WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Imagine you're getting ready for your morning 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:04.820 commute. You walk out to your car, slide into 00:00:04.820 --> 00:00:07.400 the driver's seat, buckle your seatbelt. Right, 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:10.480 the usual routine. Exactly. But right there, 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.679 aimed squarely at the center of your chest, is 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:18.370 a solid... unyielding steel spear. Oh man. It's 00:00:18.370 --> 00:00:20.429 bolted directly to the front axle of the car 00:00:20.429 --> 00:00:23.890 and every single time you go for a drive you 00:00:23.890 --> 00:00:25.789 just have to hope you don't hit anything hard 00:00:25.789 --> 00:00:27.750 enough to drive that metal pole straight through 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:30.510 you. Which is a terrifying mental image. Right. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.479 But for the first 50 years of automotive history, 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:36.219 that wasn't like some exaggerated horror movie 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:38.359 scenario. That was just called driving your car. 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:40.479 It really was. I mean, historically, it's completely 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:42.460 accurate. The steering column used to be this 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:45.219 totally rigid, uncollapsible rod of iron and 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:47.539 steel. Just a literal weapon pointed right at 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:49.520 you. Yeah. We treat the steering wheel today 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.579 as this harmless, static, unchanging interface, 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:55.299 right? Yeah. But the reality of how that object 00:00:55.299 --> 00:00:58.920 ended up in your hands and how it evolved is 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.109 a wildly chaotic story. Which is exactly why 00:01:02.109 --> 00:01:04.430 we are so thrilled to welcome you to today's 00:01:04.430 --> 00:01:07.590 deep dive. Our mission today is to take this 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.569 incredibly mundane object that you probably touch 00:01:10.569 --> 00:01:13.569 every single day, the steering wheel, and completely 00:01:13.569 --> 00:01:15.629 change how you look at it. I love that goal. 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.989 We are basing today's deep dive entirely on the 00:01:18.989 --> 00:01:21.810 comprehensive Wikipedia article covering the 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:24.219 steering wheel. And let me tell you, this is 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:26.260 not just a story about turning tires. No, definitely 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:28.739 not. It's a story of deadly dashboard spears, 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.739 high -speed 19th century races across Europe, 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:36.200 bizarre geometric shapes called squircles, and 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.280 the relentless evolution of human -machine interaction. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.980 It really is the ultimate physical touch point 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:44.659 between humanity and the industrial age. I mean, 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:46.980 it maps our entire relationship with the automobile. 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:49.260 And I could not ask for a better guide to help 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:51.260 connect the dots of this automotive history than 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.189 you. So let's jump right in. Let's do it. We 00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:55.329 have to start at the beginning. Before we had 00:01:55.329 --> 00:01:57.969 the wheel, drivers obviously still had to steer 00:01:57.969 --> 00:02:01.349 these early motorized carriages. But how are 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:04.829 they actually doing that? Well, you have to look 00:02:04.829 --> 00:02:07.370 to the water for the answer, but maybe not in 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:09.819 the way you'd expect. Wait to the water. Yeah, 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:12.960 so near the start of the 18th century, large 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.719 sea vessels were already widely using the classic 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:20.180 many -spoke ship's wheel. It gave sailors massive 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:22.180 mechanical advantage. Sure, like a pirate ship 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:25.840 wheel. Exactly. But when the very first automobiles 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.819 started hitting the dirt roads in the late 1800s, 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:30.900 engineers didn't borrow from those large ships 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:33.599 at all. They borrowed from smaller rowboats and 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.039 sailboats. Oh, really? Yeah, they used a tiller. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:38.479 OK, let's unpack this. A tiller is essentially 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.659 like a literal stick attached to a pivot point 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:44.240 on the axle. Yep, just a stick. So you're driving 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:46.280 an early car, sitting on a bench, and you're 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.580 just pushing and pulling a horizontal broom handle 00:02:48.580 --> 00:02:51.080 to make the wheels turn. That's the visual, yeah. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:54.159 It sounds like trying to steer. a rogue high 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.759 -speed lawnmower. I mean, if it's a direct one 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:59.400 -to -one mechanical linkage, every single bump 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:01.240 in the road is going to translate directly into 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.659 that stick. Exactly. And that was the fatal flaw. