In a motor car why only the front wheels are capable of transverse movement?

Question

in an automobile, while turning only the front wheels change direction and aid turning. The rear wheels are fixed and do not have any play. What would happen if rear wheels also turn at the same rate and in the same direction as the front ones. Woludn't this help the vehicle to turn faster?

Answer 1

The steering is only done by the front wheels. The rear wheels just follow.Imagine that both front and rear wheels turn 45 degrees right,then each part of the car(front & rear) will tend to go in a line parrell to the other which is impossible.4-wheel steering is immaginary.4-wheel driving is somthing else.

Answer 2

cost excessive and more moving parts than necessary all for the gain of a tighter turning circle. not much improvement for the cost.

Answer 3

That would be "four wheel steering".  it's been played with and I believe some production cars do it.

The trick is feathering the steering mechanism so it does the right thing at different speeds.  For instance when parallel parking or doing a U-turn, you want the front wheels to angle opposite the rear wheels so you get an extremely sharp turning radius.    But when changing lanes on the freeway, you need exactly the opposite behavior - you want the wheels at the same angle.

Answer 4

it's called 4 wheel steering, and it has been available on some sports cars, mainly japanese and GM makes a truck with it if you want it. It's expensive and complicated, and the benefits don't really justify the costs.