Car Glossary India - Index R

Reacts to a driver’s steering and the vehicle speed and accordingly adjusts the rear wheels to reduce the turn radius. The vehicles that have long wheel base are provided with rear active steer.

The recirculating ball type Steering is commonly found in some older cars as well as in several modern trucks and SUVs. The system contains a worm gear inside a block with a threaded hole in it; this block has gear teeth cut in the outside to engage a gear which moves the pitman arm. The steering wheel connects to a threaded rod, similar to a bolt that sticks into the hole in the block. When the steering wheel turns, it turns the bolt. Instead of twisting further into the block like a regular bolt, this bolt is kept fixed so that when it spins, it moves the block, which transmits the motion through the gear to the pitman arm, making the wheels to twist.

A rocker panel is a three or four inch narrow strip of metal that runs along the bottom of the car body below the doors. Rocker panels are usually painted with rock-proof protectant, which rubberises their exterior surface. They prevent stones and pebbles from hitting the car’s chassis, so that the paint is not removed.