Just wondering who introduced the power tilt & telescoping steering wheel w/ tilt away first; Lexus, Acura or BMW? (not sure if Audi's, Infiniti's or anyone else qualifies). As I am reading "The Lexus Story", I get the impression that Lexus introduced the idea first. TIA!

 

I do believe Lexus. One of their many innovations,. We know who all copied it.

 

I had it on my '94 Acura Legend (intro'd in 92 I think) but Lexus may have done it earlier.

 

thats a good question. Good trivia question.

 

Infiniti Q45 had it, cause I had it on my 90 and 92 Q45! But Lexus could of done the same with the LS400! Curious to know who was first with this great feature!

 

I recall reading in the 1990 LS400 manual that both power/auto tilt/telescope was available, and the 1990 model was released in 1989, before the Infiniti I think. However my 1990 had only power tilt, and telescope was manual. . . maybe it was an option that came with the memory seats that I didn't have either. I also recall some 1990 LS400 models coming with cloth interiors, and leather only became standard later.

The JDM version had rear massagers and a rear remote climate control/stereo console in the center arm rest as well.

 

Do you all know who introduced the manual tilt/telescoping steering wheel?

GCrim21

 

Mercedes-Benz, BMW?

 

my old 1990 ls did. maybe toyota introduced them in their higher end models before the '90's.

 

Not sure but for the longest time I was sure that a real tilt (as opposed to swing the whole stalk up and down) patent was held by an american car company because all of the american cars had it but almost none of the imports did (didn't want to spend the $$$ to license) ???

But that was just my conspiracy theory!

 

Mr. Johnson is on the right path. Amercian cars always had manual tilt. The answer has been very hard to find. Nothing yet.

I am assuming power tilt/telescoping wheel. Nothing yet..

 

I'm just that my '01 ES does not have a power tilt & telescoping steering wheel feature. I don't think the new ES even has it either

Man, why is it almost always the ES the last in the pack when it comes to special Lexus features?

 

I remember a (brand new at the time) late 70s Chevy Monte Carlo that not only power tilted the wheel away but swiveled the driver's seat towards the driver's door for easy ingress/egress. I was stunned................

 

Cadillac had manual tilt-and-telescoping steering columns back in the mid-to-late 60's.

 

Our 7 has a tilt/teloscopic steering wheel, but it doesnt go up after you take the key out!! Its so amazing how much of a difference something small like that can make.