.
Jeff
I was gonna say around 80-81 by GM but I didn't know the GNX was the test bed for it. I do know that was right around the time that the RON numbers dropped quite a bit in the fuels available though.
Apparently Buick was desperate to keep their turbo motors from detonating (and becoming warrantee nightmares). They found that, with knock sensors, much more boost could be tolerated, which produced a spectacular car for that period.
Jeff
Yeah they were running pretty decent boost numbers especially for the time. It's crazy that the quickest thing on the road back then averaged about 200hp throughout it's glory years with 245 being the most it ever came with in 1987.