Steering inspection by means of tyre force measure

A few systems, such as steering, brakes or suspension, critically affect the vehicle's safety. In light of this, it is necessary to check these elements up to a certain age in order to maintain the vehicle in optimal safety conditions. This study is part of a project about effectiveness of Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspections (PMVI), in order to suggest metodologies, instruments and criterions to inspect the vehicle´s safety. It´s well known the relationship between steering geometries and the force in contact patch. The measurement of these geometries is important to evaluate the vehicle dynamic performance. The main objective is to evaluate the steering inspection method at low speed, current rejection criteria in order to analyze the effect of these results in vehicle´s safety behaviour in real dynamic conditions. The angle that has more influence on the PMVI inspection is the toe angle, being this one the principal parameter of analysis. Experimental force in contact patch with dynamometer plate and simulation results with CarSimTM have been carried out in order to validate the methodology of steering inspection and to check the information obtained in these tests.