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Steering returnability while driving is one of the most important parameter which affects the drive pleasure and handling of a vehicle. Steering returnability refers to the automatic returning response of the steering wheel after taking a full turn while vehicle is being steered during driving. Evaluating steering response characteristics of any vehicle in a virtual environment at early stage of a product development saves significant development time and cost. Through this paper an attempt has been made to develop a methodology for selection of suspension hard points which influences steering returnability characteristics of a vehicle at an early product design stage. Conventionally, suspension kinematic parameters such as Caster angle, Steering axis inclination (SAI), etc. are iterated during vehicle design stage to achieve desired Steering returnability.

Suspension system is one of the most important systems in an automobile and the failure in the sub systems or parts would prove catastrophic. A semi-trailing arm (STA) suspension is an independent rear suspension system for automobiles where each wheel hub is located only by a large, roughly triangular arm that pivots at two points onto the chassis or the body. STA usually is subjected to three directional loads viz. vertical, longitudinal and lateral in service. The conventional methodology of validating the system is by applying multi-axial loads or by road load simulation consuming significant amount of time. In this paper an attempt is being made to validate the damper mounting pins by reproducing the damper loads locally instead of validating the entire system. STA was strain gauged at the critical locations and was mounted onto the vehicle.