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.960 It was incredibly unstable. You have to picture 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.580 the roads in the 1890s. Probably not great. Not 00:03:08.580 --> 00:03:11.060 at all. We aren't talking about smooth asphalt. 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:15.159 We're talking about deeply rutted dirt paths 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.759 designed for horse hooves and wooden wagon wheels. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.360 Oh, man. Yeah. If your primitive car hit a rock 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:23.400 or a deep rut, the front wheels would violently 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.680 jerk sideways. And because of that direct one 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:28.500 -to -one linkage you mentioned, the tiller would 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:31.039 just snap back, violently whip right across the 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:33.219 cabin. I mean, it could easily break a driver's 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:35.479 wrist or be ripped right out of their hands. 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:38.400 Wow. So relying on a boat stick for a land vehicle 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:41.400 weighing hundreds of pounds was clearly a terrible 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.939 idea once speed started to increase. Oh, definitely. 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:46.599 Who finally realized they needed to gear this 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.020 searing down and, you know, use an actual wheel. 00:03:50.219 --> 00:03:52.860 The realization really came from the racing world. 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:57.379 In 1894, a man named Alfred Vacheron entered 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:00.520 the Paris -Rouen race. He looked at his panhard 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:02.919 four -horsepower model and just decided the tiller 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:05.759 was a liability, so he fitted it with a circular 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:07.539 steering wheel instead. He figured it out himself. 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:09.879 Yeah, and that is widely considered one of the 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.360 earliest employments of the wheel in a car. It 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:16.240 allowed for a reduction gear. meaning he could 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.439 turn the wheel a lot to move the tires a little. 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:20.819 Oh, that makes sense. Right. That gave him immense 00:04:20.819 --> 00:04:23.399 leverage, far more control, and the ability to 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.680 make continuous fluid adjustments without constantly 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.100 fighting the road. And I imagine the rest of 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:31.439 the automotive world saw this massive mechanical 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.819 advantage and just immediately changed course. 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:36.639 Well, in Europe, the pivot happened pretty quickly. 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:41.500 By 1898, that same company, Panhard and Levasseur, 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:44.100 made the steering wheel standard equipment on 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:46.300 all their new cars. Wow, just four years later. 00:04:46.459 --> 00:04:49.800 Yeah, and that very same year... Arthur Constantin 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:52.420 Krebs designed a car for the Paris Amsterdam 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:55.220 Paris race and used an inclined steering wheel. 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:57.959 Meaning it was angled toward the driver. Exactly. 00:04:58.060 --> 00:04:59.759 Rather than straight up and down like a bus, 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:02.439 it provided a massive ergonomic and performance 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:04.759 advantage. But the American market didn't catch 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:07.279 on quite as fast, did they? No, they really didn't. 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:09.779 Because the source material mentions the American 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:12.240 inventors Thomas B. Jeffrey and his son Charles. 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.410 And in 1898, they actually developed two advanced 00:05:16.410 --> 00:05:19.509 experimental cars that featured a left -hand 00:05:19.509 --> 00:05:22.089 drive steering wheel. So they knew the technology 00:05:22.089 --> 00:05:25.009 existed. But then, when they went to mass produce 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:28.389 their first Rambler cars in 1902, they completely 00:05:28.389 --> 00:05:30.709 ditched the wheel. They stuck to a rear engine 00:05:30.709 --> 00:05:33.709 layout and went right back to the tiller. They 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:35.410 didn't switch back to the steering wheel until 00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:39.100 late 1903. Which seems crazy in hindsight. I 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:41.600 have to push back here. Why on earth would you 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.759 invent the superior safer technology in 1898, 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.740 know it works perfectly, and then revert to the 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:50.360 inferior dangerous tiller for your big mass market 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:52.939 launch? What's fascinating here is how clearly 00:05:52.939 --> 00:05:55.279 this illustrates the psychology of technological 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.399 adoption. Innovation almost always takes a backseat 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:01.399 to familiar conventional layouts, especially 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:03.500 when you're trying to build a brand new consumer 00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:05.339 market. Because they were afraid of scaring away 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:09.550 the buyers. Precisely. Think about it. In 1902, 00:06:09.829 --> 00:06:13.209 the American public was deeply skeptical of automobiles. 