The Compliance Transmission

By
eric
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47
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The economist Frederic Bastiat wrote about the seen – and the unseen – effects triggered by economic decisions.

Regulatory decisions, too.

One such effect is the continuously variable transmission (CVT). It could also be called the compliance transmission (CT) because it was developed chiefly to help vehicle manufacturers comply with federal regulations requiring them to meet certain arbitrarily decreed and continuously escalating “fleet average” gas mileage numbers. These Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) mandatory MPG minimums have been increasing steadily since the mid-1970s from just over 20 MPG to about 50 MPG today.

It is fair to say that were it not for these CAFE MPG mandatory minimums – which are imposed by the federal regulatory apparat rather than by any elected representatives of the people in our “democracy” – the CVT automatic would probably never have been developed in the first place. It would certainly not be as commonplace as it has become.

But what are the advantages of the CVT automatic – in terms of compliance? And what are the disadvantages  – if you end up owning a car that has one?

In other words, the seen – and the unseen?

Before these questions can be answered it is necessary to explain what a CVT automatic is and how it differs from other automatics.

A conventional automatic shifts up and down through a predetermined number of gears. It has clutches and a planetary gearset. A six speed automatic has six forward gears. Each gear is a kind of step up – or back down – that ends up applying more (or less) mechanical leverage to the vehicle’s wheels, in order to get it moving from a stop and then keep it moving at progressively higher road speeds while reducing the load on the engine.

The lower gears provide mechanical leverage to get the vehicle moving quickly when it is not moving fast; once it is moving fast, less leverage is needed to keep it moving, so the transmission shifts up and – eventually – reaches an overdrive gear that reduces engine speed to a fast idle at highway speeds.

A CVT automatic has no gears and does not shift up or down. It continuously varies the relationship between the speed of the engine in relation to the speed of the vehicle. It typically does this via a belt and pulley system that expands and contracts to achieve an effect similar to up (and down) shifting but with the advantage of more precision in that a CVT is not “locked into” fixed ratios that are necessarily not exactly optimum for maximum efficiency. The CVT is thus able to help a vehicle manufacturer trying to squeeze another 2-3 miles-per-gallon out of a car – in order to “achieve compliance” with the CAFE MPG mandatory minimums.

And that’s why CVTs have become so commonplace, especially in vehicles that the manufacturers sell a lot of, such as crossovers. Because remember those “fleet averages.” The more in the fleet with CVTs that get two or three MPGs more than they would have with a conventional (geared) automatic, the better the averages – and the closer to compliance the manufacturer gets.

And that is why it is fair to style the CVT transmission a compliance transmission.

But the slight MPG improvement is a debatable gain to the purchaser of the vehicle. Put another way, it is not likely a person who is interested in buying a given vehicle is going to decide to buy it because it averages 35 rather than 32 MPG.

Or decide not to buy it because it averages 32 rather than 35 MPG.

There is one other CVT advantage: The shiftless action during acceleration. Even pedal-to-the-floor acceleration. You can do that in a CVT-equipped vehicle while holding a cup of coffee in your hand and not spill hot coffee in your lap when the transmission shifts from first to second (or second to third – and so on) because the CVT doesn’t shift. It surges forward. More accurately, the engine surges forward as the vehicle surges forward. The revs – engine speed – increase along with road speed. But there is no “shift shock” as this progresses because – again – the CVT doesn’t shift up to the next highest gear (or down to the next lowest when you floor it to pass another car).

But you do hear the engine rev – because the CVT will generally keep the engine revving at high RPM during pedal-to-the-floor acceleration. The effect is most noticeable in cars with low-powered engines that have to rev to make adequate power. The CVT tends to magnify the feeling that you’re driving an underpowered car and working the engine hard – because you are.

It is one of the reasons many people dislike CVTs.

But that is not the major disadvantage of CVTs. That would be their relative fragility vs. a conventional (geared) automatic that shifts through gears, up and down. The CVT, on the other hand, alters the leverage situation via a belt/chain that expands and contracts, thus continuously varying the range you’re in at any given moment. But the weak link –  literally – is that the belt,/chain over time, is weakened by that expanding and contracting. Eventually – inevitably – the belt/chain fails and when that happens, the CVT must be replaced because it’s not worth the effort and expense to fix it.

The cost currently averages from $3,000 on the low end to $8,000 (or more) on the high end.

