Yoke vs. steering wheel

[Art O'Connor]

Why a yoke? lots of negative chatter about the yoke. Let's think about the old standard steering wheel. Where is the air bag? That's right - in the middle of the wheel under the horn button. Say you have your hands at the 2 and 10 positions previously recommended. You get into a front collision and the air bag explodes, pinning your thumbs to the steering wheel! At the least, they will be dislocated. Maybe broken, maybe amputated. Ouch! So, keep your hands on the wheel cross-member at 6 and 9. But it is tough to break that 2-10 habit, unless you have a yoke! Automatically your hands are in the correct position to avoid air bag disasters.

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[Old Pro]

One question: Will I be able to mount a Gangster Knob (aka: Suicide Knob) on a Yoke steering wheel? I had one on my 79 Bus and currently have one on my Tacoma Truck. No way my wife would let me put one on her Tesla!

 

[CyberGus]

Plenty of strong opinions on the yoke. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it but I really really really want my stalks! Perhaps it’s showing my age, but I like physical controls.

 

[charliemagpie]

AI will pick up the nuances of the finger flip.



But I'm not sure what the CT will do if you give it the bird !!!

 

[Art O'Connor]

Plenty of strong opinions on the yoke. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it but I really really really want my stalks! Perhaps it’s showing my age, but I like physical controls.

I'll agree. In all the CT interior photos, I notice the yoke is barren - no buttons, no stalks. I guess Elon thinks we like punching touch screens or talking to voice assistants? I have considerable experience with voice assistants. Alexa and Cortana do a pretty good job of understanding me. But Siri and Bixby only get it right half the time. If you drive a vehicle often, you get used to the button/stalk layout and can hit the right one without taking your eyes off the road. You have to take your eyes off the road to look at a screen. Maybe this is why so many Teslas crash? If you are Bluetoothed up and want to set the cruise control, how can you talk to a voice assistant? Really need buttons to set cruise and hang up the phone. You just got your windshield splashed by a semi, how do you quickley turn on the wipers without CyberGus' stalks?

 

[ED_SFO]

Why a yoke? lots of negative chatter about the yoke. Let's think about the old standard steering wheel. Where is the air bag? That's right - in the middle of the wheel under the horn button. Say you have your hands at the 2 and 10 positions previously recommended. You get into a front collision and the air bag explodes, pinning your thumbs to the steering wheel! At the least, they will be dislocated. Maybe broken, maybe amputated. Ouch! So, keep your hands on the wheel cross-member at 6 and 9. But it is tough to break that 2-10 habit, unless you have a yoke! Automatically your hands are in the correct position to avoid air bag disasters.

I believe when the airbags deploy there is a seam in the middle of the air bag, like opening a hotdog bun. And the material is just a thin poly/fake leather flap. Nothing is getting trapped or anything. Yoke will just be weird for me because I usually leave my left hand at the 6-7 o'clock position when on the freeway. Leaving at the 9 position on freeway for the yoke seems kinda annoying if I'm not on autopilot. Yoke makes sense to me only for visibility, otherwise prob hard pass for me....I'll take the round wheel

 

[Art O'Connor]

I believe when the airbags deploy there is a seam in the middle of the air bag, like opening a hotdog bun. And the material is just a thin poly/fake leather flap. Nothing is getting trapped or anything. Yoke will just be weird for me because I usually leave my left hand at the 6-7 o'clock position when on the freeway. Leaving at the 9 position on freeway for the yoke seems kinda annoying if I'm not on autopilot. Yoke makes sense to me only for visibility, otherwise prob hard pass for me....I'll take the round wheel

I personally know of one person who had their thumbs dislocated. I took a safe driving class and the instructor had lots of data proving air bags can jamb thumbs. I like my thumbs; so no more 2 and 10! (How did I get 6 and 9? Brain fart ...)

 

[fhteagle]

I've flown a lot of things with yokes, and driven a few too. There is the pretty typical Boeing, Cessna, Bombardier, etc style. Then there is Embraer's handlebars from a 5 year old's big wheel style. You know what they have in common? They don't rotate much more than about 60-70 degrees from center in either direction in normal operation. The ergonomics and control precision of the human arm get pretty bad going over the top and back down the other side. There's a reason why police pursuit courses now advocate "shuffle steering".

So, the OP's survey really needs three options:

1. Round wheel only
2. Yoke only if progressive rate / steer by wire gets it to be ≤ ~0.8 turns lock to lock, or
3. Give me the yoke no matter what

I'm mostly in camp 1, but would keep an open mind until I actually drove option 2. You couldn't convince me to join camp 3 with all the bribery money handed out by lobbyists in DC.

 

[SwampNut]

I drove an X with the yoke, and it took me a couple minutes to be comfortable with it. But I don't know how I'd adapt in the long term. The owner is in his mid 80s and said it took him "a month" to get used to it. Overall I didn't find a penalty to it in a 20 minute drive.

 

[Jow]

I drove an X with the yoke, and it took me a couple minutes to be comfortable with it. But I don't know how I'd adapt in the long term. The owner is in his mid 80s and said it took him "a month" to get used to it. Overall I didn't find a penalty to it in a 20 minute drive.

can't say i've read any benefits, or what people who have them REALLY like about them, other than they're cool or different. or "it takes some getting used to, now i love it".. okay... why, dammit?! for real, let's hear some real-world benefits. i'm leaning toward one just because it's different, but i'm going to be a real critic of the whole thing, if i spend money on something, i can criticize, lol.

 

[SwampNut]

Again, from only a 20 minute ride, it's hard to get benefits. I did start to like the touch turn signals. I was quickly starting to form a good hold position on it that was very comfortable, and I've adapted the same position in my other cars. It's safer, as said before, due to the airbags. I liked that I could move my knees up higher if desired, which I try to do when stretching on a road trip. The lack of a top loop made for better visibility. The way I sit in cars, quite often I have to fight wheel position with dashboard visibility. This could be how I sit, my wife says I'm "too" upright.

I would neither seek out nor reject the yoke. Everything is a compromise, this is no exception.

 

[Bill906]

I liked that I could move my knees up higher if desired, which I try to do when stretching on a road trip. The lack of a top loop made for better visibility. The way I sit in cars, quite often I have to fight wheel position with dashboard visibility. This could be how I sit...

I never thought of the extra leg/knee room reason. I like that too. But the dash visibility is what I'm excited about. I also have to compromise between comfort and dash visibility. I remember as a kid (16-17ish) mom's car (pre airbag) tilt steering wheel would let the wheel tilt VERY low. I loved it. The top loop would be below my view of the instrument cluster.

I fully understand why current vehicles (with airbags) no longer let it tilt that low. But I still miss that ability.

 

[datechboss101]

Experienced an air bag going off, or well, a whole vehicle folding into another vehicle. Based on this experience, 3 and 9 is the best position to keep your hands at. Any other position, would be increased risk of being injured.

Totally understand the Yoke, but many people (not all) are used to the habit of the 12 o'clock position, or 11 or 1. If the regular wheel was standard and the yoke was an accessory/optional, then that would make sense.

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