Posted on 1/19/2021
Let’s take a second to pay homage to the 20thcentury geniuses that designed the automatic transmission, because its next-level stuff. In principle, the way they work is actually quite simple ---once its been explained. So for this article, we’ll stick to that, and not worry your head (our ours) with the complex details. So how does an automatic transmission know when to shift, especially when it often needs to shift at different RPMs? While its true that modern vehicles use sensors for most of the of work, the automatic transmission has been around since the 1940’s. Until the use of onboard computers late in the 20thcentury, shifting was controlled mechanically. And even when computers and sensors are used, the things they monitor are still the same. Here’s how it works Mechanical magic The first thing to understand is that the automatic transmission is actual ... read more