Steering System

steering system, in automobiles, steering wheel, gears, linkages, and other components used to control the direction of a vehicle's motion. Because of friction between the front tires and the road, especially in parking, effort is required to turn the steering wheel. To lessen the effort required, the wheel is connected through a system of gears to components that position the front tires. The gears give the driver a mechanical advantage, i.e., they multiply the force he applies, but they also increase the distance through which he must turn the wheel in order to turn the tires a given amount. Various types of gear assemblies, none with any decisive advantages over the others, are used, although some manufacturers prefer a rack-and-pinion system. In faster, heavier cars the amount of force required to turn the tires can be very great. Many of these cars use a power-steering system. The system contains a hydraulic booster, which operates when the engine is running and supplies most of the necessary force when the driver turns the wheel. When a vehicle turns at a rate exactly proportional to the rate at which the steering wheel is turned, it is said to have neutral steering; if it turns at a slower rate it is said to understeer; if it turns faster it is said to oversteer. While any vehicle can react in any of these ways under extreme conditions, most automobiles are built to understeer. Racing vehicles are often designed for neutral steering; few vehicles are built to oversteer, since this is considered hazardous by many authorities. As a safety feature in many modern cars the column on which the steering wheel is mounted will collapse if the driver is thrown against the wheel in a collision.

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Steering System 

the mechanism for changing the direction of movement of a motor vehicle. The steering system consists of a steering gear and a linkage.

In the worm-and-roller gear used in most passenger cars, the worm is mounted at the end of the steering shaft, and the roller is mounted on the pitman arm, which is connected to the drag link. The steering linkage consists of drag links, tie rods, and the steering knuckle arms of the steerable wheels, interconnected by means of ball joints. The design of the steering system depends on the type of front suspension used. With independent front suspension the tie rod is divided so that the steering gear does not restrict the vertical movements of the independently suspended wheels.