Wheels made travel to long distances possible and were a crucial step towards the invention of vehicles as we know them. However, there was another major milestone in the development of cars that is directly responsible for controlling the wheels and making travel easier. We are talking about the car steering system, which we are exploring in detail today.

What is a car steering system?

The car steering system converts the rotation of the steering wheel into a movement transferred to the wheels. The steering system must turn the front wheels in a direction where you want to go, but also must do it accurately and effortlessly. To do that, it uses gears, and the relationship of the steering wheel effort to the road wheel response is known as “the steering ratio”. This ratio is calculated by dividing 360 degrees (one complete turn of the steering wheel) by the number of degrees that the wheels turn (left or right).

How does the car steering system work?

First of all, you should know that each steering system consists of the following:

  • Steering wheel
  • Steering column assembly
  • Steering rack

In practice, when sitting in the driver's seat, you are controlling the steering wheel. Below it, there is a steering column housing, where you have your signal switches, headlight switches etc. However, there is also a steering column and an intermediate shaft that runs down the foot rest and to the underside of the car, meeting the steering rack (which has two ends) that controls all of the car’s wheels.

Together, these components give you the stability to steer a car. The axle that is controlled by the steering wheel turns a long way to move the road wheels a short way, allowing the driver to steer a heavy vehicle. The system works through a combination of pivoted joints – designed to allow the wheels to move up and down with the suspension without changing the steering angle.

Nowadays, there are numerous types of car steering systems – some of them run purely on mechanical, while others run on hydraulic and others run on electric-powered motion. However, we are today addressing the mechanically operating car steering systems to help you understand the basics of this technology at the most fundamental level.

How is the steering system attached to the wheels?

The track rod (also known as a tie rod) is an element that is located at either end of the rack and used to connect the steering arm to the wheel hub, to which the wheel is bolted. As it moves, all of the connections ensure that the wheels turn together.

As an essential element, the track rod is attached to the steering arm by a ball and socket, which gives each rod the freedom to move at different rates. Hence, as the car turns a right-hand corner, its inside wheel is more steeply angled towards the outer wheel, which has farther to travel.

Most of the steering systems are power-assisted, and the most dominant system here is hydraulic power-assisted steering, known as HPAS. A system like this knows which way you are turning the wheel and with what force – it works with a torsion bar that twists as you turn the wheel, and the bar acts on the piston. However, more car manufacturers are nowadays focused on electric power-assisted steering (EPAS) systems.

Final words

We hope that this guide helped you understand the structure of a car’s steering system, and the way it works when you turn your wheel left and right. As you could see, the system is nothing fancy and operates out of a simple metal shaft, which is connected to the steering wheel at the top and the steering rack below.

If you are noticing any problems with your steering system and are trying to understand its root cause, visit this page and book your appointment at Stop&Go.

 

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