Of course, it isn’t inexpensive to replace a conventional (geared) automatic, either – but the take-home point is you probably won’t ever have to. Barring the occasional poor design or manufacturing defect, it’s common for geared automatics to hold up for the life of the vehicle, 15-20 years or even longer.

CVTs tend to fail sooner, especially some of them (that’s you, Jatco).

It’s a situation analogous to another thing unseen – the extreme and rapid depreciation of battery powered vehicles due to the inevitable decline of the very expensive battery pack’s capacity to hold as much charge as it could when it was new.

And the trend toward motorcycle-sized engines in passenger cars that weigh  six or seven times what a motorcycle weighs. Instead of a 3 or so liter V6, a 1.3 liter three, heavily turbocharged to enable it to move the same weight.

Also, the near-disappearance of the manual transmission – which cannot be programmed to eke out the highest-possible mileage numbers on government fuel-efficiency tests.

All four are fine examples of the consequences of actions not immediately apparent at the time a regulatory decision was imposed that manifest at some point after the fact. It is kind of like what happens after you eat too much of the wrong food.

It just takes a while to work its way through.

. . .

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Related posts:
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47 COMMENTS

  2. CVT’s don’t have to be unreliable. The one in our 2016 Subaru Outback has been working great, but it does require occasional fluid changes, and the fluid isn’t cheap. Maybe we got lucky.

    However, this transmission really sucks the soul out of that 3.6L engine, it feels gutless despite having plenty of torque and 260HP. At high load, the thing makes a whiny sound like you’re trying to strangle a cat.

    If you compare the gear ratio curves of a CVT versus a 6-speed or 8-speed automatic, the differences aren’t huge, and the traditional auto can take a lot more torque, such as for towing.

  3. Eric – bought a new Nissan Rogue back in 2010. The CVT transmission went out at around 6,000 miles and was replaced under warranty. Went out again just a touch over 100,000 miles later and Nissan said that I had to pay for the replacement.

    Clearly a serial engineering defect. Finally got them to replace it for cost. Immediately traded it in and I will never again own a Nissan product.

    Anon

  4. The Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail was defiant even though is arms and legs were chopped off, the Black Knight still had a lot of fight left in him.

    Refused to be compliant.

    Defiant, non-compliant Palestinians are losing arms and legs themselves, however, it is not a comedy.

    Difficult to see eye-to-eye when an army, a foe, will kill you.

    It takes courage to fight back, defend, and eventually repel an aggressor.

    Complacent car companies are minus arms and legs all because of dotbubbasam and ridiculous diktats imposed on car companies, ruining an entire industry.

    A bombed out city somewhere near a sea in a Middle Eastern country, a tribe of a couple of million untermenschen living a fate nobody needs, is more or less a car manufacturers bad dream, a nightmare, what the industry might look like, sealed deal.

    Nothing to see in Gaza, move along.

    A pox on cads everywhere.

    In 1837, then into all of 1838, the Mandan tribe along the Missouri River was stricken with a smallpox epidemic, 10,000 tribal members were reduced to 130 survivors.

    In 1782, smallpox infected natives of the northern Great Plains.

    Smallpox existed in North America before Lewis and Clark ever arrived any place else. It is believed an epidemic was avoided back then because the survivors of the 1782 epidemic were immune.

    An African slave infested with smallpox landed on the shores of North America and consequently wiped out some 90 percent of indigenous peoples, smallpox is to blame for the genocide of native North Americans.

    White people can be guilt-free from now on.

    Smallpox was a huge problem solved. Dr. Edward Jenner was a doctor/scientist who solved the problem.

    Mother Nature knows how to kill you dead.

    Mother Nature mandates people do some investigating, recognize a problem and solve it. It can be done and done right.

    Mud pie, mud in your eye
    Mud on a snake bite don’t you die
    Take a little rain, take a little dirt
    Make a little mud get it on your shirt     – Guy Clark, Mud

    • ‘Complacent car companies are minus arms and legs all because of dotbubbasam and ridiculous diktats imposed on car companies, ruining an entire industry.’ — eric

      What happens to say, Scout Motors’ $2 billion plaint in South Carolina, when suddenly the price of steel to stamp body panels just went up 25 percent, because the roasted Gazan thumb sausages Donnie Fubar ate for breakfast didn’t agree with him?

      To put it in Trumpian real estate terms, it’s like having a 60-story tower under construction. Then you get a call, ‘The mayor just cut the height limit to 45 stories this morning by executive order. Sorry for any inconvenience.’

