Rear Axle Steering By Variable Rear Wheel Toe: A Possibility To Optimize Transient Response Of Automobiles From The Driver's View Too

The high percentage of human failure as a cause of accidents indicates that much can be done in the field of active safety in order to provide a vehicle to the driver that can be better handled in accident-prone situations. A vehicle can be handled easier by the driver if its road behaviour corresponds to his expectations. Independent of a fixed vehicle concept, the driving behaviour can be varied if the wheel toe of the rear axle is changed before the driver executes his driving task. Using experimental and theoretical proof, it will be shown that varied rear wheel toes, by modifying handling properties, can improve the transient response of automobiles, even from the driver's subjective viewpoint.

The results were found out by a closed loop test - the double lane change - to consider the subjective evaluation too. Thereby it is possible to state the influence of yaw velocity, steering angle, and lateral acceleration on the driver's evaluation.