Road steering
I test drove a 03 40 ft Newmar Dutchstar with a Freightliner chassis yesterday and constantly had to correct the steering to make it go straight. It seamed that I was always over steering.Is this a pr...
Forum Discussion
My experience as a driver training/testing person for our fleet operations in my past employment suggests the if there are no mechanical issues with the vehicle the driver has several ingrained habits that usually cause them to over steer in their first few thousand miles.
They tend to drive in a highly tense state and over react to each input they feel through the seat of their pants. Experience usually overcomes that.
They also tend to drive too close to the front of the vehicle and this adds to the overreactions experienced. It is a proven fact that we tend to steer where we are looking so looking further ahead cures many issues. Here again experience and becoming more relaxed usually corrects that behavior.
The seating position of larger vehicles tends to enhance the feeling that the vehicle is moving around on the road causing the driver to steer when the reality is that the body is moving on the suspension while the chassis is actually tracking true. This is more prevelant in softer suspended vehicles like motorhomes rather than large commercial trucks with stiffers suspensions This causes us to use steering input that is not required and causes us to make the vehicle wander when it would not do so without our input.
Most drivers adjust quickly and become good drivers. Unfortunately there are some who never adapt and will always be that driver who is hunched over the wheel and hanging on for dear life. Any driver who can't relax will rarely become a good smooth driver. That's just life.
They tend to drive in a highly tense state and over react to each input they feel through the seat of their pants. Experience usually overcomes that.
They also tend to drive too close to the front of the vehicle and this adds to the overreactions experienced. It is a proven fact that we tend to steer where we are looking so looking further ahead cures many issues. Here again experience and becoming more relaxed usually corrects that behavior.
The seating position of larger vehicles tends to enhance the feeling that the vehicle is moving around on the road causing the driver to steer when the reality is that the body is moving on the suspension while the chassis is actually tracking true. This is more prevelant in softer suspended vehicles like motorhomes rather than large commercial trucks with stiffers suspensions This causes us to use steering input that is not required and causes us to make the vehicle wander when it would not do so without our input.
Most drivers adjust quickly and become good drivers. Unfortunately there are some who never adapt and will always be that driver who is hunched over the wheel and hanging on for dear life. Any driver who can't relax will rarely become a good smooth driver. That's just life.
