INTRODUCTION

The steering system in an automobile is the system that allows the driver to modify according to his will the trajectory of his vehicle according to the circumstances.
The vehicle stability, comfort and security will also depend on the steering system used on the car. The steering system is a main issue. Careful design has to be provided for this element. A perfect steering system has to fully comply with the following elements:

·         Security,

·         Smoothness,

·         Precision,

·         Irreversibility,

·         Stability,

·         Compatibility with the suspensions.

To comply with all these requirements and to allow the driver to use without any difficulty a car with a such exceptional road handling and a car with a high performance engine, Citroën created a new steering system which has no equivalent in the world.
The steering system goal is to enhance the security at high speed, and to speed up the movements at low speed and also to increase the comfort in removing any reaction. This breakthrough in the automotive domain at least equivalent to the hydropneumatic suspension breakthrough.





STEERING SYSTEM

The steering system consists of a rack and pinion with a hydraulic variable rate power according to the vehicle speed, with centraliser device.

Ratio: 1 : 9,4.

·         Number of steering wheel revolutions (max left to max right): 2.

·         Steering wheel column in two parts using two double universal joints.

·         The steering wheel can be adjusted in both angle and depth.

Turning circle

·         between bands: 10,50 meter

·         between walls: 11,50 meter

History of steering System

The steering wheel of a car is one of those instruments which we pretty much take for granted. We mean, who ever heard of a car with no steering wheel? When buying a new car for instance, we bring hell upon the head of the sales person, asking all kinds of more or less ridiculous questions about the fabric on the seats, the number of bolts holding the wheels in place or the composition of the paint. In very rare cases, we think to ask about the steering wheel.

Some of us even think the steering wheel magically came to be at the same time the car did. That it was somehow already in the mind of the inventor as the perfect tool to make the new contraption work. That's not entirely true. The steering wheel did not came to be at the same time with the car, but was adopted later, as it became obvious its shape is perfect for the task.

You must take into account that at the turn of the 19th century, when the idea of the automobile germinated in the minds of the time's inventors, there was really a single man-made machine the man himself controlled: boats.

There was no way to steer a train, as its tracks guided it from point A to point B without human input. Turning a carriage only meant pulling the harness left or right, depending on your intentions, so there was no need for an additional mechanical device to be created.

All of the above meant that the car's inventors had really one source for inspiration when trying to figure out how to steer a car: boats. Boats used human activated rudders, controlled by means of tillers, to turn, so the idea appealed to the car's creators.

By 1894 however, the use of a tiller to steer a car became more and more ineffective. Taking inspiration from the same nautical industry, car builders began replacing the tillers with ship-inspired helms. Simpler and smaller than their nautical counterparts, the steering wheels in the car made their mark during the Paris-Rouen race, when the Panhard model driven by Alfred Vacheron was first recorded using a steering wheel to turn.

The ease of operation shown in the 1894 race meant that by 1898, all Panhard et Levassor cars came equipped as standard with steering wheels. The principle quickly caught on and similar systems sparked across the world. In Britain, Charles Stewart Rolls bought a Panhard from France and implemented the steering wheel into his designs. By 1899, the steering wheel fever expanded to the US, where Packard introduced the steering wheel on one of its models. By the time the Model T arrived, the steering wheel was an essential part of the car.

After that moment, the steering wheel stuck with the car, with its most common shape, that of a circle, unchanged for more than a century now. What did (and still does) change however is the purpose the steering wheel serves. As humanity crawls its way through the 21th century, the steering wheel is quickly leaving behind its established role of "helm of the car" and becomes more and more of a command hub for the entire vehicle. But let's take it one step at the time.