What does understeer mean in driving?
1 Answers
Understeer describes a loss of control during vehicle cornering, technically termed as insufficient steering. Front-wheel-drive vehicles often exhibit this phenomenon when approaching cornering limits. More details about understeer are as follows: 1. From the perspective of vehicle handling and safety, front-wheel-drive cars have their engine and drive shaft center located at the front, with drive wheels being the front pair. During cornering, the front weight shifts forward due to inertia, potentially exceeding the front tires' road adhesion limit, causing insufficient steering - this explains the mechanism of understeer. When experiencing mild understeer, simply easing off the throttle can restore vehicle control. 2. When taking corners at excessive speed, the car's nose may continue straight instead of following steering input. In such cases, releasing the throttle and gently applying brakes will realign the vehicle. If the steering angle is excessive, slight counter-steering can eliminate understeer.