Turbo-Hydramatic or Turbo Hydra-Matic is the registered tradename for a family of automatic transmissions developed and produced by General Motors. These transmissions mate a three-element turbine torque converter to a Simpson planetary geartrain, providing three forward speeds plus reverse.
Turbo-Hydramatic 400 Transmission
A Hydra-Matic 3L80 transmission, produced between 1963 and 1995, at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum
The underside of a Hydramatic transmission, as installed on a Humvee
A THM 200 transmission, produced between 1975 and 1987
An automatic transmission is a multi-speed transmission used in motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. Vehicles with internal combustion engines, unlike electric vehicles, require the engine to operate in a narrow range of rates of rotation, requiring a gearbox, operated manually or automatically, to drive the wheels over a wide range of speeds.
Cutaway view of a 2007 Toyota AA80E hydraulic automatic
Typical gear selector for an automatic transmission
Cutaway view of a ZF 8HP transmission: torque converter on the left, planetary gearsets in the centre, control mechanisms at the bottom
Torque converter – cutaway view