automobile controls
Steering
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The first automobiles were steered with a tiller. In 1894, Alfred Vacheron competed in the Paris–Rouen race with a Panhard et Levassorwith a steering wheel, which is thought to be the earliest deployment of the wheel.[1] From 1898, Panhard et Levassor cars came with steering wheels.
Steering wheels for passenger automobiles are generally circular, mounted to the steering column. Where cars drive on the left side of the road, the steering wheel is typically on the right side of the car, and vice-versa.
Power steering makes it easier to turn the wheels. Power steering has mostly been hydraulic but are being replaced by electrical systems.
Brakes
Brakes are generally controlled by a pedal which is used to reduce the vehicle's speed while driving. Cars also have a parking brake which can be operated by a hand brake lever or by a pedal.
Throttle
The speed of modern cars is controlled by a dead man's switch in the form of a foot pedal. Early cars such as the Ford Model T had a hand lever to control the throttle.[2] Later cars used both a foot pedal and a hand lever where the hand lever set the minimum throttle, an early for of cruise control. Modern cruise control was invented in 1948[3] and is usually operated via buttons on the steering wheel.
Cars used to be equipped with a manual choke valve on the carburetor. Modern cars had an automatic choke, and today the control is unnecessary as fuel injection has supplanted carburetors.
Another adjustment once made manually was ignition timing.[4]
Transmission
Vehicles are equipped with a transmission or gearbox to change the speed-torque ratio and the direction of travel: forward or reverse. Historically manual transmissions were used but these are being supplanted by semi-automatic transmissions, automatic transmissions andCVTs. Manual transmissions feature a driver-operated clutch pedal and gear stick. The earliest form of a manual transmission is thought to have been invented by Louis-René Panhard and Emile Levassor in the late 19th century.
In electric vehicles clutches and multi-speed gearboxes are not required, as electric motors can drive the vehicle both forward and reverse from zero speed and typically operate over a wider speed range than combustion engines.[5] but this gearbox proved to be problematic and was later replaced with a fixed-ratio transmission.
Cars used to be equipped with a manual overdrive switch.
Gear sticks are most commonly found between the front seats of the vehicle, either on the center console (sometimes even quite far up on the dashboard), the transmission tunnel, on the floor, or on the steering column.
Many automatic transmission vehicles have extra controls which modify the choices made by the transmission system depending on engine and road speed.
In some four-wheel drive vehicles there is a gear lever that engages a low-ratio gearbox, used on tough terrain. Other levers may switch between two- and four-wheel drive, or engage differential locks.
Automatic transmissions traditionally have had a straight pattern beginning at the most forward position with park (which locks up the transmission), and running through reverse, neutral, drive (all gears available), and then the lower gears (often three or two more positions, each locking out a successive upper gear), with the rear-most position allowing first gear only.
Cars have a freewheel that disengages the driveshaft from the driven shaft when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft. Saab used a freewheel system in their two-stroke models and maintained it in the Saab 96 V4 and early Saab 99 for better fuel efficiency but at the cost of engine braking. Some cars such as the Rover P4 included a manual switch to engage or disengage the freewheel.[6]
Signalisation & lighting
Cars include controls for headlamps, fog lamps, and turn signals. Turn signals are activated by the driver on one side of the vehicle at a time to advertise intent to turn or change lanes toward that side.[7] Electric turn-signal lights date from as early as 1907.[8] The modern turn signal was patented in 1938 and was later most major automobile manufacturers offered this feature.[9] As of 2013 most countries require turn signals on all new vehicles that are driven on public roadways. The turn signal lever is usually activated by a horizontal lever protruding from the left side of the steering column.
Instrumentation
Cars include a variety of instruments to indicate driving parameters and the state of the mechanics, for example a speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge, temperate gauge, andtachometer. Early cars were often equipped with an ammeter to measure the performance of the electrical system, but in modern cars has been replaced by a warning light.
Starter
Before the advent of the starter motor, engines were started by various methods including wind-up springs, gunpowder cylinders, and human-powered techniques such as a removable hand-crank. This was difficult and dangerous. The first electric starter was installed on an Arnold.[10] In 1911 Charles Kettering and Henry Leland invented and filed U.S. Patent 1,150,523 for the first electric starter in America. Starters were first installed on the Cadillac Model Thirty in 1912.
Before Chrysler's 1949 innovation of the key-operated combination ignition-starter switch,[11] the starter was often operated by the driver pressing a button mounted on the floor or dashboard. This type of control has returned because of the use of keyless entry.
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