When I first started driving in the 90s it seemed like the 4 and 5 speed transmission was the best, modern transmission you could get. They were relatively reliable, and had enough gears to make acceleration, and fuel economy good in my Honda CRX.
Today, I can buy a Honda Odyssey with a 9-speed automatic transmission standard, and 10-speed on the high end model.
**What has changed in transmission engineering, materials science, and technology to allow more gears in the gearbox?**
What are the potential downsides? E.g. is the typical 10-speed as reliable as the old standard 5-speed gearbox?
Edit: To be more clear, this is an ENGINEERING, MATERIALS SCIENCE, and TECHNOLOGY question. I understand the benefits of having more gears for ride quality, and fuel efficiency.
In: Engineering
In addition to the things that others have mentioned, it’s also necessary to consider the SCALE of the effort that produced the 10 speed transmissions. GM and Ford developed them in a joint venture, because it was too complex and expensive for either to do alone. They spent literally BILLIONS of dollars on that project. It’s easy to think “oh, they went from 5 to 10, ho hum” … but the scale of the effort needed to accomplish that deserves some recognition.
Latest Answers