00:06:13.389 --> 00:06:16.149 They were loud, they spewed smoke, they terrified 00:06:16.149 --> 00:06:18.250 the horses. Right, they were basically monsters 00:06:18.250 --> 00:06:21.490 to most people. Exactly. Jeffrey was trying to 00:06:21.490 --> 00:06:23.870 sell these radical new machines to people who 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:26.529 had spent their entire lives operating horse 00:06:26.529 --> 00:06:29.970 -drawn carriages or, you know, riding bicycles. 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:33.800 A tiller? in a weird way, felt familiar. Like 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:36.439 rains. Yeah, it mimicked the left to right pull 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:38.740 of horse trains. It was the conventional layout 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:42.060 of the day. That is wild. It wasn't until a critical 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:44.519 mass of early adopters, like those high profile 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:47.459 racers in Paris, proved the steering wheel concept 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:49.360 worked undeniably better, and the public saw 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.720 it in action, that the American market finally 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:54.319 demanded the change. So it was purely a commercial 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:56.720 safety play that kind of backfired. Pretty much. 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.019 But once the shift happened, it was permanent. 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:03.129 By 1904, all Ramblers had steering wheels. And 00:07:03.129 --> 00:07:05.910 interestingly, at Jeffrey's insistence, the driver's 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:07.750 seat was moved to the left -hand side of the 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:10.250 car during that 1903 production run. Which was 00:07:10.250 --> 00:07:15.149 a big deal. Huge. By 1910, most U .S. automakers 00:07:15.149 --> 00:07:18.050 were offering left -hand drive, and soon it became 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:20.110 the permanent American standard. Which allowed 00:07:20.110 --> 00:07:22.410 the driver to better see oncoming traffic on 00:07:22.410 --> 00:07:25.269 those two -way dirt roads. Right, right. So the 00:07:25.269 --> 00:07:27.870 wheel decisively wins the battle against the 00:07:27.870 --> 00:07:30.620 tiller. But of course, once the wheel was installed, 00:07:31.139 --> 00:07:32.899 automotive designers couldn't just leave well 00:07:32.899 --> 00:07:35.300 enough alone. Oh, never. They had to start messing 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:37.459 with its shape and its placement. Oh, absolutely. 00:07:37.660 --> 00:07:39.819 The circle was really just the starting point. 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:42.680 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.480 today, looking at modern cars, it feels like 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.339 a geometric arms race. It totally does. For over 00:07:49.339 --> 00:07:52.060 a century, the wheel was a circle. which makes 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.860 perfect mechanical sense to me. It provides precise 00:07:54.860 --> 00:07:57.060 feedback through a large continuous interface. 00:07:57.379 --> 00:08:00.079 Right. But now you look at some Tesla models 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.879 and they've completely ditched the circle for 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.100 a rectangular yoke with pistol grips. The yoke 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:07.759 is definitely controversial. Yeah. Or you look 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:10.779 at the new C8 Corvette and it has this weird 00:08:10.779 --> 00:08:13.839 hybrid square circle shape that the industry 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.040 actually calls a squircle. Gotta love the name 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:18.399 Squirkel. It's so silly. It's got a flat bottom 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:20.639 and a flattened top. And I have to challenge 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.720 this. Doesn't a Squirkel or a Yoke completely 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:25.839 defeat the ergonomic purpose? How do you mean? 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.500 Well, driving requires a fluid, hand -over -hand 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:31.740 turning motion, right? If you chop off the top 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:33.519 and bottom of the wheel, you're just grabbing 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.059 empty air in the middle of a U -turn. Aren't 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:38.039 you just breaking that fluidity for the sake 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:41.700 of looking futuristic? It definitely seems counterintuitive, 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.259 and a lot of traditionalists argue exactly what 00:08:44.259 --> 00:08:47.320 you just said. But form ultimately follows function. 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:49.299 OK, so there's a practical reason. Yeah, the 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:51.279 shape of the steering wheel isn't just about 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:53.120 the hand -over -hand turning motion anymore. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:56.519 It's heavily dictated by the physical space available 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:59.679 in the modern car. It comes down to what automotive 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.600 engineers call packaging constraints. Meaning 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:05.000 literally how you package a human being into 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.679 the driver's seat. Exactly. Think about the core 00:09:08.370 --> 00:09:11.669 The flat bottom exists for a very practical reason. 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:15.889 The C8 is a very low -slung, mid -engine sports 00:09:15.889 --> 00:09:18.710 car with a high center console. Right. Very tight 00:09:18.710 --> 00:09:21.330 fit. Right. If the wheel were a full circle, 00:09:21.570 --> 00:09:24.110 the bottom arc would physically block your thighs. 00:09:24.889 --> 00:09:27.149 The flat bottom makes it significantly easier 00:09:27.149 --> 00:09:28.870 for the driver to get their legs in and out of 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:31.450 the car. It's about egress. Oh, that makes sense. 