Vehicle with steering-wheel-mounted automatic transmission control - affording choices of more or less economical driving and manual override of automatic gear ratio selection

摘要

The baffle plate (8) at the centre of the steering wheel (6) is flanked by arrays of buttons for program selection (9) and gear ratio selection (10). Park, Reverse, Neutral and Drive settings (5) are selected conventionally with a lever (4) mounted centrally on the floor (3). The program covers "sporty" driving (S), economical driving (E), manual gear selection (M) using the opposite buttons (10), and driving under load (L). An additional facility for driving in wintry conditions may be provided in certain markets. ADVANTAGE - Construction and operability of automatic gear change mechanism are simplified with less distraction of driver.