- Honda Car Owner's Manual

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78
Honda claims that their CVT transmission is the world's first mass-produced, high-power, stepless
transmission.Whilesuchtransmissionsexistedpreviously,theyclaimtheCVTis"farsuperiorinquality,
endurance,poweroutput[and]cost".TheyhavealsospecificallydesignedtheCVTtorespondintheway
thatdriversareaccustomedtootherautomatictranmissionsresponding.
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CVTOperation
The CVT transmission consists of an oil-pressure variable input (aka "driving") and output (aka
"driven")pulley,andametalbeltthatconnectsthetwo.Withanoil-systemclutchonthe"driven"side,the
Multimaticactsasanautomatictransmission.Thepoweroutputfromtheenginegoesthrough:Front/Back
SwitchMechanism->DrivingPulley->MetalBelt->DrivenPulley->Clutch.
The two pulley widths, adjusted by oil pressure, react to the position of throttle, speed, and other
conditions.Forinstance,whentheacceleratorisdepressed,thedrivingpulleywidthincreases.Atthesame
time,thedrivenpulleywidthdecreases-thetwocombiningfora"lowergear"effect.
Bymakingsuchadjustments,wehavefullcontrolovertheentiregearrangepreviouslyavailableto
automatictransmissions.FromLOWtoOVERDRIVE-andeverythingin-between.Inaddition,themetal
beltishighlyflexible,andeasilyaccommodatestheever-changingwidthofthepulleys,andtransferpower
efficientlywithoutanyslippage.
This difficult task of adjusting oil pressure, and adjusting to variable driving conditions is handled
completelybytheECU,andallowsthetransmissiontoextractthemaximumperformanceoutofanengine
-makingthisarevolutionaryautomotivetransmission.
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CVTMechanism
TheUniqueFeaturesoftheHondaMultimaticTheHondaMultimaticdoesnotuseatorqueconverter,
but uses a newly designed multi-layered clutch. Additionally, to obtain smooth acceleration, various
proprietary equipment were added in order to make a step-less transmission with high reliability and
durability.
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