00:09:31.669 --> 00:09:34.029 And the flattened top. That's there to enhance 00:09:34.029 --> 00:09:36.940 the driver's line of sight. Modern digital gauge 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:39.879 clusters are packed with information, and a traditional 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:42.539 round rim would block the top half of that screen. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:45.740 The squircle makes sense for fitting into a tight 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:48.759 sports car. But what about the Tesla yoke? If 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:50.740 you drop the hand -over -hand motion, how do 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:53.440 you actually park the thing? Well, the yoke is 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.720 pushing the boundaries of what a steering input 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:58.259 looks like when cars move away from traditional 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:01.299 mechanical steering racks. They rely more on 00:10:01.299 --> 00:10:03.879 variable steering ratios, specifically steer 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:06.220 -by -wire systems. Oh, meaning there's no physical 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:08.240 steering column connecting the yoke to the wheels. 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:11.230 Right. In a steer -by -wire system, computers 00:10:11.230 --> 00:10:13.470 and electric motors handle the actual turning 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:16.070 of the tires based on your input. And because 00:10:16.070 --> 00:10:18.809 it's controlled by software, the ratio can change 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:22.470 based on your speed. Wait, really? Yeah. If you're 00:10:22.470 --> 00:10:25.250 on the highway going 70 miles per hour, turning 00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:27.730 the yoke five degrees might gently change lanes. 00:10:28.230 --> 00:10:30.009 But if you're in a parking lot going two miles 00:10:30.009 --> 00:10:33.049 per hour, that exact same five degree turn of 00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:36.279 the yoke might turn the front wheels all the 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:39.779 way to full lock. The software adapts. So you 00:10:39.779 --> 00:10:41.980 never actually need to cross your arms or go 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.039 hand over hand, which makes the top and bottom 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:46.100 of the steering wheel theoretically obsolete. 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:48.759 That is wild. It just proves that driving isn't 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.000 a static interface. It's highly dynamic, depending 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.080 on the technology driving it. Precisely. And 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.340 we've seen this dynamic shift in shapes and sizes 00:10:56.340 --> 00:10:59.200 before, driven by engineering needs. Like when? 00:10:59.539 --> 00:11:02.360 Look at early Formula One cars from the 1950s. 00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:05.659 They used massive, large diameter wooden steering 00:11:05.659 --> 00:11:07.820 wheels taken straight from road cars. Because 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:10.259 they needed the leverage. Exactly. Without power 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:12.600 steering, the drivers needed a huge lever just 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:15.059 to get enough physical leverage to turn the car's 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:17.980 heavy front end at high speeds. Wow. But as racing 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:21.460 aerodynamics advanced into the 1960s and 70s, 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.980 the cars gained lower and the cockpits became 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:26.559 incredibly tight and compact to reduce drag. 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:29.620 The drivers were practically lying down. So a 00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:32.059 huge wheel wouldn't fit. The wheels had to shrink 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:35.789 dramatically, morphing into these small rectangular 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:38.850 grips just to fit inside the space without hitting 00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:41.370 the driver's knees. That's fascinating. And placement 00:11:41.370 --> 00:11:43.409 is dynamic too, right? Yeah. We talked about 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:45.710 left -hand drive becoming standard in the US, 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:47.809 obviously contrasting with right -hand drive 00:11:47.809 --> 00:11:50.330 in places like the UK. Right. But some designers 00:11:50.330 --> 00:11:53.049 just threw the whole left versus right debate 00:11:53.049 --> 00:11:56.250 out the window. like the McLaren F1. Oh yeah, 00:11:56.330 --> 00:11:58.029 one of the greatest high -performance sports 00:11:58.029 --> 00:12:00.450 cars ever built. For sure. They put the driver's 00:12:00.450 --> 00:12:02.429 seat, the pedals, and the steering wheel right 00:12:02.429 --> 00:12:04.309 in the dead center of the cabin. Yeah, you have 00:12:04.309 --> 00:12:06.509 a passenger seat slightly behind you on the left 00:12:06.509 --> 00:12:09.250 and one on the right. It's all about optimizing 00:12:09.250 --> 00:12:11.730 the car's center of gravity and giving the driver 00:12:11.730 --> 00:12:15.769 perfect symmetrical spatial awareness on a racetrack. 00:12:16.110 --> 00:12:17.970 Okay, so playing with shapes and placement is 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:19.649 fascinating when we're talking about sports cars 00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:22.899 and performance, but Let's bring it back to everyday 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.580 driving. OK. And back to that terrifying spear 00:12:25.580 --> 00:12:27.360 I mentioned at the very beginning of the show. 