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Paul Gover4 Oct 2018
ADVICE

What is torque steer?

Torque steer is the enemy of high-powered front-wheel drive cars

When you accelerate from a standing start or low speed and the steering wheel tugs at your hands, forcing the car to pull left or right, that’s torque steer.

It’s the result of an uneven delivery of the engine’s torque to the wheels, and it’s exacerbated by slippery or cambered road surfaces.

Torque steer can also hit in tight turns on a twisty road, usually in second gear, when it becomes more of a safety threat as the car refuses to follow the chosen course.

Torque steer is far less of a problem today, but was dastardly in the days of early hot hatches and turbocharged horrors like the Mitsubishi Cordia of the 1980s.

150527 abdc ford fiesta st 13

Back then many people believed a front-drive car could only handle 150kW, but there are plenty now with 200-plus.

The key to killing torque steer was unequal-length driveshafts, but more sophisticated suspension and limited-slip differentials (particularly the latest electronic systems that ‘reverse’ the anti-lock braking system to prevent wheel spin) have made it almost a thing of the past.

Except there are now some large front-wheel drive SUVs which still insist on tugging and pulling left and right away from the lights…

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Written byPaul Gover
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