Honda’s 4WS test mule was better than you thought

Four-wheel steering appears to be making a comeback, with GM announcing that its The next electric Silverado will offer it as an option. the decoy of all wheels that can turn has been around for some time, popularized by Honda 4WS intelligent mechanical setup on the Prelude in 1987. Although we have already covered the 4WS system of the Prelude, it was only today that I knew this Honda’s 4WS test mule looked like, and it’s so much better than I dared hope.

That’s because it looked like this:

Yes, Honda just took a pair of Agreements he lied about and cut them in half, then Frankenstein put them together to make their four-wheel-drive test mule. Here’s what Honda says about the car:

Both partners made rapid progress, and soon they were ready to test a real vehicle. In April 1981, the first test drive was carried out on the western course of the Suzuka circuit. The test car was built from two Accords whose front sections were cut and welded together to form a single vehicle. The linkage mechanism that interconnected the front and rear steering mechanisms was courtesy of Oguchi and his students, who had shaped it by hand.

The 4WS test car created by merging the front sections of two Accords. The assembly of two front sections, instead of modifying a complete vehicle to the specifications of four-wheel steering, significantly improved the development progress.

Now the more you watch it the better. First of all, it’s not really just a pair of back-to-back Accord fronts, like other two-way weirdos we’ve seen before; it clearly has a front and a rear, with seats that face one way and a real steering wheel – the steering rack of the rear half is connected to the front via the prototype of the transfer case / steering output shaft type system that will be developed.

Also note that the taillights have red lenses to turn them into taillights, which suggests, excitingly, that Honda intended to test this thing on public roads, which is a wonderful picture.

Really, they kind of made a really cool little Accord coupe with a cramped cabin and massive trunk.

The original Honda all-mechanical system was really smart, with the rear wheels spinning in sync with the front wheels for low steering angle inputs (like you would use at high speed) and opposite for angle inputs. very high turning rate (as you would use for low-speed parking-type maneuvers).

The first R&D work carried out to validate the fundamental concepts is also fascinating to see. An assistant professor Oguchi from the Shibaura Institute of Technology had a team and a lab to research him, and Honda researchers approached him to team up.

A crucial point came when the combined team used something called a drum type test bench, which looked like this:

Honda’s heritage site gives an overview of this fun contraption:

One of the main advantages of the joint research was the drum test bench installed in Oguchi’s laboratory. It was an apparatus composed of two drums placed in parallel at the front and at the rear. A test car made of tubular frames was placed on top of the tester. The tester was able to assess handling and stability under various conditions by changing the gearbox setting to achieve the desired steering ratios for the front and rear wheels. With this device, Sano and Furukawa were able to support their theory through the collection of quantifiable data. They also acquired other data, including an optimal steering ratio for the rear wheels. This proved to be very useful when filing the patent application for their aforementioned technology.

From what I can tell, it looks like it looks like a roller dyno, but with motorized rollers to move the wheels to simulate driving. There are a lot of pulleys and belts and all kinds of exciting things going on there too.

Honda’s intelligent system that allowed speed-sensitive all-wheel steering without any kind of complicated electronic control system still impresses me today. And now that I’ve finally seen the equally clever and simple and cheerfully ridiculous test mule that proved it, I love it even more.

However, if I’m being honest I tend to think that most 4WS systems are more complex than beneficial, but, you know, let’s not spoil the mood.