Images Linear Actuators in Cars

Cars get moving with linear actuators.

If all the actuators in your cars disappeared, they wouldn’t do much of anything when you pushed on the gas pedal. In fact, if you removed the actuators from those cars, you wouldn’t even be able to get inside your car with your door unlock remote in the first place. Linear actuators play an integral role in cars, and without them, we wouldn’t have some of the world records we do today. 

Many different types of actuators are used in cars to make them do what they do. You can find electric linear actuators, valve actuators, micro-actuators and more. Each of these actuators do their job so when you press that gas pedal, you get to where you want to go – sometimes, really fast. 

Engines and Wheels

Your fuel injection system relies on an actuator. The actuator controls the flow of air into the system, and as a result, your car gets better stability, traction and cruise control. Actuators are used to prevent wheel spin and skids by distributing the car’s horsepower to where it needs to go. 

Headlights and Car Door Actuators

Electric actuators are used to allow your power door to lock to open and shut. Without these systems, we’d have no power door locks. Remember all those movies that contain a scene during the night where the only things you see are the two headlights of a car pop up? Those ascending lights rely on small linear actuators when the car is turned on. 

Vehicles for the Disabled

Actuators in cars are used for more than just making it accelerate to mind-bending speeds. Vehicles that have been retrofitted for wheelchair lifts also make use of linear actuators. These systems have been installed during the manufacturing process, as well as after in a retrofit application. 

Snow Plows

Actuators can be used to create the needed motion for a snow plow in the winter. These actuators must be able to withstand high amounts of force, and be reliable enough for use in the cold weather and long winters. Virtually any truck can be retrofitted for a snow plow and can be used to make a few extra bucks during the Christmas season, or to just help out your neighbors and family when the big snow hits. 

Electric linear actuators are used in the automotive industry in a variety of ways. Not only are they used inside the cars, but the robots that are used in the manufacturing plant also make use of actuators. We can be fairly certain that without actuators in cars or actuators in manufacturing, we wouldn’t have some of the awe-inspiring machines on the road that we have today.