Ride quality refers to a vehicle's effectiveness in insulating the occupants from undulations in the road surface such as bumps or corrugations.
[
] A vehicle with good ride quality provides comfort for the driver and the passengers.
Importance
Good ride quality provides comfort for the people inside the car, minimises damage to cargo and can reduce driver
fatigue
Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself.
Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...
on long journeys in uncomfortable vehicles, and also because road disruption can impact the driver's ability to control the vehicle.
Suspension design is often a compromise between ride quality and
car handling because cars with firm
suspension can result in greater control of body movements and quicker reactions. Similarly, a lower center of gravity is more ideal for handling, but low ground clearance limits suspension travel and requires stiffer springs.
Ambulance
An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...
s have a special need for a high level of ride quality to avoid further injury to the already-ill passengers.
Technology
Early vehicles, like the
Ford Model T, with its
leaf spring,
live axle suspension design, were both uncomfortable and handled poorly.
Historically, weight was key to allowing cars such as the
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and the
Cadillac
Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...
in the 1950s and the 1960s to have a more comfortable ride quality. However, there are various drawbacks to heavier cars, including poor
fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...
, acceleration, braking, cornering and additional stresses on components.
Over time, technology has shifted the curve outward and so it is possible to offer vehicles that are extremely comfortable and still handle very well or vehicles with excellent handling that are also reasonably comfortable. One technical solution for offering both excellent comfort and reduced or eliminating body roll is by using computer-controlled suspensions, such as hydraulic active suspension system (like
Active Body Control) or active anti-roll bars, but such systems are expensive because of their complexity.
Factors
The main factor affecting ride quality is the stiffness of suspension components (e.g.
springs,
shock absorber
A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...
s,
anti-roll bars and
bushings).
Other factors include suspension geometry, vehicle mass and
weight distribution.
References
Further reading
*
Health issues raised by poorly maintained road networks, The EU Northern Periphery Roadex III project (co-funded by the European Union){Dead link, date=October 2023 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
* International standard ISO 2631-1 (1997) Mechanical vibration and shock—Evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration—Part 1: General requirements.
Automotive suspension technologies