Honda announced an independent right and left rear toe control system (first generation) in 2013 and presented it as the world's first. As stated in a previous paper, “Independent Left and Right Rear Toe Control System,” with this system Honda has achieved a balance between an enjoyable driving experience in which handling is performed at the driver's will (“INOMAMA” handling) and stable driving performance.(1) This first generation is optimally designed to the vehicle specifications such as suspension axial force and steering gear ratio of the vehicle to which the system is applied.
For more widespread application of independent rear toe control technology, a next generation system (second generation) has been developed, which achieves both cost reduction and flexible system performance which can be adapted to a variety of vehicles.
The system development began by setting the required target performance with consideration for adaptation to various car models. To reduce cost, bespoke parts were eliminated wherever possible, the number of parts was reduced, and generic parts were used. As a result, the second generation uses 25% fewer parts (corresponding to a 25% reduction in cost) than the first generation, while system output has been increased by more than 155%.
This paper describes the specific achievement technique in detail, focusing on the system configuration of the second generation and the use of generic parts.