The first Model Ts did not even have a starter like a modern car. This is the powerful electric motor in a car that turns the engine to make it run when it is turned off. The engine on the Model T was started with a hand crank on the front of the car. A wire loop near the radiator worked the choke on the carburetor to give the engine extra fuel to help start it when it was cold. This could be dangerous if the operator was not careful. If the levers that controlled the engine were not set the right way, especially the spark control, the engine could backfire, or spin the wrong way. Many people got broken arms this way. Doctors even had a name for this kind of break: the "Ford fracture". Many Model T owners added electric starters to their cars and it was not long before Ford started doing the same. A Model T is in high gear by default, so if the parking/clutch lever was not engaged, the car had a tendency to run over the operator when started. 