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The vehicle pull (sideways) is a complex outcome of many parameters in an automobile vehicle. This is mainly due to steering, suspension, brake, wheels and chassis parameters. The road conditions like road camber also plays an important role in vehicle pull behavior. All efforts are put in design and manufacturing processes to maintain controlled vehicle pull in normal driving condition. Even though normal vehicle pull seems to be in acceptance limit (subjectively), its intensity increases many folds at the time of harsh braking. In these kind of panic situations where driver firmly holds on the steering wheel, it is expected that the vehicle should stop without deviating too much sideways from its intended straight line path to avoid any kinds of accidents. This work is an outcome of systematic study carried out to understand the root cause of brake pull as a field complaint on current production vehicles and adopting best possible solutions to minimize the brake pull.

This paper describes dimensional synthesis, analysis and performance optimization of a three-link rigid-axle suspension system. This suspension architecture has two longitudinal links and panhard rod as a transverse link. In case of rigid axle with three links, roll stiffness is primarily governed by springs, anti-roll bar, suspension link dimensions and its orientations. Because of suspension architecture, the bushings connecting the longitudinal link to axle will also contribute to the suspension roll stiffness. Typically, this contribution is comparable to the contribution due to the suspension springs. Hence, this paper explores the process of reducing roll stiffness of three-link rigid-axle suspension by identifying and changing high impact parameters. In the multi-step process, the first step is to evaluate the kinematics and compliance performance. This analysis is performed using "ADAMS®" - the multibody dynamics analysis software.