How does four wheel steering work?
In: 1
the short answer is with small steering angles like changing lanes at highway speed, the rear wheels turn the same direction as the front wheels, so the car moves sideways. with large steering angles at low speeds, the rear wheels turn the opposite side so the turning radius is smaller and the turn can be tighter.
this is achieved with a computer controlled steering rack that steers the back wheels. the steering angle is limited and nowhere near as much as the front.
the highly complex systems were only available on top model cars, and when they got old, tended to have expensive problems. some aftermarket companies made delete kits to ‘fix’ these cars and remove the rear wheel steering as a much less expensive alternative to replacing worn/broken factory parts.
some coach busses and RV will also have driver selectable rear wheel steering to permit tighter turns in parking lots etc. these are mostly used during low speed parking manoeuvers.
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