It's a radical-looking design, but is it impractical in the real world?
When Tesla introduced the new Model S with its "yoke" butterfly steering wheel, what got everyone talking was its butterfly, or as others called it, cavalier style steering wheel. At the same time, the steering wheel has seen some controversy.
At first, there were questions that that steering wheel might not be in the production model, the updated Tesla Model S has a butterfly steering wheel, and steering wheels like this one might not be practical in the real world. They prevent drivers from shuffling the steering wheel through their hands when they turn to full lock. A butterfly steering wheel means you have to cross your arms when making a big turn.
And others are concerned about the lack of a drive lever to select drive modes. The rendering also shows that Tesla has eliminated the gear selector stalk that used to be located on the steering column. The company says it will move all those buttons, indicators, and wiper levers to the steering wheel so that all controls are at the driver's fingertips.
However, as Tesla began delivering the new Model S Plaid, we were surprised to find that the steering wheel had a normal 14.0:1 steering ratio and proved to be impractical at lower speeds.
CEO Elon Musk later confirmed that Tesla is indeed working on a progressive steering system, but it will still take a few years.
In the meantime, Musk confirmed that Tesla does not plan to offer a regular steering wheel as an option with or without a handle.
By confirming this, the CEO essentially created an aftermarket for steering wheel retrofits for the Model S Plaid and all other Tesla vehicles that use the new steering wheel.
Tesery was one of the earlier auto parts stores to take on the replacing aftermarket yoke steering wheels with regular steering wheels for steering wheel conversions.
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But while such radical steering wheel designs are typically unusual, you may not know that shaped steering wheels are not uncommon and some have indeed been used in mass production for over a century of the automotive industry's development, and today we'll talk about these interesting steering wheels.
The world of cars, with upgrade steering wheels!
To start the discussion, let's start with the birth of the car steering wheel. in 1886, CarlBentz invented the three-wheeled steering wheel as just an ordinary handle or vertical lever, inspired by a bicycle handle. However, in the same period, the first four-wheeled car was invented by Gottlieb Daimler in cooperation with Wilhelm Maybach, which featured two horizontal handles combined with a vertical column-shaped like a bamboo dragonfly.
Thereafter, since these two steering wheels were not too easy to operate, the handle was bent into an elbow steering wheel regarding a bicycle handle. However, this bent steering wheel still could not solve the maneuvering problem well. Frederick Strinkhorn in England proposed the idea of a rudder to control the direction of the ship and introduced the steering column type steering wheel for ships with car manufacturer Drake in 1896, which is similar to our present steering wheel, however, the steering wheel and steering column were mounted vertically at that time.
DamlerPalison made the first car with a steering column and steering gear. In 1897, Daimler Motor Company accidentally tilted the steering column and steering rod during a car repair until today. 1927, Ford Model A car mounted the horn key on the direction, and since then, the car started a multi-function steering wheel. Today's car steering wheel blossoms, more and more functions in the steering wheel, airbags, audio, and video controls, cruise control, intelligent connectivity, etc., but perhaps every design has a reincarnation, Tesla Yoke's steering wheel is back to the minimalist state.
Just like those unimaginable designs in the development of cars, Tesla steering wheels have also undergone various changes, and their existence has made the steering wheels colorful. Here are a variety of modified steering wheels that are not only stylish but also very practical.
