Purpose of a Transmission Before we get into the ins and outs of how an automatic transmission works, let’s do a quick review of why vehicles need a transmission of any kind in the first place. As discussed in our primer on how a car engine works, the engine of your vehicle creates rotational power. To move the car, we need to transfer that rotational power to the wheels. That’s what the car’s drive train which the transmission is a part of does. But here’s the problem: an engine can only spin within a certain speed in order to operate efficiently. If it spins too low, you wouldn’t be able to get the car moving from a standstill; if it spins too fast, the engine can self-destruct. What we need is some way to multiply the power produced by the engine when it’s needed (starting from a standstill, going up a hill, etc.), but also decrease the amount of power sent from the engine when it isn’t needed (going downhill, going really fast, slamming on the brakes). Enter the tra
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