Nissan calms steer-by-wire fears
Don't panic about simulated steering feel say Nissan's engineers; PHers do anyway
Just to recap, the system faithfully reproduces steering inputs from the driver, but filters out the worst pothole kickbacks. However surface feedback is interpreted and sent back through the wheel.
Perhaps they were reading, who knows, but Nissan has come back with some written answers from their Japanese engineers about how this will all work. And they're pretty feisty about it too.
"Yeah, everyone starts with the same preconceived ideas," says Takeski Kimura of Nissan's driving control development team. "They imagine our next generation steering will feel like a video game."
But he says in blind-tests between conventional steering systems and the new one, most people get them mixed up. "Invariably they get it wrong and say that the next generation steering offers a more direct and realistic feel of the road.
"We look forward to seeing how the world's auto writers go about describing this." And we look forward to trying it (ahem).
So, what about if it all goes wrong? "People wonder what happens if you lose electric power, so we show them." Kimura says. A clutch mechanically kicks in the instant the power cuts out. There are also back-up ECUs. "There is absolutely no way to lose steering control," he says. And then he makes the point about modern planes.
The benefits we're told is that you don't get that steering judder on rutted roads and you need fewer steering adjustments. It's also programmable for different roads or driving styles, so "Sport" would give a more instant response, while "Standard" would be "tuned for more everyday driving".
Nissan reckons steering responses are faster, and that feedback is sent back equally quickly. "Our goal is to link steering so directly to the human senses that it fees like an extension of your body," says Kimura.
A noble goal and we're looking forward to having a go, after the world's top auto writers of course.
Shame it all this was revealed QUITE so close to a Nissan announcement that they were recalling 51,000 vehicles, mostly Qashqais, after a steering wheel came loose in a Finnish driver's hands. But then life has its potholes too.
A video explanation of how it all works can be seen here.
I want a mechanical link.
It only shows, that NISSAN got their priorities terribly wrong.
Make the car lighter and build a good stiff chassis to begin with.
Filtering out the judder, that those francojapanese McPherson thingies
create, via the means of a wire is just plain wrong.
Ever seen this ?:
http://www.core77.com/blog/transportation/auto_des...
Martin 480 Turbo
Thus leaving us with a system that is designed by people like me and the people I work with
All I read/see into this is that a manufacturer is re-inventing the wheel (Steering) for the sake of sales material.
It may offer realistic feel e.t.c. when its brand new.
What happens when its done 100k miles?
What happens when corrosion takes hold of a connector?
What happens when it fails? Which will be instantly not gradually like conventional steering.
Its perfect if you lease a brand new car every three years.
If you (like me) do not buy new then its just a gimmick that when it fails will probably be a financial (if not physical) write off. Just like hybrids and their batteries.
Note to all Nissan/Infinity salesman (or Salespeople if I have offended anyone). Good luck trying to convince most knowledgeable people that depreciation is low!
Thus leaving us with a system that is designed by people like me and the people I work with
At the very least its a solution to a question nobody asked. I also fear it will be extremely expensive in a few years when it goes wrong maybe prohibitively so.
It needs extra processors and clutches, fail-safes and all kinds of extra complications for what? you don't feel so may bumps on the road which must also mean you lose steering feel for the surface you are on.
I'd love to be proved different but until I do or some journalist get hold of it then i'm not going to beleive the marketing guys.
Joking aside, the technical complexity of current and forthcoming vehicles has long become a problem for the aftersales and aftermarket business as you need folks with the capability to think of the car as a system and not just replace parts because their diagnostic tester said there's a fault with the system associated. In short, you'd need the type of people that are now signing off aircraft after maintenance...
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