Editing Steering wheel (section)

==History==
[[File:1913 Ford Model T Speedster dashboard.JPG|thumb|right|1913 Ford Model T Speedster with rigid steering column and four-spoke wooden steering wheel]]

Near the start of the 18th century, many sea vessels appeared using the [[ship's wheel]] design. However, historians are unclear when that approach to steering was first used.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/hobbies/ship-steering-wheel-history.html |title=Ship Steering Wheel History |first=George |last=Roy |date=3 December 2023 |website=Articlesfactory.com |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> The first automobiles were steered with a [[Tiller (automobile)|tiller]], but in 1894, [[Alfred Vacheron]] took part in the [[Paris–Rouen (motor race)|Paris–Rouen]] race with a [[Panhard]] 4&nbsp;hp model which he had fitted with a steering wheel.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.infochachkie.com/wheel/ |first=John |last=Greathouse |title=Reinvent The Wheel – a Nonstandard Look at Standards |publisher=infoChachkie |date=25 November 2008 |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> That is believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle.<ref>{{cite book|title=The World on Wheels - Volume I |first=H.O. |last=Duncan |location=Paris |year=1927 |pages=456–457, picture of the Vacheron-Car on p. 457 }}</ref>

From 1898, the [[Panhard]] et Levassor cars were equipped as standard with steering wheels. [[Charles Rolls]] introduced the first car in Britain fitted with a steering wheel when he imported a 6&nbsp;hp Panhard from France in 1898.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10318524&wwwflag=2&imagepos=13 |title= C S Rolls sitting in the first car in Britain fitted with wheel steering, 1898 |work=Science & Society Picture Library |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> [[Arthur Constantin Krebs]] replaced the tiller with an inclined steering wheel for the Panhard car he designed for the [[1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris]] race which ran 7–13 July 1898.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://rbmn.free.fr/Album_Course_07.html |title=Albums photos de Krebs: Voitures de course: N° 7 - 8 CV 4 cylindres, Paris - Amsterdam, 1898 |website=Rbmn.free.fr |date=10 March 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130520202500/http://rbmn.free.fr/Album_Course_07.html |archive-date=20 May 2013 |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref>

In 1898, [[Thomas B. Jeffery]] and his son, Charles T. Jeffery, developed two advanced experimental cars featuring a front-mounted engine and a steering wheel mounted on the left-hand side.<ref name="wards">{{cite magazine |last=Binder |first=Al |title=Rear View Mirror |magazine=Ward's AutoWorld |date=1 December 2003 |url= http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_rear_view_mirror_16/index.html |access-date=20 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120728095000/http://wardsauto.com/news-amp-analysis/rear-view-mirror-11 |archive-date=28 July 2012}}</ref> However, the early automaker adopted a more "conventional" rear-engine and tiller-steering layout for its first mass-produced [[Rambler (automobile)|Ramblers]] in 1902.<ref name="wards"/> The following year, the Rambler Model E was largely unchanged, except that it came equipped with a tiller early in the year that was changed to a steering wheel by the end of 1903.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hyde |first=Charles K. |title=Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson, and American Motors |publisher=Wayne State University Press |year=2009 |page=12 |isbn=978-0-8143-3446-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PerGbKxOPZYC&pg=PA12}}</ref> By 1904, all Ramblers featured steering wheels.<ref>{{cite magazine|year=1904 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AYbNAAAAMAAJ |magazine=The World's Work |volume=8 |pages=5218–9 |title=The Swift Rambler Family |access-date=20 March 2014}}</ref> Within a decade, the steering wheel had entirely replaced the tiller in automobiles.

At the insistence of Thomas B. Jeffery, the driver's position was also moved to the left-hand side of the car during the 1903 Rambler production.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Gottlieb |first=Robert J. |title=Nash 600 coupe |magazine=Motor Trend |year=1977 |volume=29 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJI9AQAAIAAJ |page=109 |access-date=20 March 2014}}</ref> Most other car makers began offering cars with left-hand drive in 1910.<ref>{{cite book|last=Madden |first=W. C. |title=Haynes-Apperson and America's first practical automobile: a history |year=2002 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1397-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L3ooSQxwGwUC&pg=PA56 |page=56 |via=Google Books |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> Soon after, most cars in the US converted to left-hand drive.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Oldham |first1=Scott |last2=Lamm |first2=Michael |title=Happy 100th! |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date=May 1996 |volume=173 |issue=5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MWUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 |page=49 |via=Google Books |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref>