A VW IRS, or Volkswagen independent rear suspension, transmission is a special type of transmission that can be found in several models of Volkswagen automobiles, particularly the Volkswagen Beetle.
The IRS, or independent rear suspension, transmission system was first introduced to the automobile industry in 1968, coming included with the semi-automatic Volkswagen Beetle. In 1969, all Beetles in the United States were fitted with the IRS, and in 1971, other countries followed suit. In the years since then, the IRS has been become an automobile industry standard.
An IRS is a type of automobile suspension system that allows two rear wheels that are on the same axle to shift position vertically without affecting each other's position. The wheels spin in unison with each other, but raising one wheel doesn't lower the other as it would if the wheels were linked.
One of the most important benefits of this type of transmission is that it provides a much safer, smoother ride and better handling. Because the IRS is set up so that the vertical movement of one wheel does not affect the vertical movement of the other, bumps in the road do not cause both wheels to shift.
