Torque Converter and Hydrodynamic Drive Patents: Who Holds the Ground
46.5% concentration. The top 5 assignees alone account for 2,184 of the 4,693 records in scope — nearly half the field sits with a handful of drivetrain majors. Filings peaked at 234 in 2017 and have declined since; the 2021-to-2024 span alone shows a -66% drop, from 62 to 21 records. That is a real slowdown in new filing activity, not an artifact of the data cut-off, since 2024 is the last year with a complete publication window.
- 1TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK722
- 2ALLISON TRANSMISSION INC635
- 3AISIN AW CO LTD359
- 4ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG273
- 5BORGWARNER INC195
See the full torque converters and hydrodynamic drives analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on this landscape
Who holds the most torque converter patents?
The assignee ranking in this dataset is led by a single company with 722 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 195. The leaders are predominantly automakers and transmission specialists that have filed continuously across the 2015-2026 window, and the top 5 combined account for 46.5% of all 4,693 records in scope. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should treat that leading portfolio as the primary reference point rather than the field average.
Is torque converter patent filing growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked at 234 records in 2017 and has declined since, with the last fully comparable window showing a 66% drop from 62 records in 2021 to 21 in 2024. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming further decline. The trend through 2024, however, is a genuine slowdown rather than a data artifact.
What technology areas do torque converter patents cover?
Core gearing and transmission claims (F16H) appear in 73.5% of the 4,693 records, making it by far the densest classification. Hybrid vehicle control (B60W) and clutch and brake hardware (F16D) each sit around 17%, with vibration damping, engine control and electric propulsion classes trailing further behind. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as overlapping coverage rather than a strict breakdown.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Torque Converters and Hydrodynamic Drives covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.