Modern automobiles may have other controls, such as cruise control, audio system, and telephone controls, as well as paddle-shifters, built into the steering wheel to minimize the extent to which the driver must take their hands off the wheel. In addition to its use in steering, the steering wheel is the usual location for a button to activate the car's horn. In countries where cars must drive on the left side of the road, the steering wheel is typically on the right side of the car (right-hand drive or RHD) the converse applies in countries where cars drive on the right side of the road (left-hand drive or LHD). Other types of vehicles may use the circular design, a butterfly shape, or some other shape. Steering wheels for passenger automobiles are generally circular and are mounted to the steering column by a hub connected to the outer ring of the steering wheel by one or more spokes (single spoke wheels being a rather rare exception). Passenger cars Ī RHD mounted wheel with airbag, as well as audio and cruise control buttons Most other car makers began offering cars with left-hand drive in 1910. Jeffery, the position of the driver was also moved to the left-hand side of the car during the 1903 Rambler production. Within a decade, the steering wheel had entirely replaced the tiller in automobiles.Īt the insistence of Thomas B. By 1904, all Ramblers featured steering wheels. The following year, the Rambler Model E was largely unchanged, except that it came equipped with a tiller early in the year, but with a steering wheel by the end of 1903. However, the early automaker adopted a more 'conventional' rear-engine and tiller-steering layout for its first mass-produced Ramblers in 1902. Jeffery, developed two advanced experimental cars featuring a front-mounted engine, as well as a steering wheel that was mounted on the left-hand side. Arthur Constantin Krebs replaced the tiller with an inclined steering wheel for the Panhard car he designed for the 1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris race which ran 7–13 July 1898. Charles Rolls introduced the first car in Britain fitted with a steering wheel when he imported a 6 hp Panhard from France in 1898.

įrom 1898, the Panhard et Levassor cars were equipped as standard with steering wheels. That is believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle. The first automobiles were steered with a tiller, but in 1894, Alfred Vacheron took part in the Paris–Rouen race with a Panhard 4 hp model which he had fitted with a steering wheel.

Near the start of the 18th century, a large number of sea vessels appeared using the ship's wheel design, but historians are unclear when that approach to steering was first used. 1913 Ford Model T Speedster with rigid steering column and four-spoke wooden steering wheel

Cowboy steering wheel drivers