Ford Submits Patent to Reduce The Turning Radius on Future Vehicles

Decreasing a car’s turning radius is a feature many big automakers plan on tackling for many of their future vehicles in hopes of improving maneuverability, especially for drivers in urban areas. While some brands use the all-wheel drive to accomplish this goal, Ford is approaching this goal from a different angle.

According to a patent application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ford intends on decreasing a vehicle’s turning radius by adjusting the torque being sent to individual wheels.

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How this feature would work is during mid-turn, the torque being sent to the rear inside wheel would be reduced, thereby adding more “yaw”, or sideways movement. That yaw would then signal more torque to be sent to both of the front wheels to balance the vehicle out and through the turn. Some torque-vectoring systems use a similar tactic to improve a car’s handling, but this patent would be designed specifically with tightening the turn radius.

Ford notes in its patent that the torque reduction happening with the inside rear wheel would be activated during braking.