# Road-holding > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Road-holding > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Road-holding.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road-holding > Source revision: 1240171469 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Road-holding** – also written as **roadholding** and **road holding** – (in French being called "tenue de route", in German "Beibehaltung der Spur"), is essentially determined by the ability of a [vehicle](/source/Vehicle) to stay on the [road](/source/Road) and on a desired [trajectory](/source/Trajectory) of [motion](/source/Motion), whatever the circumstances (in curves, on greasy, wet or low-grip ground, loaded or not, etc.) may be, but also by the degree of ease that a [driver](/source/Driving) may sense in controlling it in an [emergency](/source/Emergency) situation.[1] (Hereby, the [laws of nature](/source/Scientific_law) as a framework, including the [gravitational](/source/Gravitation) [field](/source/Gravitational_field) of the planet [Earth](/source/Earth) as well as the phenomenon of [inertia](/source/Inertia), are tacitly assumed as given.) In the above context, the straight-line stability of a vehicle – which is concomitant with its ability to stay on a desired trajectory of motion – necessitates a certain degree of [understeering](/source/Understeering).[2] The capability to smooth down the [road imperfections](/source/Road_surface#Surface_deterioration), affects both the [comfort](/source/Comfort) and the road-holding of a vehicle. To improve comfort in this regard means, basically, to limit the vertical [acceleration](/source/Acceleration) [fluctuations](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fluctuation) of the vehicle body and hence of passengers. To improve road-holding means, among other things, to limit the fluctuations of the [vertical force](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vertical_force&action=edit&redlink=1) that each [tire](/source/Tire) exchanges with the road. Therefore, [modeling](/source/Conceptual_model) and [simulation](/source/Simulation) using realistic [suspension](/source/Suspension_(mechanics))-[damping](/source/Damping) models, taking the vehicle tires into account, offer a straightforward opportunity for road-holding improvement of vehicles.[3] Optimization techniques for this purpose are also known.[4] The application of [inerters](/source/Inerter_(mechanical_networks)) is a very new possibility in this regard, although this [technology](/source/Technology) is more destined to [race cars](/source/Race_car) than to ordinary vehicle applications.[5] As a more sophisticated means for improving road-holding, [active suspension](/source/Active_suspension) – involving [sensors](/source/Sensor), [actuators](/source/Actuator) and [microcontrollers](/source/Microcontroller) – may also serve.[6] For vehicle speeds above approximately 40 meters per second, the effects of [aerodynamic forces](/source/Aerodynamic_force) at an [automobile](/source/Automobile) (that is not designed in a too odd manner) tend to become sensible for its road-holding.[7] Beyond what has been previously mentioned, [electronic stability control](/source/Electronic_stability_control), if being present on a vehicle and properly tuned, will have a stabilizing influence on the trajectory of motion and accordingly an improving effect on road-holding of that vehicle. ## See also - [Automobile handling](/source/Automobile_handling) - [Cornering force](/source/Cornering_force) - [Directional stability](/source/Directional_stability) - [Grip (auto racing)](/source/Grip_(auto_racing)) - [Traction (engineering)](/source/Traction_(engineering)) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Campbell, C.: *Automobile suspensions.* Chapman&Hall, London 1981, pp. 105 f. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Campbell, C.: *Automobile suspensions.* Chapman&Hall, London 1981, p. 106. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Guiggiani, M.: *The science of vehicle dynamics: handling, braking, and ride of road and race cars.* 2nd edition. Springer, Cham [2018], [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-319-73219-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-319-73219-0), pp. 417-460. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Shirahatti, A., Prasad, P. S. S.: *Optimal design of passenger car suspension for ride and road holding.* In: *Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering.* Vol. 30, Fasc. 1, pp. 66-76, 2008. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Guiggiani, M.: *The science of vehicle dynamics: handling, braking, and ride of road and race cars.* 2nd edition. Springer, Cham [2018], [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-319-73219-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-319-73219-0), p. 426. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Bharali, J., Garg, N.: *Efficient ride quality and road holding improvement for active suspension system.* In: *14th IEEE India Council International Conference (INDICON)*, December 15–17, 2017, Roorkee, India. IEEE 2018, pp. 1179-1184. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Doniselli, C. et al.: *Aerodynamic effects on ride comfort and road holding of automobiles.* In: *International Journal of Vehicle Mechanics and Mobility.* Vol. 25, Issue Suppl. 1, pp. 99-125, 1996. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Road-holding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road-holding) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road-holding?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.