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.120 We've talked about shapes and packaging, but 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.299 for decades, the placement of this rigid metal 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:37.080 ring on top of a solid metal condom posed a very 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:40.200 real, very lethal threat to the person sitting 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.700 behind it. It's hard to overstate how dangerous 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:45.779 it was. In a severe front end collision, the 00:12:45.779 --> 00:12:49.269 front of the car crushes inward. Right. But a 00:12:49.269 --> 00:12:52.289 solid steel steering column won't crush. So as 00:12:52.289 --> 00:12:54.889 the front axle was pushed backward by the impact, 00:12:55.370 --> 00:12:57.370 that steering column would be thrust directly 00:12:57.370 --> 00:13:00.509 into the cabin, often impaling the driver who 00:13:00.509 --> 00:13:02.950 was, you know, simultaneously being thrown forward 00:13:02.950 --> 00:13:06.370 by their own momentum. What blows my mind is 00:13:06.370 --> 00:13:08.629 the timeline here. According to the Wikipedia 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:11.490 article, the very first collapsible steering 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:13.750 column one engineered with overlapping tubes 00:13:13.750 --> 00:13:16.330 designed to telescope and crush absorbing the 00:13:16.330 --> 00:13:19.549 kinetic energy of a crash was invented in 1934, 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:22.029 but it was a complete market failure. It wasn't 00:13:22.029 --> 00:13:25.769 until 1968 that US regulations, specifically 00:13:25.769 --> 00:13:29.190 FMVSS standard number 204, actually mandated 00:13:29.190 --> 00:13:31.490 that steering columns had to collapse in a crash. 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:34.299 It's a huge gap. I have to push back here. If 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:37.159 we had the brilliant mechanical technology to 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:40.139 stop people from being impaled in 1934, why did 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:43.279 it take a government mandate 34 years later to 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:45.559 make it standard? Well, this raises an important 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:47.559 question about the automotive industry's priorities 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.240 at the time. And it's a bit of a dark chapter. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.000 I'll bet. The harsh reality of the mid 20th century 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.059 was that Historically, safety didn't sell cars. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:58.620 Automakers fundamentally believed that talking 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:01.259 about safety features reminded consumers of car 00:14:01.259 --> 00:14:03.259 crashes. Oh, which scares them away from the 00:14:03.259 --> 00:14:05.720 showroom. Exactly. They wanted to sell consumers 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:09.980 on style, speed, chrome and luxury. A collapsible 00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:12.700 steering column was an invisible, expensive piece 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.360 of engineering that didn't look flashy on a billboard. 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:17.639 So they just they completely ignored the danger 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:19.700 to save a few bucks and preserve their marketing 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:22.000 vibe. Well, there were some half measures introduced. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.120 In 1956, Ford introduced what they called a safety 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:28.700 steering wheel. What made it safe? It was a deep 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:32.039 dish design. The rim was set high above the center 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:34.360 hub and the spokes were designed to flex and 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:36.419 absorb some of the energy if the driver's chest 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:39.259 hit it. OK. But the underlying column itself 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:41.419 was still completely rigid. It was essentially 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:44.500 a bandaid on a spear. That's horrifying. But 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:46.919 there was some incredibly quirky outside -the 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.580 -box engineering solutions to this before the 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:52.100 mandate, right? Like what the French automaker 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:54.519 Citroën was doing. Oh, the Citroën DS. It is 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:57.779 a masterpiece of strange avant -garde engineering. 00:14:57.879 --> 00:15:00.559 I love the DS. Right. So instead of a traditional 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:02.740 wheel with three or four symmetrical spokes, 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:06.659 the DS used a large curved off -center single 00:15:06.659 --> 00:15:09.600 -spoke steering wheel. Just one spoke. Just one. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.139 And the entire design was engineered so that 00:15:12.169 --> 00:15:14.750 In the event of a severe crash, the steering 00:15:14.750 --> 00:15:17.049 wheel would physically deflect and guide the 00:15:17.049 --> 00:15:19.610 driver's body off to the side, away from the 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:21.470 solid steering column, rather than trapping them 00:15:21.470 --> 00:15:25.049 against it. That is brilliant in a very bizarre, 00:15:25.509 --> 00:15:27.389 uniquely French way. But, you know, we've talked 00:15:27.389 --> 00:15:29.330 about how that rigid column was a nightmare for 00:15:29.330 --> 00:15:32.870 crash safety. But that rigidity was also a nightmare 00:15:32.870 --> 00:15:35.350 just for everyday driving comfort, wasn't it? 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:37.549 Oh, absolutely. Because without power steering, 00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:40.090 every single pothole sent a shockwave straight 00:15:40.090 --> 00:15:43.429 up that metal pole into your wrists. Yep. Automakers 00:15:43.429 --> 00:15:46.090 needed a way to decouple the wheel from the road, 00:15:46.570 --> 00:15:48.669 which led to a really strange musical invention. 00:15:49.190 --> 00:15:51.240 I'm looking at the banjo steering wheel. The 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:54.059 Banjo wheel is a piece of mechanical genius. 