Patent ID: 7585247

Claim:
An automatic transmission for a vehicle comprising: a transmission housing; an input member; an output member; three planetary gearsets for changing a ratio of torque between the input member and the output member, each planetary gearset having a plurality of members including a sun gear, a planetary carrier supporting a plurality of planet gears engaging the sun gear, and an annulus gear engaging the plurality of planet gears; a plurality of clutch assemblies operative to selectively couple the input member to predetermined members of the planetary gearsets; and a plurality of brake assemblies operative to selectively couple predetermined members of the planetary gearsets to the transmission housing, wherein the planetary carrier of the first planetary gearset is permanently coupled for rotation with the sun gear of the second planetary gearset, the annulus gears of the first and third planetary gearsets are each permanently coupled for rotation with the planetary carrier of the second planetary gearset, and the output member is permanently coupled for rotation with each of the annulus gear of the second planetary gearset and the planetary carrier of the third planetary gearset, and wherein a first clutch assembly selectively couples the input member to the sun gear of the first planetary gearset, and the output member rotates in a direction opposite to the input member.