Where Does the Speedometer Cable Connect?

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Chuck Orlandi with Miami Shores Auto Repair in Miami Shores, Florida. Okay, the question is, "Where does the speedometer cable connect to?" That's a good question. Most cars today don't use speedometer cables; most of them now are using a speed sensor which is, which is a sensor that sends the signal to the computer which will also, will then in turn sends a signal to your dashboard, which will either be digital or analog which will show the speed of the car. Most cars today use that type of system that, that would have a electric sensor on the transmission itself which would pick it up from the revolutions of the transmission. That's how they find out how, how the speed; how fast the car is going. In the old days they used to use a cable, the cable would go from the transmission up through the instrument, behind the instrument panel and hook directly to the gage that you look at when you're driving the car. Those cables don't be used too much anymore. They used to go bad a lot because of how many times they turn. You would have to keep them greased and they, and when they go bad they would start making noises and ultimately they fail. So of course, they develop a better way of doing it now which is, which is the speed sensor. The speed sensor also is used to send a signal to the computer which the computer will use in determining other things such as fuel requirement; maybe on the anti lock braking system, it would know how fast the car is going. If you automatic, all of a sudden go from, you know, fifty miles per hour to five, it knows that you're, you're standing on the brake and that's one of the inputs that those speed sensor would take."