# The physics of Knight Rider

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physics-of-knight-rider/25351>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physics-of-knight-rider/25351 "2000-07-12T20:41:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physics-of-knight-rider/25351/61 "2000-07-18T06:08:46Z")

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Curwin,  
They do not need to build the President’s car out of the same material because he has all those secret service agents. It would be a huge waste of tax-payers’ money to do that. If a toilet seat costs 500 bucks, a KITT limo would be a million-billion dollars.

And I am sorry for your disappointment at Universal Studios, but that was not KITT. That was one of KITT’s helpers. Kinda like the mall-Santa deal. Trust me, KITT is real!!

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**Author:** ![dietrologia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@dietrologia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dietrologia)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physics-of-knight-rider/25351/62 "2000-07-19T21:58:22Z")

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I saw KITT in “the flesh” when they were filming one day near my house. The steering wheel was one of those airplane-yoke deals. That is it looked like this:  
(-) – kind of like a circle with the top and bottom crescents cut out.

Given that this was a real car–I mean I saw it sitting there and all–how the hell does one steer with a wheel like that?–especially given the high speeds that KITT was capable of and all.

Seeing as KITT was this ultra-high-tech vehicle, this seems to be quite un-ergonomic.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-physics-of-knight-rider/25351/63 "2000-07-20T00:44:55Z")

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Well, it is possible that KITT had a very responsive steering system. Imagine a Formula 1 car: the drivers don’t have to turn the wheel three times to make it corner really sharp. So you could configure a normal car like that: a 90 degree turn of the steering wheel would mean a full-lock right or left. It would make the car terribly nervous to drive though. But hey: KITT can handle that much. Plus, American sportscars are mostly guided through corners by means of the accelerator anyway 😃

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