Manual transmission
motor vehicle manual gearbox; stick shift
A manual transmission (MT), also known as a manual gearbox is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system in which the driver manually selects the gear ratio, typically using a gear stick and clutch. In automobiles, the clutch is typically operated by a foot pedal; motorcycles typically use a hand lever.
Manual transmissions have historically used sliding-mesh and constant-mesh designs. Most modern manual transmissions use constant-mesh gears with synchromesh mechanisms to facilitate gear changes. They commonly provide four to seven forward gear ratios, depending on the vehicle and application.
Manual transmissions are distinguished from automatic transmission, which selects gears without direct driver operation of the transmission. Automated manual transmissions and dual-clutch transmissions use related mechanical principles but automate some or all of the gear-changing process.
Overview
A manual transmission requires the driver to operate the gear stick and clutch in order to change gears (unlike an automatic transmission or semi-automatic transmission, where one (typically the clutch) or both of these functions are automated). Most manual transmissions for cars allow the driver to select any gear ratio at any time, for example shifting from second to fourth gear, or fifth to third gear. However, sequential manual transmissions, which are commonly used in motorcycles and racing cars, only allow the driver to select the next-higher or next-lower gear.
“Manual transmission” enters the record as motor vehicle manual gearbox; stick shift. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Manual, transmission and motor can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1208529. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manual transmission” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.