Handling and Stability Volvo's Experimental Safety Car

Many parameters influence vehicle handling, but not all have the same importance to the road-holding characteristics of the vehicle. The weight distribution on the front and rear axles is one of the more important factors and can be influenced by the driver. For example, a fully loaded car may have a load of 40% on the front axle and 60% on the rear axle. This unbalanced distribution can cause problems for the driver in transient steering. It is important, therefore, that vehicles be designed so that even the worst weight distribution will not affect handling qualities to the extent that the driver has difficulty in controlling the steering. That is, handling performance should vary as little as possible regardless of disproportionate load distributions.