Steer-by-wire systems being developed. Scary?

Latest Pano has an article about Infinity developing a new steer-by-wire system (Apparently, Audi and BMW are also working on it). No mechanical connection between the steering wheel and steering mechanism. Sounds scary to me. What happens if the electronics go down in your car? No way to steer the car.

What about energy saving? When I'm stuck in slow traffic on a down hill section of road (like at a bridge border crossing). I shut off the engine and let the car coast forward when traffic moves. That can save 20 - 30 minutes of idle time at 0 mpg. Yup. Brake effort becomes much heavier after a couple of stops. Not a big deal. A little more effort, but I can still stop the car. But when I have to steer in a bend or change lanes. No can do without the electronics if the engine isn't running.

How about.... an nice, precise, manual steering rack? No hydraulics, no electronics? Nothing to use fuel. And nothing to come between my fingertips and the road.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

before you change your mind.

My very light Datsun 510 (I do not recall its weight now but my WAG would be around 2000lbs) was a manual steering car and rather easy to steer. My Dodge D200 pick up -- weighed about 2x the Datsun -- and I could steer it with not much effort but I was much younger then and worked in a large machine shop and was used to heavy objects and such. I had a lot of upper body strength and was unfazed by the lack of power steering.

When my 2600lb VW Golf lost its v-belt and power steering I damn near broke my arms turning the wheel. And it took me two tries to get around a 90 deg. left hand turn. After I managed to turn left from the freeway off ramp and then a block or so turn right into a hotel driveway I let the car sit until the dealer across the street opened up after the Xmas holiday weekend.

I agree that the steering in any PS equipped car is very heavy without assist.

But i drove a race car, ~ 3000 lbs once, with a manual rack, and it was reasonably light (above parking speeds)

(this was just driving around, not racing!)

My VW scirocco 2200 lb (vs 2800 for the 986) had manual steering, and FWD, and it was very light and wonderfully communicative.

I could be wrong, but i think it would be fine.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

I had an Alfa Romeo GTV 6 with no power steering and the feel and feedback were wonderful. If the car was a a dead stop and you tried to turn the wheel, then yes it was very hard, but if you just got the car moving the slightest bit, the steering loosened up and was fine. And by the way, turning the wheel on any car while it is at a dead stop puts a huge strain on the steering and suspension mechanisms and is not good.

A 986, with little weight in the front, would be a great candidate for manual steering.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2013 09:34AM by San Rensho. (view changes)

would be ideal. I would guess, in fact, that the weight on the front wheels of my 986 is similar to what was on the front wheels of my G1 scirocco (which had about 62/38 weight distribution).

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

and welcome back rom yesteryear and that is the 4+ turns from lock to lock. And while you are at it kiss the small wheel goodbye to. A bigger wheel will be required to give the average driver sufficient leverage to turn the barge, err the car equipped with non-power steering.

..weight on the front tires. While my Scirocco was much lighter, i had a very front-biased distribution, so the weight on the front tires, which determines the effort (primarily, let's keep this simple) is similar. Given that, the ratio, wheel diameter etc could all be the same. The VW' steering was quick, and I had a 12" aftermarket wheel on it - smaller than that on my boxster.

So while those are all possible *results*, first we must determine the force to be overcome. Then its all gearing.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

The article didn't say what the benefit was supposed to be. Only benefits that I could see is a bit of weight savings and crash safety from not having a steering column. But then, you'd need machinery to actuate the steering mechanism.

Just seems scary if the electronics go bad, you'd have no steering. (Not that anything ever goes wrong with electronics.)