That may be true. The law of preservation of momentum, in this case rotational momentum, causes an accelerating engine to try to rotate the vehicle in the direction of opposite momentum. It happens even if the axes of rotation are different.

But I've never felt its effect while driving. I've seen it sometimes when a truck with a big engine revs up while standing still. The whole truck may briefly lean over to one side.

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

Hi Slajeune:

___I left a little post for you to digest in your other thread … I hope it helps

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

This phenomena with front wheel drive cars is often referred to as 'torque steer'. In a front wheel drive automobile, the front wheels are asked to do too much, ie changing lateral direction while accelerating, causing the wheels to loose grip faster, and slide to the side under heavy acceleration, or acceleration on slick surfaces. I'm pretty sure the fact that the unequal length half-shafts in most fwd cars is a contributor here as well. The longer axle twists more, causing the wheel with the shorter axle to get the jump.

Auto designers deal with this better in some cars than others with better suspension designs that compensate. Car and Driver usually attributes Honda as having the best front suspension designs (less torque steer) in the fwd market.


Interestingly, Pontiac just started offering a version of the fwd Grand Prix with a Northstar V8. To deal with the torque steer caused by this massive amount of power to the front wheels, the front tires are around an inch wider than the rears.

LOL! Yeah I see people making that mistake. For those that don't get it,

Stephanie = girl
Stephane = guy

ok, guys, i am going to throw a monkey wrench in the stats today........

we have snow.....real snow, complete with high winds and lousy roads. it started last night and is supposed to continue at least until friday , total up to 7-9 inches. on the way home last night on the 4 lane highway, i had the benefit of a tailwind, which helped up my total mileage for this tank. plus i was driving 45, which is what i usually drive when the roads are as snowy as they were.

today was the real yuk. the spot where i come off the dirt road onto the highway is generally pretty badly plowed for the first 10 miles of my drive. however, i have discovered that the same techniques i use for driving in bad weather, which include: driving slower (usually 45 miles per hour), coasting to a stop, no fast starts and trying not to get blown off the road by the semis who don't slow down at all.......they helped improve my mileage. i started the tank i am on at about 45-45 mpg last week after getting slammed with very high head and side winds on a trip home from minneapolis. by slowing down for the snow the last two days, it now sits at 50.3, and that's with over 450 miles on this tank.

Best fill 66.7 MPG, best tank 801.5 miles



laurie, central minnesota

Sorry about that!!! I just read Steph...e. Pesky middle letters...

Reminds me of the e-mail that gets passed around about a renct stduy taht shwoed if the frist and lsat lteter were in the corrcet sopt that the brian wuold fgirue out the rset.

Srory aoubt taht!

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

No setting in CVT as you would find in a auto to start off in a higher "gear".... but a CVT acts like a form of traction control because as the wheels spin, a higher gear ratio is selected, so it eventualy finds a gear ratio that works. Letting off the gas when will spin is detected also helps it find the right ratio.

Hi Tim,

don't worry about that, I get that alot ! Stephane with an 'e' and no 'i' is not a common name in english (although it was very common in French when I was born!).

You are right about the how the brain can actually substitute / re-order letter. It's simply amazing how adaptative it is!

Cheers,
Stephane.