Girls At The Wheel

Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles as well as light and heavy trucks. The steering wheel is the part of the steering system that is manipulated by the driver; the rest of the steering system responds to such driver inputs. This can be through direct mechanical contact as in recirculating ball or rack and pinion steering gears, without or with the assistance of hydraulic power steering, HPS, or as in some modern production cars with the assistance of computer controlled motors, known as Electric Power Steering. With the introduction of federal vehicle regulation in the United States in 1968, FMVSS 114 required the impairment of steering wheel rotation (or transmission locked in "park") to hinder motor vehicle theft; in most vehicles this is accomplished when the ignition key is removed from the ignition lock.
History
The first automobiles were steered with a tiller, but in 1894 Alfred Vacheron took part in the Paris-Rouen race with a Panhard 4 hp model which he had fitted with a steering wheel. That is believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle.