Handling, Braking, and Crash Compatibility Aspects of Small, Front-Wheel Drive Vehicles

Handling, Braking, and Crash Compatibility Aspects of Small, Front-Wheel Drive Vehicles - A mathematical model is used to compare the dynamic handling characteristics of four different vehicle concepts:

• Front engine/front-wheel drive
• Front engine/rear-wheel drive
• Rear engine/front-wheel drive
• Rear engine/rear-wheel drive

The second section of this paper deals with the design considerations posed by small, front-wheel drive vehicles in regard to the proper proportioning of the brake force distribution with a particular view to braking distance and directional control behavior of the vehicle during brake input.

The third section is a study of the vehicle-to-vehicle collision based on current statistics. An effort is made to provide an interpretation of the distribution of accident fatalities in collisions between large and small vehicles.