HOME
*



picture info

Unsafe At Any Speed
''Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile'' is a non-fiction book by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, first published in 1965. Its central theme is that car manufacturers resisted the introduction of safety features (such as seat belts), and that they were generally reluctant to spend money on improving safety. This work contains substantial references and material from industry insiders. It was a best seller in non-fiction in 1966. The book resulted in the creation of the United States Department of Transportation in 1966 and the predecessor agencies of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1970. Theme ''Unsafe at Any Speed'' is primarily known for its critique of the Chevrolet Corvair, although only one of the book's eight chapters covers the Corvair. It also deals with the use of tires and tire pressure being based on comfort rather than on safety, and the automobile industry disregarding technically based criticism. A 1972 N.H.T.S ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Henry Ford Museum And Greenfield Village
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and many other historical exhibits. It is the largest indoor–outdoor museum complex in the United States and is visited by over 1.7 million people each year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 as "Edison Institute". Museum background Named for its founder, the automobile industrialist Henry Ford, and based on his efforts to preserve items of historical interest and portray the Industrial Revolution, the property houses homes, machinery, e ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Camber Angle
Camber angle is one of the angles made by the wheels of a vehicle; specifically, it is the angle between the vertical axis of a wheel and the vertical axis of the vehicle when viewed from the front or rear. It is used in the design of steering and suspension. If the top of the wheel is farther out than the bottom (that is, tilted away from the axle), it is called positive camber; if the bottom of the wheel is farther out than the top, it is called negative camber. Effect on handling Camber angle alters the handling qualities of some suspension designs; in particular, negative camber improves grip in corners especially with a short long arms suspension. This is because it places the tire at a better angle to the road, transmitting the centrifugal forces through the vertical plane of the tire rather than through a shear force across it. The centrifugal (outwards) force is compensated for by applying negative camber, which turns the contact surface of the tire outwards to match ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Borg Warner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 employees. BorgWarner is one of the 25 largest automotive suppliers in the world. Frédéric Lissalde has been CEO of BorgWarner Inc. since August 1, 2018. The company was formed in 1928 as Borg-Warner Corporation. It was formed as a fusion of companies including Borg & Beck, Marvel-Schebler, Warner Gear and Mechanics Universal Joint. In 1987, Borg-Warner Corporation ceased to exist as a result of a series of complex financial transactions, although a new company of the same name (still Borg-Warner Corporation) continued the business. At the same time, Borg-Warner Automotive Inc. was created as a subsidiary of the new company; the mother company, the new Borg-Warner Corporation, was later known as Borg-Warner Security Corporation. In 1993, Bor ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Ultramatic
Ultramatic was the trademarked name of the Packard Motor Car Company's automatic transmission introduced in 1949 and produced until 1954, at Packard's Detroit, Michigan East Grand Boulevard factory. It was produced thereafter from late 1954, thru 1956 at the new Packard "Utica" Utica, Michigan facility. 1935-1948: Development Packard's Ultramatic transmission was the creation of the company's chief engineer Forest McFarland and his engineering team. The magnitude of this accomplishment is illustrated by the fact that it was the only automatic transmission developed and produced solely by an independent automaker, with no outside help. Devices like the Ultramatic were being tested and designed by Packard from 1935 on, but none satisfied the perfectionist engineer. The Ultramatic's development was halted, as was all automotive work during World War II, but resumed in earnest during 1946. After World War II, Packard's range had contracted to variants of the mid-priced Clipper line. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hydra-Matic
Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the ''Hydramatic'' was the first mass-produced fully-automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile use. History During the 1930s, automakers sought to reduce or eliminate the need to shift gears. At the time, synchronized gear shifting was still a novelty (and confined to higher gears in most cases), and shifting a manual gearbox required more effort than most drivers cared to exert. The exception here was Cadillac's break-through synchromesh fully synchronized manual transmission, designed by Cadillac engineer Earl A. Thompson and introduced in the fall of 1928. Cadillac, under Thompson, began working on a 'shiftless' transmission in 1932, and a new department within Cadillac Engineering was created, headed by Thompson and including engineers Ernest Seaholm, Ed Cole, Owen Nacke ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Automatic Transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. It typically includes a transmission, axle, and differential in one integrated assembly, thus technically becoming a transaxle. The most common type of automatic transmission is the hydraulic automatic, which uses a planetary gearset, hydraulic controls, and a torque converter. Other types of automatic transmissions include continuously variable transmissions (CVT), automated manual transmissions (AMT), and dual-clutch transmissions (DCT). An electronic automatic transmission (EAT) may also be called an electronically controlled transmission (ECT), or electronic automatic transaxle (EATX). A hydraulic automatic transmission may also colloquially called a " slushbox" or simply a "torque converter", although the latter term c ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gear Shift
A gear stick (rarely spelled ''gearstick''), gear lever (both UK English), gearshift or shifter (both U.S. English), more formally known as a transmission lever, is a metal lever attached to the transmission of an automobile. The term ''gear stick'' mostly refers to the shift lever of a manual transmission, while in an automatic transmission, a similar lever is known as a gear selector. A gear stick will normally be used to change gear whilst depressing the clutch pedal with the left foot to disengage the engine from the drivetrain and wheels. Automatic transmission vehicles, including hydraulic (torque converter) automatic transmissions, automated manual and older semi-automatic transmissions (specifically clutchless manuals), like '' VW Autostick'', and those with continuously variable transmissions, do not require a physical clutch pedal. Alternative positions Gear sticks are most commonly found between the front seats of the vehicle, either on the center console (sometim ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dashboard
For business applications, see Dashboard (business). A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the driver (or pilot), it displays instrumentation and controls for the vehicle's operation. Etymology Originally, the word ''dashboard'' applied to a barrier of wood or leather fixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the driver from mud or other debris "dashed up" (thrown up) by the horses' hooves. The first known use of the term (hyphenated as ''dash-board'', and applied to sleighs) dates from 1847. Commonly these boards did not perform any additional function other than providing a convenient handhold for ascending into the driver's seat, or a small clip with which to secure the reins when not in use. When the first "horseless carriages" were constructed in the late 19th century, with engines mounted beneath the drive ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Renault Dauphine
The Renault Dauphine () is a rear-engine design, rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in a single body style – a Three-box styling, three-box, 4-door sedan (car), sedan – as the successor to the Renault 4CV; more than two million were manufactured during its 1956–1967 production. Along with such cars as the Citroën 2CV, Volkswagen Type 1, Volkswagen Beetle, Morris Minor, Mini and Fiat 600, the Dauphine pioneered the modern European economy car. Renault marketed numerous variants of the Dauphine, including a luxury version, the ''Renault Ondine'', a decontented version as the ''Dauphine Teimoso'' (Brazil, 1965), sporting versions marketed as the ''Dauphine Gordini'' and the ''Ondine Gordini'', the ''1093'' factory racing model, and the ''Renault Caravelle, Caravelle/Floride'', a Dauphine-based two-door coupé and two-door convertible. Conception As Louis Renault (industrialist), Louis Renault's successor, and as Renault's chairman, Pierre Lefaucheux co ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, intended for five occupants (later, Beetles were restricted to four people in some countries), that was manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. The need for a ''people's car'' ( in German), its concept and its functional objectives were formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network (Reichsautobahn). Members of the National Socialist party, with an additional dues surcharge, were promised the first production, but the Spanish Civil War shifted most production resources to military vehicles to support the Nationalists under Francisco Franco. Lead engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]