Mazda Motor Corporation

Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Naoto Takata

Seita Kanai

Takeshi Edahiro

Hirotaka Kanazawa

Toshiro Kondo

Teruhiko Takatani

Tadashi Udo

Nobuhiro Araki

Masaya Watanabe

Hitoshi Inoue

Kouji Tsuji

Kazuo Ikeda

Hideharu Fujita

A rear suspension system for a four-wheel-steered vehicle has a wheel support which supports a rear wheel for rotation and is connected to a rear wheel turning rod of the rear wheel turning mechanism. A pair of suspension arms are connected to the wheel support and guide the wheel support so that the rear wheel on the wheel support is turned about a kingpin axis in response to displacement of the rear wheel turning rod member. One of the suspension arms includes a so-called I-shaped arm which is connected for rotation to the wheel support at one end and to the vehicle body at the other end, and the kingpin axis intersects the tread of the rear wheel at a point which is offset in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body from the point at which a side force acts on the rear wheel during cornering. A damping system is connected between the I-shaped arm and the vehicle body. The I-shaped arm is positioned so that the counterforce of the damping system generates a moment which tends to turn the rear wheel in the direction opposite to the direction in which the moment generated by the side force acting on the rear wheel when the vehicle corners with the rear wheel being the outer wheel tends to turn the rear wheel.

Rear suspension system for four-wheel-steered vehicle

A wheel apron reinforcement being coupled with a wheel apron is joined, in the forward position of a suspension tower, with a front side frame extending inside an engine compartment, thereby improving rigidity of the engine compartment without increasing weight of the vehicle body. Further improvement in rigidity of the engine compartment can be achieved by fitting the wheel apron reinforcement to a hinge pillar or a recessed portion of the front side frame.

Front structure of a motor vehicle

A vehicle rear suspension system having a vergically swingable arm connected at the front end swingably to the vehicle body and secured at the rear end to a wheel carrying member which carries a rare wheel for rotation. Three lateral links are provided and have inward ends pivotably connected to the vehicle body and outward ends pivotably connected to the wheel carrying member. The points of connection of the three lateral links to the wheel carrying member are not aligned in a straight line so that the orientation of the wheel carrying member can appropriately be controlled under bump and rebouncing movements of the rear wheel and under side and longitudinal forces acting on the rear wheel.

Vehicle rear suspension system

A wheel support rotatably supports a dirigible wheel. An upper wheel-support support member connects an upper portion of the wheel support to the vehicle body, and a lower wheel-support support member connects a lower portion of the wheel support to the vehicle body. The upper and lower wheel-support support members are arranged to respectively define upper and lower pivot points which define an imaginary kingpin axis. At least one of the upper and lower wheel-support support members is formed of a pair of separate link members one end of each of which is pivoted on the vehicle body at different portions of the vehicle body and the other end of each of which is rotatably connected to the wheel support at different portions of the wheel support. The upper and lower wheel-support support members are arranged so that the upper portion of the wheel support is displaced more inward than the lower portion thereof when the wheel makes a turn as the outer wheel, and so that the upper portion of the wheel support is displaced less inward than than the lowr portion thereof when the wheel makes a turn as the inner wheel.

Vehicle suspension system

A vehicle rear suspension system having a vertically swingable arm connected at the front end swingably to the vehicle body and secured at the rear end to a wheel carrying member which carries a rear wheel for rotation. Three lateral links ar provided and have inward ends pivotably connected to the vehicle body and outward ends pivotably connected to the wheel carrying member. The points of connection of the three lateral links to the wheel carrying member are not aligned in a straight line so that the orientation of the wheel carrying member can appropriately be controlled under bump and rebouncing movements of the rear wheel and under side and longitudinal forces acting on the rear wheel.

In a four-wheeled vehicle, the rear wheels are turned as well as the front wheels in response to operation of the steering wheel. The rear wheel turning angle characteristics relative to the front wheel turning angle is changed according to the vehicle speed. In the low to high vehicle speed region, the rear wheel turning angle is increased with increase of the front wheel turning angle and the increasing rate is increased as the vehicle speed increases. In the very low vehicle speed region, the rear wheels are not turned until the front wheels are turned at least by a predetermined angle, and are turned in the direction opposite to the front wheels when the front wheels are turned by an angle larger than the predetermined angle. The rear wheel turning angle in the opposite direction is changed in proportion to the front wheel turning angle.

Four-wheel steering device for vehicle

In the four-wheeled vehicle, both the front and rear wheels are turned in response to operation of the steering wheel. The turning angle of the rear wheels is controlled in accordance with a turning angle ratio characteristic curve defined on a .theta.F-.theta.R plane wherein .theta.F and .theta.R respectively represent the turning angles of the front and rear wheels. The turning angle ratio characteristic curve is substantially a broken line having a positive inclination in the region where the value of the front wheel turning angle .theta.F is smaller than a predetermined value and having a smaller inclination in the region where the value of the front wheel turning angle .theta.F is larger than the predetermined value. The turning angle ratio characteristic curve is changed according to the vehicle speed so that the turning angle ratio .theta.R/.theta.F is increased as the vehicle speed increases.

A suspension apparatus for rear wheels of a motor vehicle, including a pair of trailing arms and a torsion beam of substantially U-shaped cross section. In the apparatus, an opening portion of the torsion beam is oriented forwardly or backwardly in a longitudinal direction of a body of the motor vehicle such that a length of a lower horizontal portion of the torsion beam, measured in the longitudinal direction of the body is made larger than that of an upper horizontal portion of the torsion beam.

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Hiroshima, Japan

Naoto Takata