All-Wheel-Steering - What It Is and How It Can Make our Lives Better - autoevolution

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Over the past century, technology has evolved to such a point where the fore-fathers of the automobile would most likely be shocked when coming in contact with a modern vehicle. Among the many patents exploited by manufacturers, one of them is still sort of a novelty to most people even today: all-wheel-teering.

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The 1980s - what a time to live in! It seems like the 80s brought forth an accelerated process of automobile manufacturing and development, and with the competition running at an all time high, every single name on the market was trying to get an edge against their competitors, in the battle for increasing their market share and subsequently speaking profits.

Car control was one of the most important issues at hand, and when you think car control, you obviously think about its steering capabilities.

While conventional designs implied only the use of the two front wheels in the steering process, engineers quickly started fiddling around with the idea of having the rear wheels come into play as well, albeit various solutions were used by different companies on different applications.

The general consensus seemed to have the rear wheels turn at a different angle than those on the front when talking about lower speeds, and then having them turn at the same angle as the front ones at higher speeds. This would make for smaller turning radiuses at lower speeds, and hence increased manoeuvrability around tight, slow corners, and easier parking.

At higher speeds the car would tend to become more stable than before, thus improving the driveability of the vehicle and delivering a better driving experience all in all.

While the four wheel steering systems can be generally noticed by experienced drivers, an onlooker would probably not notice it working, as the degree to which the rear wheel turns is usually very small.

In the past, the Chevrolet Quadrasteer is the one system that probably pushed this idea the furthest - with the rear wheels turning as much as 15 degrees in total , or a maximum of 12 when trailed mode was selected.

Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan and Honda were among the pioneers of this modern system as well, using it on cars like the RX-7, the Skyline R31 and the Prelude in the second half of the 80s and early 90s

As different manufacturers found different way around this idea, some of them went on to a more straight on approach, by implying an active four wheel steering system. In this case, all four wheels would turn at the same time as the driver steers the car, and in most such systems, the rear wheels would be turned by means of a computer and a set of actuators.

At higher speeds, electronically controlled rear wheel steering would help decrease the movement of the car's weight around its vertical axis - a phenomenon reffered to as yaw, which in turn would contribute to added stability and a more rewarding experience all in all.

Some manufacturers have gone for a passive approach when it comes to rear wheel steering. Vehicles are using the lateral forces generated in a corner by means of suspension geometry and also the bushings to make away with the tendency of having the car steer slightly to the outside of the corner.

While passive rear steering doesn't sound or look as impressive as active rear steering, it certainly gets the job done, and can be found on a lot of modern sports vehicles available on the market.

If you're considering buying a car with active rear steering, the list is quite long, and although most of the cars on the list originate from the land of Japan, ranging from the Mazda MX-6 to Nissan Skylines and 180s, older versions of the Toyota Aristo, Camry and Soarer, you can find this system in a few European cars as well, albeit not all of them available for sale in the USA.

The Porsche Panamera, the Renault Laguna, the Audi A8, the BMW 5, 6, 7 and 8 Series all have one form or another of this kind of system, working toward the clients' benefit even though you might not always notice that it's actually there. By far the most impressive moden all-wheel-steering system can be had as an option on the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class W223.

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November 22, 2020 at 09:18PM
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/all-wheel-steering-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-make-our-lives-better-151829.html

All-Wheel-Steering - What It Is and How It Can Make our Lives Better - autoevolution

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