Throughout the 1900s, cars with manual transmissions slowly gave way to those with the ability to shift between gears automatically. Early automatic transmissions with names like Hydra-Matic, Dynaflow, ZF, and Hondamatic delivered simplistic driving, but heavy planetary gear systems and torque converters sacrificed fuel efficiency. The introduction of Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards following the fuel crises of 1973 forced automakers to increase fuel efficiency across vehicle lineups. Early automatic transmissions typically had three or four forward
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