Self-levelling suspension

Encyclopedia : S : SE : SEL : Self-levelling suspension

Self-levelling refers to an automobile suspension system that maintains a constant ride height of the vehicle above the road, regardless of load.

Many vehicle systems including headlights, bumpers, and shock absorption from the suspension, are negatively impacted on a conventional vehicle by changes in load.

There is an inherent conflict in suspension design - if the springs are soft, the car will be comfortable but dramatically affected by load. If the springs are hard, the car will be uncomfortable, but less affected by load.

Numerous manufacturers realize this conflict and have pursued different avenues to achieve both comfort and load capacity simultaneously.

In 1954, Citroen introduced the first self-levelling rear suspension, and then in 1955 pioneered self-levelling of all four wheels, using it's hydropneumatic system. Since then, millions of Citroen cars have been equipped with self-levelling as an unobtrusive, but integral design feature.

In 1965, Rolls-Royce licensed Citroen's hydropneumatic system to fit to the rear axle of the Silver Shadow.

Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Lincoln, BMW on their X5 model, and Jaguar have each pursued numerous avenues to address this issue, including rear axle mechanical devices.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.