If your vehicle has an automatic transmission, you've probably never give much thought to the fact that your car changes gears perhaps dozens of times during every trip around Kalamazoo. This process is one of the most foundational parts of how your vehicle operates, though. To give you better insight into the operation of your vehicle, we at Maple Hill Volvo Cars offer this basic guide on how continuously variable transmissions operate.
Unlike a conventional transmission that uses a series of gears to provide varying amounts of power to the drive train, a continuously variable transmission uses a pulley-and-belt system to provide increased power variability. The pulley in the transmission resembles an hourglass on its side. As the vehicle slows down, the reduced force allows the belt on the pulley to move toward the middle, which corresponds to lower gears. As the vehicle increases in speed, the increased force pulls the belt on the pulley toward the sides of the pulley, which corresponds to higher gears.
Since the belt can move seamlessly on the pulley to a wide range of positions, a continuously variable transmission is able to provide smooth shifting and improved fuel economy when compared to a conventional transmission.