So far the handling characteristics of passenger cars have mainly been designed on the basis of subjective criteria. It will only be possible to make well-founded statements when we have succeeded in correlating accident frequency and vehicle handling characteristics. Before we can do so, however, we must be able to give objective descriptions of the handling characteristics. The aim of the investigations described here, which were carried out under commission to the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology, is to give a quantifiable description of the handling characteristics of 15 different passenger vehicles in 7 test procedures during which steady-state and dynamic steering and braking manoeuvres were measured. The results of these tests show variation ranges for the evaluation criteria of the different tests and at different initial conditions, such as the loading or road surface friction. By observing the behaviour of individual cars within the variation ranges and throughout all the tests, correlations can be seen between the individual test procedures and conclusions can be drawn as to whether the handling characteristics in one test procedure necessarily have an influence on the vehicle behaviour in another test procedure. The influence of certain design parameters also becomes clearer.

The resulting ranges of variation represent one of the foundations for studying the connection between vehicle handling characteristics and accident occurrence. They are also suitable for evaluating new vehicle categories, such as research vehicles.