Ford is interested in 4 wheel steering

Many, Many, MANY years ago, Ford played with 4 wheel steering on cars. At the time Jackie Stewart (famed race car driver), was recently retired and doing some consulting work for Ford. On a trip to Dearborn, he drove the 4 wheel steering prototype (Thunderbird). While most people were quicker through the slalom course, he was not. He comments was, "I never want to drive a car like that again !"

GM trucks offered optional 4 wheel steering (dubbed Quadrasteer) for a few years and it proved to be too problematic and costly to maintain.

I suspect the patent is on how they are performing the steering, not the concept. Some fellow military vets here maybe familiar with the HET trailers that have steering on them to make them more maneuverable.

Around 1900 Electric cars were popular. The improvements of the gasoline car made the Electric car less popular and interest basically died out.
With the improvement of batteries, the Electric car is making a strong comeback.

Maybe Ford has new technology that will make 4 wheel steering practical and it will gain in popularity?

I wonder what cost it will add? Likely not worth it in my opinion. It's been around, even on cars, but usually not kept.

It's no wonder that vehicles cost so much today. All sorts of things, good, bad and neutral, have been added. I remember when power windows, AC and a radio and much more were optional. I don't want to go back but I wish we could keep to features that are truly safety related if wanted and maybe cut the cost by thousands?

Jayco-noslide wrote:
It's no wonder that vehicles cost so much today. All sorts of things, good, bad and neutral, have been added. I remember when power windows, AC and a radio and much more were optional. I don't want to go back but I wish we could keep to features that are truly safety related if wanted and maybe cut the cost by thousands?

I am sure that 4 wheel steer would be an option. As for what is included for safety, I feel that adaptable cruise control with automatic braking, auto wipers and auto headlights are good safety features. You may have a different opinion.

Maybe it will take less than 40 acres to turn one around

The Cadillac CT6 came with a 4 wheel steering option just last year.

From the control & design side, it is NOT the upside of things but the Mr Murphy side of things that is the driver of decisions...along with the fine print/labels/read-me-first/etc that then CYA's the team and company

On the highway speeds...having the rear axle computer have a brain fart can kill the vehicle's occupants and neighboring vehicle occupants. Shall it go 'con' or 'pro' or even be on...then how much angular steering at those speeds where at slow speeds the higher angles would be fine

Slow speed, like the parallel parking option that many have now, it is okay as the potential to do harm is way less

As for older rear steering axles, they didn't have the level of computer power and sensors we do today. Even at that, there is a question whether there is enough (think autonomous and how it is doing today)

Maybe they'll give it a "crab" feature. Ever operate a Lull? LOL.