All About Power Steering and Suspension

Like most people, you probably drive your car each and every day. To work, to the store, to the mall and the movie theater; there is no limit to where you can go, so long as there is a road. But have you ever stopped to wonder a bit about what helps you make those trips each and every day, and do so safely? Probably not. But your power steering and suspension are two of the most important aspects of your vehicle. In this article, we are going to talk a little bit about how they work, and how they help you to drive your car.

Power Steering: The Basics, and How It Works

You turn your steering wheel and the wheels of the car turn in the direction that you desire. Simple enough, right? But there is actually a bit of work going on when this happens. You aren’t specifically controlling the wheels of your car in a direct way. When you move the steering wheel of your car, a micro processing chain of events takes place, sending a bit of information from your steering wheel. This information is the speed and the direction of the turn. Once this information is sent, a sensor determines how much power assist you will need to complete the turn. All of this happens in a tiny fraction of a second that seems completely instantaneous to you. But it’s not! Power steering is actually, in its components, a fairly complex thing. So how does this help you? Well, let’s say that you were driving a vehicle at fifty miles per hour on the high way. You wanted to turn left. But when you did, there was no assist; the pressure you exert would automatically determine the speed of how quickly you turn. This could result in turning far too fast, or extreme slow. 

Suspension: The Basics, and How it Works

Without suspension, your drive down the road would feel a whole lot different. For instance, if you were driving down a bumpy road, your car would jostle up and down or  not move well to the contours of the road, causing serious steering issues. Suspension, in its most basic sense, helps your vehicle to turn properly and without incident, stay in contact with the road (not bounce up and off the road) and absorb or isolate the shocks of poor road conditions. All of these allow you to drive comfortably and safely. Without a suspension system, or with a poor suspension system, driving is made much more difficult. Trying to drive a simple race track would be near impossible because your vehicle would not be able to hug, or even handle the turns, even at slow speeds. And of course, off road driving would be nearly impossible as your vehicle would either drive in to mounds of dirt instead of over them, or simply not handle them at all. 

Why Are They Important?

So why are suspension systems and power steering important? Simply put, the suspension system and the power steering in your vehicle make driving, as you know it, possible.