Power Steering System Key-Life Test Procedure Development

As part of an effort to develop a laboratory steering system durability test, power steering system test procedure development was conducted. Fatigue damage to steering systems caused by road roughness was quantified utilizing data recorded from instrumented test vehicles and customer survey results. In addition, data recorded from customer vehicles were employed to determine fatigue damage to steering systems caused by driving style and road style inputs. Proving ground steering system test procedures that generate the same amount of damage to a steering system as that accumulated by the design target percentile customer for the design target miles of public road usage were developed.