Why are the new car steering wheels so fat? What are people with tiny hands to do?

Takes me one (this one) or two (previous) sets of two rolls. Your mileage may vary.
(I got some more self-vulcanizing tape since this photo)

Tell me about it! I thought it was only me but many women & even men who are short in height ( 5ft1 to 5ft7-5ft9) will find it difficult to drive a car that has non height adjustable seats so the seats are too low & theyā€™ll have the same problem as me & the OP i.e not be able to hold the steering wheel since itā€™s too thick & they have small hands

The car Iā€™m actually renting has a thick steering wheel ( not at all thin) & you canā€™t adjust the height of the seat so being a 5ft8 tall guy itā€™s still too low ( the seat is too low)

My car ( that is currently in the garage & needs to be repaired although I cant afford the car repairs as itā€™s way too expensive but thats another story) has a thin steering wheel ( well the original steering wheel was too thick hence why I installed a aftermarket steering wheel which is way thinner because I ā€œtrimmedā€ it) so I can hold it properly since I have small size 7 hands like the OP

And in my car, I can adjust the height of my car seat ( it goes way higher than the car seat of the car Iā€™m currently renting)

Unlike what another member of the discussion said, I think itā€™s incredibly important to be able to wrap your fingers around the wheel to be in full control of the car. Thatā€™s why those of us who have small hands need a car with a thin steering wheel and not a thick steering wheel.

My wife is 5ā€™ 5" and does have really small hands and does not have trouble driving any of our vehicles or ones that we have looked at . Including ones that donā€™t have height adjustable seats . What we have here is a failure to adapt.

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As far as I know, the main reason for mfrs adopting ā€œfatterā€ steering wheels over the years is that it much easier for people with arthritic hands to grip them. The population is aging, more older people have arthritis, and soā€¦

That can indeed be a problem for some people. You might recall a few posts several years ago, by ā€œOtterhereā€, who absolutely hated everything about her new Toyota Yaris, from the color of the paint, to the upholstery pattern, toā€¦ everything else.

One of her problems was that she did her car shopping at night, and looked at a 4-door Yaris but wound up buying a 2-door Yarisā€“which is smaller than the 4 door model, and has different upholstery than the 4 door model.

The other problem was that she was apparently unable to adapt. While she admitted that her old Geo Metro was a worn-out rattletrap, she insisted that it was superior in every way to the brand new Yaris. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

When it was suggested that she has difficulty adapting to change, she conceded that she always has problems adapting to anything that is different.

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Well, you can always get a pair of theseā€¦

And who knows what thatā€™s called?

Depending on your age, itā€™s a suicide knob or a neckers knob.

And not legal in many states.

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In my area, they used to call them ā€œspinner knobsā€.
I seem to recall that they were illegal in NJ.

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The older neighbor kid had one of those on his 57 Chevy. All of us kids showed great interest in the image on it. Iā€™ve been planning to put one on my lawn mower.

I donā€™t know why they have gone to cushioned steering wheels. They used to be an option or on the higher priced cars. At any rate I really do not have a problem with smallish hands. I simply refuse to rigidly grip the wheel with both hands and tend to relax when driving. One thing though the Sheriff cautioned against wrapping your thumb around the wheel. Said he has seen many broken thumbs when the air bag goes off. So I donā€™t do it although Iā€™ve never had an air bag go off.

What would happen if youā€™ve got a suicide knob and the airbag deploys?

Someone brought up 9 and 3 versus 10 and 2 . . . several years ago, I know

My dad taught me to drive and he insisted on 10 and 2 and always said ā€œKEEP THOSE HANDS UPā€

Well, as soon as I passed my driverā€™s license test and was driving on my own, I went to 9 and 3

I find 10 and 2 uncomfortable and unnatural

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Iā€™ve been having a hard time adapting to the newer 8 and 4 oā€™clock guidance. Itā€™s because the warm air from the upper vents point right at the 10 and 2 oā€™clock positions!

My son put one of those suicide knobs on my mower. I thought he was crazy, but it is great. Try it out. I found it very helpful.

A long time friend of mine who lives in Tulsa is 4ā€™10" and takes many road trips with no issues in regard to steering wheels or seats no matter the vehicle make.
And she has very tiny hands and short fingers. The difference I can see is that she does not maintain a death grip on the wheel.

I generally drive with a thumb and one finger on each side of a spoke at the 8 or 9 oā€™clock position depending upon the car. Both hands when needed but never at the 10 and 2 as that is just flat uncomfortable for me.

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I was taught 10 2 nearly 60 years ago and have never had an accident, and keep my hands gripped for the simple reason that my reflexes are too slow to depend on gripping AND steering in time when necessary. All I need in a steering wheel is that my fingers can close around it. Doesnā€™t seem too much to ask. Also grip strength is much greater than open hand strength during a quick twist.

Luckily for me, Iā€™ve always found Japanese and Korean cars fit me better overall and had thinner steering wheels. I enjoyed driving the ā€œNew Bugā€ that was designed as a ā€œchickā€ car too. And my newish Focus is an old not updated model with a nice wheel. It is even heated!

Spinner or suicide knob, call it what you will, was extremely useful for me long ago when I worked at a mason supply yard and spent a lot of time maneuvering a FORK LIFT.

That job was all about turning. It required wiggling the machine around a lot to align the forks precisely to slip into a stack of cement blocks, or pallets, or cube of red bricks. I was very good at it, right from the start. Then Iā€™d hop off and jump on the bucket loader, also with a knob, to load sand or gravel into a dump truck, then run a delivery in the truck ā€“ with no knob.

Now, the only time I maneuver anything remotely that tricky is in a parking lot, or when Iā€™m backing a trailer. I see absolutely no need for a suicide knob for cars on roads, and mostly Iā€™d guess itā€™s more liability than asset.

But a slow moving tractor or riding mower might be a useful application for a knob, as some have mentioned.

Until reading this thread, I had never ever thought about steering wheel thickness. And I would have to get in my car and go somewhere to know what ā€œtimeā€ my hands like best. Of course that depends on whether I have a cast or splint on my hands which has been part of my life intermittently for the past year because of surgery on both thumbs (one at a time).

The only time I think about where my hands are is when paddling my touring kayak with a high end carbon-fiber bent-shaft paddle. :wink:

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So was I, but there were no airbags back then. Thatā€™s why the recommendation is for 9 & 3 so the airbag is less likely to hit your arms.

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Thanks, I didnā€™t know that. Iā€™ll try a compromise but need the extra leverage for turning.

Power steering does not require much ā€™ leverage '.

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Iā€™ve gone from 9 & 3 to 8 & 4 to 7:30 & 4:30 (where the lower blue wrap is in my photo above).

Itā€™s plenty hard for me at 80!