In 5 to 12% of all accidents vehicle behaviour during braking and steering simultaneously is one of the causes. On the other hand the demand for shortest brake distanccs during straight line braking influenccs the stability reserve during braking in a turn. Therefore, vehicle handling characteristics in this ntanoeuvre have a very high accident avoidance potential.
The test procedure braking during steady state turning allows a gttod discrimination of the different influences on the handling characteristics and enables an evaluation of the yaw stability and the limit of steerability. Most important for the handling behaviour during braking in a turn is the momentary ratio of brake force and wheel load on each axle. The main influencing factor is surely the constructional brake force distribution, other factors are the vehicle load condition, the moments of inertia connected with the wheels or the towing of a trailer. With decreasing road surface friction the limit of steerability decreases overproportionally and also the stability reserves become smaller.
Although braking in a turn is only one of several manoeuvres representing the driving safety of a car, this test procedure offers the possibility to evaluate alterations to vehicle handling characteristics resulting from wear and tear or replacement of parts by comparing with the state of technology represented by the area of new designed vehicles.