A ride-on vehicle, such as a zero turn radius lawnmower, includes a main chassis having first and second pivot joints, a first rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, and a second rocker arm having a caster wheel on a first end portion and a drive wheel on a second end portion, wherein the first rocker arm and the second rocker arm are independently pivotally coupled to the respective first and second pivot joints of the main chassis at a location between the caster wheels and the drive wheels. The ride-on vehicle may also include a modular mower deck assembly with a plurality of mower deck modules having a blade assembly, an electric blade motor configured to provide rotation to the blade assembly, and an attachment assembly configured to enable attachment between adjacent mower deck modules.

A switch device includes a switch body, which is arranged at the back side of a steering unit, and a lever unit, which is attached to the switch body to allow for switching by a pivotal operation about a first axis, which extends in the axial direction of a steering shaft. The lever unit includes a lever shaft, which extends in a direction intersecting the first axis of the pivotal operation, a lever head, which is arranged at the distal end of the lever shaft and has a larger dimension than the diameter of the lever shaft, and a push operation unit, which allows for switching by a push operation. The push operation unit is arranged so that the operation direction of the push operation is directed toward the first axis.

A steering wheel includes a steering hub portion, a wheel portion and a spoke portion. The spoke portion extends from the steering hub portion and is connected with the wheel portion. The wheel portion includes a core metal and a cover layer. The core metal circles around the steering wheel. The cover layer covers the core metal. A vibrator housing portion is provided at a part in a circling direction of the core metal. The core metal includes a U-shaped cross section in the vibrator housing portion in a radial direction of the wheel portion. A partition wall is provided inside of the core metal to divide and form the vibrator housing portion. A case is attached to the core metal to cover the vibrator housing portion. The vibrator is disposed in the vibrator housing portion between the core metal and the case. The vibrator is attached to the case.

A vehicle steering wheel is provided that includes a rim having a core structure, a plurality of heaters surrounding at least a portion of the core structure to define a plurality of heating zones, at least one sensor for sensing location of a user's hand on the steering wheel, and a controller controlling the plurality of heaters to activate one or more of the heaters based on the sensed location of the hand.

Steering wheel sensor systems are described in which a sensor array is attached to or integrated with a steering wheel and provides information about the forces exerted on the steering wheel for interacting with or controlling other vehicle systems.

A steering wheel arrangement includes a steering wheel rotatable about a rotation axis, a steering shaft, a stationary housing covering at least partially the steering shaft and supporting at least one accessory, a plurality of coupling elements adapted to couple the steering wheel to the steering shaft, such that rotation of the steering wheel causes rotation of the steering shaft. Each coupling element is integral in rotation with the steering shaft and slidably movable along an axial direction between an upper position and a lower position, and wherein each coupling element is detachably connected to the steering wheel, each coupling element being connected to the steering wheel in its upper position, such that rotation of the steering wheel causes rotation of the coupling element, and being disconnected from the steering wheel in its lower position, such that rotation of the steering wheel does not cause rotation of the coupling element.

A device for detecting steering wheel contact comprises at least a first electrode (12) which is provided in a steering wheel (10) and which forms, together with a human body acting as a second electrode and a dielectric situated therebetween, at least one sensor capacitor (26). The device also comprises an evaluation circuit (24) having a reference capacitor (30) of known capacitance which can be connected parallel to the sensor capacitor (26), a direct current voltage source (34) which can be connected to the reference capacitor (30), and a measuring device for measuring the voltage at the reference capacitor (30). A method for detecting steering wheel contact using such a device comprises the following successive steps: charging the reference capacitor (30) by applying a known reference voltage, or charging the reference capacitor (30) and subsequently measuring a first voltage at the reference capacitor (30); connecting, in parallel, the sensor capacitor (26) to the reference capacitor (30) so that a portion of the charge of the reference capacitor (30) is transmitted to the sensor capacitor (26); measuring a second voltage at the reference capacitor (26); end determining the capacitance of the sensor capacitor (26) from the known capacitance of the reference capacitor (30), the reference voltage or the first voltage and the second voltage.

Example systems and methods for a driver detection steering wheel are disclosed. An example disclosed vehicle includes a steering wheel, a driver, a detector, and an enabling module. The example steering wheel includes a plurality of capacitive sensors. The example driver is to change voltage levels on the plurality of capacitive sensors. The example detector is to measure time delays corresponding to the plurality of capacitive sensors, and determine a number of hands on the steering wheel based on the time delays. The example enabling module is to, in response to the detector detecting two hands on the steering wheel, grant access to an infotainment system.

An input device includes an input area, an optical or capacitive sensor which includes a scan area, and an analyzing unit. The optical or capacitive sensor detects a surface structure of a finger touching the input area in the scan area. The input device operates in an identification mode where the surface structure located in the scan area is detected via the optical or capacitive sensor. The input device also operates in an input mode where at least a sub-area of the scan area is detected at least once via the optical or capacitive sensor and is analyzed by the analyzing unit so that the analyzing unit assigns at least one of a control function and a switch function to a relative movement of the surface structure in the sub-area.

In the input device, the contact surface is provided in the housing, and is exposed to the outside of the housing at the part of the opening. A user makes an input operation by making the contact body in contact with the contact surface. When the contact surface detects the movement of the contact body in a predetermined direction by detecting the contact position of the contact body, the drive unit moves the contact surface to perform the direction detection operation. When the direction detection operation is performed, the user can recognize that the input operation the user made was accepted.