Béla Barényi was an Austro-Hungarian engineer, of Hungarian and Austrian heritage, from his father's and mother's side, respectively. He is regarded as the father of passive safety in automobiles. He was born in Hirtenberg, Austria near Vienna, Austria during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father Jenő Barényi (1866–1917) was a Hungarian officer, a teacher at the military academy at Pressburg, a former Hungarian capital.