Steering Wheels - 100 years of evolution

One of the things that has been there even in the first cars and still is an integral element of any modern car is the Steering Wheel. Funnily enough there are quite a lot of similarities between modern steering wheels and very old ones. Just have a look! In the beginning there were lots of controls in the steering wheel, for example to fine tune the ignition. In the 60ies and 70ies the steering wheels got more and more pure and thinner and thinner, just to become fatter again in the 80ies and later. Today again we have lots of additional control functions in the steering wheel and we can switch radio stations, talk to the car or start the window heater on the push of a button in the steering wheel. In most cases it's still round, though there are exceptions with flattened wheels in Audis and other cars. Material wise we still have mostly leather and wood being used today, the plastic feel of the 60ies and 70ies definitely has gone. So a lot of evolutionary changes over hundred years but no questioning of the initial concept.