00:15:54.100 --> 00:15:56.799 Yeah. Before hydraulic power steering became 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.259 prevalent, though mechanical power systems were 00:15:59.259 --> 00:16:01.860 introduced around 1953 on Studebakers, I should 00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:04.980 add. Right. Every bump, cobblestone, and vibration 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:07.259 from the road traveled straight up the rigid 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:09.580 steering column and directly into the driver's 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:12.860 hands. It caused massive fatigue on long drives. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.399 Your hands must have been numb. Exactly. The 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:18.799 Banjo wheel solved this by replacing solid cast 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.179 iron spokes with group of thin wire spokes. Which 00:16:22.179 --> 00:16:24.600 looked exactly like the strings of a banjo, hence 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.120 the name. So let me guess the mechanism here. 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:30.059 If you don't have power steering, you're wrestling 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:33.240 a heavy metal box. By making the spokes out of 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:36.179 thin piano wire, they act as a literal shock 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:39.279 absorber. Exactly. Each spoke was made of four 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.980 or five individual metal wires running parallel 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:45.480 to each other. These wires acted as a physical 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.279 buffer, a sort of literal suspension system for 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.000 the driver's hands. That's so smart. When the 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.539 front tires hit a rut, the wires would flex and 00:16:53.539 --> 00:16:56.159 absorb the high -frequency road vibrations before 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.940 they could reach the driver's palms. That is 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:01.860 such an elegant, purely mechanical solution to 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:05.039 a comfort problem. And speaking of driver comfort, 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:08.039 we have to mention the 1961 Ford Thunderbirds 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:10.460 swing away steering wheel. Oh, that's a classic. 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:12.619 Because cars in the early 60s were getting incredibly 00:17:12.619 --> 00:17:15.299 low, wide and featured these massive wrap around 00:17:15.299 --> 00:17:17.480 windshields. Getting your legs under a huge steering 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:19.339 wheel was becoming physically difficult for the 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:21.819 average buyer. It was a tight squeeze. So Ford 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:24.440 made it so when you put the car in park, the 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:27.339 entire steering column would literally unlatch 00:17:27.339 --> 00:17:30.339 and swing nine inches to the right. It cleared 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:32.829 the way. so you could just slide gracefully out 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.430 of the seat. It was the absolute height of luxury 00:17:35.430 --> 00:17:38.250 at the time, though, as you can imagine, having 00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:40.809 a steering column that unlatched posed its own 00:17:40.809 --> 00:17:43.109 safety issues. I would imagine, yeah. It eventually 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:45.349 had to evolve into the more standard tilt -away 00:17:45.349 --> 00:17:49.710 wheel by 1967 to meet those updated, stricter 00:17:49.710 --> 00:17:51.789 federal safety standards we talked about earlier. 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:54.750 OK, so by the late 60s and 70s, the steering 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:57.559 wheel is finally relatively safe. The column 00:17:57.559 --> 00:17:59.660 collapses, you can tilt it, you can telescope 00:17:59.660 --> 00:18:01.920 it to fit your body. Exactly. And once automakers 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.420 realized they had this safe, adjustable piece 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:06.880 of prime real estate positioned right in front 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.240 of the driver, they realized something else. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:11.180 The driver's hands were just resting there. It 00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:12.980 was time to give their fingers something to do. 00:18:13.299 --> 00:18:15.500 Yes. This is the birth of the steering wheel 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:17.480 as the command center. Right. The first edition 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:20.559 was obvious. The electric horn. Early cars had 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:22.700 a squeeze bulb on the outside, but eventually 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:24.980 they put a button on the hub or on the spokes. 00:18:25.210 --> 00:18:27.970 A huge convenience. And some automakers even 00:18:27.970 --> 00:18:30.529 created the rim blow wheel. I love the logic 00:18:30.529 --> 00:18:33.490 behind this one. The switch was integrated right 00:18:33.490 --> 00:18:35.990 into the inner rubber rim of the wheel itself. 00:18:36.089 --> 00:18:37.829 Oh yeah. You didn't even have to move your hand 00:18:37.829 --> 00:18:40.069 to the center hub. You just squeezed the wheel 00:18:40.069 --> 00:18:42.470 hard anywhere on the inner ring and it honked. 00:18:42.549 --> 00:18:44.730 Which is actually a fantastic safety feature. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:48.039 Moving your hand off the rim to hit a center 00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.259 horn pad takes a fraction of a second. But at 00:18:51.259 --> 00:18:53.640 60 miles per hour, a fraction of a second covers 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:56.079 a lot of distance. Right, absolutely. The rim 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.430 low allowed for an instantaneous reaction. But, 00:18:59.490 --> 00:19:01.470 of course, the industry didn't stop at horns. 00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:05.869 In 1966, that same innovative Ford Thunderbird 00:19:05.869 --> 00:19:08.829 offered highway pilot speed control. They put 00:19:08.829 --> 00:19:11.130 buttons on the wheel. They put physical rocker 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:13.509 switches right on the steering wheel pad to operate 00:19:13.509 --> 00:19:15.390 the cruise control. And according to the source 00:19:15.390 --> 00:19:18.220 material That specific Thunderbird cruise control 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:21.339 had a truly wild feature. It had a retard button 00:19:21.339 --> 00:19:23.359 on the wheel. Oh, right. If you held it down, 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.460 the car wouldn't just coast to slow down. It 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:28.380 would actually tap into the physical braking 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:31.599 system, lightly apply the brakes, and illuminate 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:33.960 the stop lamps in the back. You're breaking the 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:35.819 car right from the steering wheel. It was the 00:19:35.819 --> 00:19:38.339 beginning of putting total vehicle control at 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:41.019 the fingertips. And it just snowballed from there. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.839 Did it ever. By 1988, Pontiac models like the 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:47.119 Trans Am were offering steering wheels loaded 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.740 with 12 different buttons just to control the 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:52.700 audio system. 12. And then the 90s hit, and suddenly 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.039 you have navigation buttons, cell phone controls, 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.500 voice command triggers, little scroll wheels. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.390 So what does this all mean? How on earth do you 00:20:00.390 --> 00:20:03.670 wire 12 complex electronic buttons on a piece 00:20:03.670 --> 00:20:06.490 of hardware that has to spin 900 degrees in either 00:20:06.490 --> 00:20:09.210 direction without twisting all those wires until 00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:12.450 they literally snap? That is one of the great 00:20:12.450 --> 00:20:15.210 unsung heroes of automotive engineering. It's 00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:18.049 an invention called a clock spring. A clock spring? 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:19.910 Yeah, it sits right behind the steering wheel. 00:20:20.009 --> 00:20:22.890 Instead of normal wires, it uses a flat, spiraled 00:20:22.890 --> 00:20:25.509 ribbon cable coiled up inside a plastic housing, 00:20:25.609 --> 00:20:28.049 very much like the mainspring in an old mechanical 00:20:28.049 --> 00:20:30.470 clock. Oh, that makes so much sense. Right. When 00:20:30.470 --> 00:20:32.750 you turn the wheel to the left, the ribbon winds 00:20:32.750 --> 00:20:35.789 tighter. When you turn to the right, it unwinds. 00:20:35.829 --> 00:20:38.470 It allows for continuous electrical connection 00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:41.089 to all those buttons in the airbag without ever 00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:44.269 tangling. That is genius. But, you know, we have 00:20:44.269 --> 00:20:46.349 to adjust the elephant in the cabin here. We 00:20:46.349 --> 00:20:48.450 constantly complain about the dangers of distracted 00:20:48.450 --> 00:20:51.769 driving, yet... Automakers have essentially mounted 00:20:51.769 --> 00:20:54.650 a hyper complex smart device inches from our 00:20:54.650 --> 00:20:57.690 thumbs. Are we turning everyday drivers into 00:20:57.690 --> 00:21:01.390 overwhelmed, distracted airline pilots? If we 00:21:01.390 --> 00:21:04.349 connect this to the bigger picture, the steering 00:21:04.349 --> 00:21:06.789 wheel perfectly maps our entire evolution of 00:21:06.789 --> 00:21:09.589 human machine interaction. How so? We moved from 00:21:09.589 --> 00:21:12.630 purely mechanical control, the tiller, to mechanical 00:21:12.630 --> 00:21:15.230 assistance with the banjo wheel, to hydraulic 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:18.109 power steering, and now to full electronic interfacing. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:20.940 The stated goal of all these buttons is to keep 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:22.539 the driver's hands on the wheel and their eyes 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:24.960 on the road, rather than reaching for the dashboard. 00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:28.099 But you're right, there is a very fine line between 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:31.170 convenience and cognitive overload. And there's 00:21:31.170 --> 00:21:34.809 a physical toll too. The Wikipedia article explicitly 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:37.329 warns about the ergonomics of managing all these 00:21:37.329 --> 00:21:40.309 buttons while trying to steer. Yes, the constant 00:21:40.309 --> 00:21:43.049 repetitive motion of steering requires strategic 00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:45.630 movement. The golden rule of ergonomics laid 00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:47.930 out in the source is that your wrists should 00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:50.369 not be bent. They need to be straight. They must 00:21:50.369 --> 00:21:52.950 be kept straight to avoid overexertion of your 00:21:52.950 --> 00:21:55.670 tendons and to prevent compression of the delicate 00:21:55.670 --> 00:21:58.329 nerves and blood vessels in your arms. So keep 00:21:58.329 --> 00:22:00.480 your wrists perfectly straight when you're working 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.539 the volume controls on your 12 button squircle. 