      Donnie Douchebag’s tasteless remarks about ethnically cleansing nearly two million people, while an indicted war criminal stood smirking next to him, disgusted me to the core. When Mr NPD poster child succeeds in driving the U.S. into recession, I’m going to print up a new version of this sticker with Donnie’s witless mug on it:

      https://shorturl.at/TgVwx

      • When Chink steel flooded the world market some years ago, Gerdau, a Brazilian corporation, suffered a 48 percent loss in steel trade, sales.

        A 25 percent tariff is a benefit for Gerdau, domestic US smelting won’t hurt Gerdau, just Chinese steel producers.

        GGB is the ticker; no, I don’t own any Gerdau.

        At 3.06 USD per share, you really can’t go wrong. It’s up today after Trump has been raising hell with the markets. Gerdau pays a dividend, a good return in today’s volatile world of markets. At one time, Gerdau was a 24 dollar stock price.

        Jim Cramer is today’s shoeshine boy, can’t listen to a word the clown says. Buy Bear Stearns!

        During the war on coal, Peabody, BTU, was 99 cents per share, 17 dollars in 2025.

        Obama was the cause of the price drop of Peabody Coal.

        Just from the street financial analysis learned the hard way, losses make you think.

        You will be needing some angle iron at some point in time. Re-bar in 20 foot lengths, finished steel sells.

        I-beams for sure, buy an I-beam.

        US Steel was just over five dollars a few years back, a buy for sure. Nippon wants to buy US Steel for 55 dollars. Nippon buying all they could at 5.43 USD per share?

        Nippon can avoid 25 percent tariffs by buying US Steel.

        I heard Trump mention Nissan in a news report. Did Trump buy Nissan stock at 4.89 USD?

        You shoot from the hip. Tell it like it is.

  6. I’m just wondering at what point does Nature heal and we get past this CAFE crap, so we can go back to big NA engines, Manuals aren’t phased out due to “being inefficient” and we just get what the hell we want instead of all this

  9. These CVTs would last longer and be more reliable if owners would service them at regular intervals. To be fair though the automakers often tell you that the fluid is lifetime which is total nonsense.

  10. I think the CVT design could be improved and optimized for better performance, drivability and serviceability. I’m not opposed to the technology, I’m opposed to the forcing of inferior technology before it’s ready.

    A technology must be superior to what it is replacing!

  11. I have to question whether this is truly a compliance tranny. Why? Europe has more stringent fuel economy regs than we do, yet manual trannies are still widely available there. Why would that be the case if they can’t be programmed to pass the test?

    • Hi Mark,

      Actually, in Europe it is gas taxes that are used to “encourage” people to drive more “efficient” vehicles. In the U.S. it is CAFE that is used to “encourage” vehicle manufacturers to manufacture more “efficient” vehicles.

      • Right, the gas prices are sky high in Europe, which would have the same effect. However, manual transmissions are still available over there. Moreover, by short shifting, higher fuel economy can be achieved. That begs the question: why aren’t they more available here then? They can’t be programmed to achieve higher mileage, but they can be operated so as to yield the same result.

        • Hi Mark,

          Because in Europe there is no CAFE – so need for the vehicle manufacturers to program cars to achieve maximum mileage on a certification test. So the regulatory pressure in this regard is less. Also, the culture over there is different. Europeans still like to drive stick; not many Americans still do.

  12. Had an off-road go-kart dune buggy 250cc with that belt drive automatic tranny and while not my favorite way to transfer power to the ground it was fun to root and drift around everywhere it went. Would run up over 50 mph too.
    That CVT transmission was super easy to work on, you could remove the cover and change the belt in 5 minute!
    Could also replace the rollers and clutch doohickey in about 15 minutes on the cheap!

    Why wouldn’t they make these slightly bigger karts (cars) the same? $60 in parts and 15 minutes and you are back on the read with abrand new transmission.

    • Hey AMC Guy,

      I’m happy to hear some of these anecdotes because it does beg the question.

      Hell, even from the “saaaaafety” and “CO2 is the Devil” vantage point, some of those “sand rail” type vehicles were meant to easily protect the riders in a rollover, with a tubular frame and racing harnesses. And even if you triple that displacement to get to highway speeds (eventually) and a little sheet metal to keep the weather out, the simplicity would still be there, as would be the high gas mileage resulting from the power/weight ratio.

