How Car Suspensions Work Table of Contents: ? Introduction to How Car Suspensions Work ? Vehicle Dynamics ? The Chassis ? Springs ? Springs: Sprung and Unsprung Mass ? Dampers: Shock Absorbers ? Dampers: Struts and Anti-sway Bars ? Suspension Types: Front ? Suspension Types: Rear ? Specialized Suspensions: The Baja Bug ? Specialized Suspensions: Formula One Racers ? Specialized Suspensions: Hot Rods ? The Future of Car Suspensions ? Lots More Information ? Compare Prices for Car Suspensions When people think of automobile performance, they normally think of horsepower , torque and zero-to-60 acceleration. But all of the power generated by a piston engine is useless if the driver can't control the car. That's why automobile engineers turned their attention to the suspension system almost as soon as they had mastered the four-stroke internal combustion engine. Photo courtesy Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Double-wishbone suspension on Honda Accord 2005 CoupeThe job of a car suspension is to maximize the friction between the tires and the road surface, to provide steering stability with good handling and to ensure the comfort of the passengers. In this article, we'll explore how car suspensions work, how they've evolved over the years and where the design of suspensions is headed in the future. Vehicle Dynamics （汽车动力学）If a road were perfectly flat, with no irregularities, suspensions wouldn't be necessary. But roads are far from flat. Even freshly paved highways have subtle imperfections that can interact with the wheels of a car. It's these imperfections that apply forces to the wheels. According to Newton's laws of motion （牛顿运动理论）, all forces have both magnitude （大小） and direction. A bump（...
