Development of Methodology for Improvement in Steering Returnability

An improvement in returnability of steering wheel, over and above meeting the regulatory norms, is required to have safe driving feel and maneuverability on turns. All the parts comprising of a steering system plays important roles in steering wheel returnability characteristics.

All the parameters were studied in isolation and in combination also, to ascertain their effect on steering and various observations were made during experimentation on each parameter.

This paper proposes a methodology of experimental testing used for finding influence of the frictional resistance in steering returnability. This methodology has facilitated to gain 40 % improvement in steering returnability without altering the design parameters e.g. steering geometry.