HONDA Insight - Manual (Page 78)

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Honda claims that their CVT transmission is the world's first mass-produced, high-power, stepless
transmission. While such transmissions existed previously, they claim the CVT is "far superior in quality,
endurance, power output [and] cost". They have also specifically designed the CVT to respond in the way
that drivers are accustomed to other automatic tranmissions responding.
CVT Operation
The CVT transmission consists of an oil-pressure variable input (aka "driving") and output (aka
"driven") pulley, and a metal belt that connects the two. With an oil-system clutch on the "driven" side, the
Multimatic acts as an automatic transmission. The power output from the engine goes through: Front/Back
Switch Mechanism -> Driving Pulley -> Metal Belt -> Driven Pulley -> Clutch.
The two pulley widths, adjusted by oil pressure, react to the position of throttle, speed, and other
conditions. For instance, when the accelerator is depressed, the driving pulley width increases. At the same
time, the driven pulley width decreases - the two combining for a "lower gear" effect.
By making such adjustments, we have full control over the entire gear range previously available to
automatic transmissions. From LOW to OVERDRIVE - and everything in-between. In addition, the metal
belt is highly flexible, and easily accommodates the ever-changing width of the pulleys, and transfer power
efficiently without any slippage.
This difficult task of adjusting oil pressure, and adjusting to variable driving conditions is handled
completely by the ECU, and allows the transmission to extract the maximum performance out of an engine
- making this a revolutionary automotive transmission.
CVT Mechanism
The Unique Features of the Honda Multimatic The Honda Multimatic does not use a torque converter,
but uses a newly designed multi-layered clutch. Additionally, to obtain smooth acceleration, various
proprietary equipment were added in order to make a step-less transmission with high reliability and
durability.