Ford Motor Company is to market a new generation of steering
technology that will help make vehicles easier to manoeuvre at low speeds and
in tight spaces.
At higher speeds, the new
technology will help make the vehicle more agile and fun to drive.
Adaptive Steering will be
available on select vehicles beginning next year. The system was developed for
production by Ford in collaboration with Takata, a leading supplier of
automotive steering and safety systems.
Adaptive steering changes
the ratio between the driver's actions at the steering wheel - the number of
turns - and how much the front wheels turn. In traditional vehicles, this is a
fixed steering ratio. With Ford's new Adaptive Steering, the steering ratio
continually changes with vehicle speed, optimising the steering response in all
conditions.
At lower speeds, such as
when pulling into a parking space or manoeuvring in tight quarters, the new
system makes the vehicle more agile and easier to turn, as it dials more
steering into the road wheel. Each low-speed manoeuvre requires less turning of
the steering wheel.
At highway speeds, the
system further optimises steering response, enabling the vehicle to react more
smoothly and precisely to driver input to make the journey more enjoyable.
The Ford/Takata system uses a
precision-controlled actuator placed inside the steering wheel, and requires no
change to a vehicle's traditional steering system. The actuator - an electric
motor and gearing system - can essentially add to or subtract from a driver's
steering inputs. The result is a better driving experience at all speeds,
regardless of vehicle size or class.
"First and foremost,
all Ford Motor Company products have to offer a great driving experience,"
said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, global product development.
"This new steering technology can make any vehicle easier to manoeuvre and
more fun to drive."
Adaptive Steering will be
available on select vehicles beginning next year.
"First and foremost,
all Ford Motor Company products have to offer a great driving experience,"
said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, global product development.
"This new steering technology can make any vehicle easier to manoeuvre and
more fun to drive."
Takata was
founded in 1933 in Shiga, Japan, by Takezo
Takada and started to produce lifelines for parachutes and other textiles. In
the early 1950s, the company started to research seat belts. Later the company became
incorporated as "Takata".
In the
1960s, Takata began to sell seat-belts and built the world's first crash test plant for testing seat-belts under real world conditions. In the
1970s Takata developed child restraint systems. In the 1980s, the company
changed its name to Takata Corporation and expanded to Korea, the US and later
Ireland, to sell seat-belts. In the 1990s Takata expanded internationally.
In 2000,
Takata Corporation acquired German competitor Petri AG, forming the European
subsidiary Takata-Petri. The business was renamed Takata AG in early 2012 Takata AG. The company makes steering wheels and plastic parts.
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