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:07.279 Exactly. And while we're giving practical advice 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.109 pulled straight from the source material. I have 00:22:10.109 --> 00:22:12.250 to address a cardinal sin of driving mentioned 00:22:12.250 --> 00:22:15.529 in the text. It's called dry steering. Oh, dry 00:22:15.529 --> 00:22:17.410 steering, the quickest way to make a mechanic 00:22:17.410 --> 00:22:20.670 cringe. It really is. Dry steering is when you 00:22:20.670 --> 00:22:22.410 forcefully turn the steering wheel while the 00:22:22.410 --> 00:22:25.190 vehicle is completely stationary. A lot of people 00:22:25.190 --> 00:22:27.609 do it when they are trying to inch into a tight 00:22:27.609 --> 00:22:30.410 parallel parking spot. Guilty. If you are listening 00:22:30.410 --> 00:22:33.670 to this and you do that, stop immediately. Let's 00:22:33.670 --> 00:22:36.190 explain the exact mechanism of why that is so 00:22:36.190 --> 00:22:38.390 catastrophic for the car. Well, think about the 00:22:38.390 --> 00:22:41.420 physics involved. You have a vehicle that likely 00:22:41.420 --> 00:22:44.619 weighs around 4 ,000 pounds. The entire weight 00:22:44.619 --> 00:22:47.359 of the front engine is pressing down on two patches 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:50.359 of rubber, compressing that rubber into the abrasive 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.920 asphalt. Okay, tons of pressure. When the car 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:56.240 is rolling, even slightly, the tires naturally 00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:59.359 pivot. But when the car is dead still, the static 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.900 friction between the tires and the pavement is 00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:03.789 immense. So when you just... Crank the wheel. 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:06.130 When you grab the wheel and force those tires 00:23:06.130 --> 00:23:08.609 to turn, you are forcing your car's steering 00:23:08.609 --> 00:23:11.769 rack, the tie rods, and the high pressure hydraulic 00:23:11.769 --> 00:23:14.890 power steering pump to violently fight thousands 00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:17.130 of pounds of static friction. Oh man, that sounds 00:23:17.130 --> 00:23:19.990 expensive. It puts massive unnecessary strain 00:23:19.990 --> 00:23:22.930 on all those metal joints and it physically scrubs 00:23:22.930 --> 00:23:25.509 the tread right off your tires. Always let the 00:23:25.509 --> 00:23:27.809 car roll even just a fraction of an inch while 00:23:27.809 --> 00:23:30.349 you turn the wheel. Breaking that static friction 00:23:30.349 --> 00:23:33.430 will save you a very expensive repair bill. Consider 00:23:33.430 --> 00:23:36.890 yourselves warned. No more dry steering. Man, 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:38.789 what a journey this has been today. It's a lot 00:23:38.789 --> 00:23:42.130 to cover. We started with early motorists literally 00:23:42.130 --> 00:23:45.210 trying to steer their motorized carriages with 00:23:45.210 --> 00:23:48.710 wooden boat tillers. We survived the terrifying 00:23:48.710 --> 00:23:52.470 era of rigid dashboard spears aimed at our chests, 00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:55.710 we marveled at the brilliant wire -spoke banjo 00:23:55.710 --> 00:23:58.789 wheels acting as hand suspension, and we've arrived 00:23:58.789 --> 00:24:01.369 at the modern era of the 12 -button Squirkel 00:24:01.369 --> 00:24:03.970 Command Center, complete with winding clock springs. 00:24:04.329 --> 00:24:06.650 It really makes you wonder what the next century 00:24:06.650 --> 00:24:09.430 holds for this interface. We've gone from mechanical 00:24:09.430 --> 00:24:12.289 to hydraulic to electronic. Well, I know you 00:24:12.289 --> 00:24:14.650 found something buried in the outer edges of 00:24:14.650 --> 00:24:17.349 the source material about exactly that. What 00:24:17.349 --> 00:24:19.650 is the future of the wheel? I want to leave everyone 00:24:19.650 --> 00:24:21.970 with this final forward -looking thought. The 00:24:21.970 --> 00:24:24.289 Wikipedia article notes a recent patent applied 00:24:24.289 --> 00:24:27.349 for by General Motors. It's for a modular steering 00:24:27.349 --> 00:24:30.539 control system. Modular. Like you can swap pieces 00:24:30.539 --> 00:24:33.000 out. Kind of. This isn't just a wheel with new 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:35.000 touch screen buttons. It is a device that can 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.259 physically change its shape. Wait, what? Yeah, 00:24:37.259 --> 00:24:39.859 it can transform from a traditional circle for 00:24:39.859 --> 00:24:42.079 highway cruising into a rectangular yoke, depending 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:44.500 on the driving situation or the driver's preference. 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.460 That's amazing. But take that shape shifting 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:48.779 concept and combine it with the steer by wire 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:51.160 technology we discussed earlier, where electrical 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:54.000 systems are entirely replacing physical steering 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.700 columns. And it raises a fascinating possibility. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.500 I'm listening. Will the steering wheel of the 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:03.579 future even be permanently attached to your car? 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:07.160 Or will it just be a highly personalized shape 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:09.799 -shifting smart device that you carry with you, 00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.680 plug into the dashboard, and use to interface 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:16.400 with whatever autonomous or semi -autonomous 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.019 vehicle you happen to step into? A plug -and 00:25:19.019 --> 00:25:22.099 -play bring -your -own steering wheel. That completely 00:25:22.099 --> 00:25:24.180 breaks my brain, but given everything we've just 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:26.279 unpacked about packaging constraints and electronic 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:28.799 interfaces, it makes total sense. It really does. 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.799 We want to thank you for joining us on this deep 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.299 dive. The next time you sit down, close the door, 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:35.640 and reach out your hands to grab that seemingly 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:38.660 mundane ring of leather or plastic. Take a second 00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:40.660 to actually look at it. Notice the incredible 00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:43.859 history, the trial and error, and the brilliant 00:25:43.859 --> 00:25:46.119 engineering resting right there at your fingertips. 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:49.680 It's never just a wheel. It's a century of survival 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:52.339 and innovation. Thanks for listening. We'll catch 00:25:52.339 --> 00:25:53.339 you on the next deep dive.