      Am I mistaken?

      I’m quite certain that no one would mind the ability to refurbish the transmission with $60 and 15 minutes, instead of $4,000 and hours of high cost labor.

      • You are right Bad, I would drive an off-road go-kart everywhere if it was allowed. Starting to see these rzr buggy’s on the road quite a bit here in NC, so maybe they are starting to ease the rules in our favor.

        • RZR types on the road here in Central WA too – technically only “allowed” on county roads under 45 limit. Hah. The sheriff is a live and let live guy for the legal citizens ranching and growing and minding their own business. Not unusual to see a little farm configured rig like these picking up supplies at Ranch & Home. Saw two at the Safeway in town recently.

          Our far left state government wants to eliminate elected sheriffs state wide, your last bastion of direct county control.

  13. I’ve ridden bicycles with a CVT drive train. City bikes sometimes feature them because it allows for Gates rubber belt drive instead of a roller chain. I suppose that’s a feature for the casual rider because chain maintenance is sometimes messy.

    My observation is that they don’t have the wide selection of ratios of a traditional sprocket/derailer setup. There’s only so much difference you can have without increasing the size of the cones (which in the confined space of a bicycle wheel hub isn’t an option). Around a flat city that’s fine, but I don’t think you could use one in Pittsburgh or San Francisco.

    Can’t say if the same thing is true in an automobile. At least there’s more room underneath to fit a larger transmission, or maybe there are multiple stages to increase leverage. My Cherokee has the Fiat 9 speed transmission. 5 of the 9 gear ratios are overdrive gears. It only goes into 9th gear when I’m in Utah doing 80+ MPH. Seems if they wanted to get a few more MPG out of the vehicle instead of going to a CVT they could just rearrange some of the ratios in that 9 speed to be closer and have fewer OD gears, but I guess that doesn’t make sense????

  14. I see a lot of the newer (2023 and later) 1.5 L 3 cylinder Nissan Rogues with Jatco CVTs here in Central Texas.

    Brie did her job well. Empowerment sells.

    The new Rogue strikes me as a little too top heavy. Maybe the CVT prevents a bigger problem with irresponsible driving.

  15. I have a question regarding CVTs & “intelligent variable transmissions”. As someone who still watches The Price is Right even after Bob Barker retired 18 years ago, every so often I’ll see them give away a new car, truck, or crossover that announcer George Gray describes as having “intelligent variable transmission”. Would anyone here happen to know the difference between that & the continously variable transmission that so many new vehicles now come with?

    • More Madison Avenue word games.
      Just like how Subaru calls the CVT in the WRX the “Subaru Performance Transmission.”
      Just guessing, but I’d say 80% of the car buying public probably has no idea of what goes on under their hood – or even care.

      • Hi Flip,

        You could be right. I’ve seen so many word games just over the past few years. I’ve also heard so many stories of CVTs being a pain in the @$$ to repair compared to conventional transmissions. But as someone who prefers older cars to the newer automobiles for various reasons, I’m going to avoid getting a new one as much as possible.

        • I had my 4L60 rebuilt at a tranny shop few years ago and was talking to the guy there who told me they don’t even rebuild the Nissan CVT transmissions.
          They just refer customers to the dealer for a full replacement.
          (Another reason Nissan’s reputation is awful and why their overall resale is terrible.)

          *And to the worlds greatest MC there ever was or will be….RIP Bob Barker.

  16. The constant high revving of the cvt also makes it feel like you are driving faster than you are. This is why Subarus drive around at 15 mph everywhere because it sounds like 40

  17. Eric: “the CVT automatic would probably never have been developed in the first place.”

    The 1958 DAF 600, a Dutch compact car, was the first mass-produced vehicle to feature a CVT. Of course with a whopping 590cc engine you can probably tell it was a small car at just under 12 feet long and on a flat road could work it’s way up to 60 miles an hour.

    That’s what we have to remember is that all ideas are not new and ideas that worked well enough for their original purposes don’t always scale up.

    I believe Toyota has a CVT with what the call a Launch Gear, in other words an actual gear so as to give better performance and longevity. Hopefully some day they can build one with 4 or 5 actual gears.

    • My dad had one of those circa 1979-80. They actually had two belts. His ran on one, t’other was kaput. It’d go about 50 flat out screaming like a banshee.
      I wrote it off around a lamp post in Troon.
      He didn’t mind cause he got it gratis but was pissed I lost my licence cause I was also pissed at the time.
      I forgive me cause I was a stupid wee boy, learned my lesson and only had a “speeding” offense since.

    • I obtained a 1962 DAF Daffodil shortly after I got my license in 1971. My girlfriend’s uncle gave it to me for the price of hauling it away).
      The driveshaft had separated (no universal joints; rubber bushings molded into an aluminum tube). Replaced the driveshft (not repairable, obviously). Drove it for a couple of years until the CVT seals started leaking. Once the oil reached the rubber belts the interior got rather smokey.
      It featured a 30hp., 750 cc 2 cylinder boxer engine. IIRC it took about a minute to reach 60 mph (downhill). One detail really impressed me; its 6V electrical system wasn’t very strong so it came with a crank handle (insert through a hole in the grill). My brother and I made good use of it.

    • That would be an interesting design choice for an automobile. Basically put a torque converter on every wheel. The roads would be covered in oil all the time as the lines rust out and burst. Every accident would become a Superfund site.

      But the engine could be mounted pretty much anywhere, and it will be easy to convert to electric motors too.

    • I had thought of this, too, Mike. An engine-driven hydraulic pump and 4 hydraulic motors… Seems like it would eliminate a lot of mechanical complexity and be such an elegant solution to power transmission. But perhaps it would be less efficient; I don’t know.

      Cool idea, though. If we could have such experimental ingenuity return to this country, things might get interesting.

    • Totally different animal. A hydrostatic is a sort of drive pump/driven pump system. They are absolutely great on some equipment but not very suitable to cars.

  19. ‘The lower gears provide mechanical leverage to get the vehicle moving quickly when it is not moving fast; once it is moving fast, less leverage is needed to keep it moving.’ — eric

    It would be more accurate to say that gears are needed to match an internal combustion engine’s relatively narrow peak power curve to vehicle speed. As the red line in this chart shows, power output at idle speed is but a fraction of its peak level:

    https://tinyurl.com/prju8wyx

    EeeVees don’t need gears because an electric motor produces its peak torque all across its speed range, including locked rotor — meaning no clutch needed either.

    Despite the theoretical advantages of CVTs, it turns out drivers like the sensation of shifting, as well as feeling acceleration increase as the engine hits is peak power band. It’s an essential aspect of the IC engine experience.

    An analogy: theoretically, replacing the reciprocating human heart with a constant-pressure centrifugal pump should reduce stress on the vascular system. But in practice, transplant patients with centrifugal pumps don’t survive long. Turns out the body is adapted to those systolic pulses, and loses viral regulatory functions when they disappear.

  20. ‘The economist Frederic Bastiat wrote about the seen – and the unseen – effects triggered by economic decisions. — eric

    Yes he did. This morning in an essay against Trumptard’s tariffs, Lew Rockwell quotes Bastiat on how profitable it would be for provincial cities to impose breaks in the Paris to Bayonne railroad, to increase employment in their local drayage, warehousing and hospitality industries. But obviously, a chopped-up railroad is useless.

    So here we go again: this morning Donnie Fubar imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum. This is a bullet to the back of the skull for US makers of autos, aircraft and appliances (what few remain). These companies will see layoffs, and some will close their doors for good.

    We’re witnessing the opening gambits in the march toward Orange Hoover’s Depression II. Note it in your calendar: January 20, 2029. That’s the dark day when our new DemonRat president sweeps away every act of Trump during his first hour in office — then signs a hundred executive orders to impose full communism. Thanks a lot, Donnie Dipsh*t.

    • Hi Jim.

      One of the original purposes of tariffs (other than tax revenue) was to encourage production of the item in the home market. The problem that the President fails to properly grasp is that due to all the regulations and permits required before you can even start building it can be many years before you can even start building. So why even start building when a change at GovCo can result in billions being lost like on the Keystone pipeline?

      In Canada (our future 51 first state?) Tek Resources designed a new state of the art Oil Sands Plant and got environmental and native approval to build it. The first thing Trudeau did was cancel it. Politics trump your need to be profitable. Just ask the automakers if you disagree with that statement.

      At least in China if you build it you can use it, here not so much. Until GovCo decides they want something built here only a fool would try to build it here. That said; yes you can assemble goods at a lower risk to capital but would you risk upwards of 12 billion dollars to build a modern oil refinery or steel mill capable of producing virgin steel (not a remelt mill using only scrap metal)? I’m guessing not.

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