feature article
may
2019
GOLF CART
A
ROLLOVERS
ccording to
the Consumer
Products Safety
Commission
(CPSC), there are
approximately 15,000
golf cart related injuries
requiring emergency
room treatment in the US
each year. Some 10% of
these accidents involve a
rollover.
http://www.technology-assoc.com
Golf carts are typically designed with brakes only on the rear
axle. As our engineers have addressed in several peer-re-
viewed journal papers, this can result in the vehicle becom-
ing unstable. A golf cart rollover often occurs as a result of a
driver losing control of the car while traveling downhill on a
car path. One potential source of a downhill loss of control is
the current industry practice of manufacturing golf carts with
brakes on only the rear axle wheels. It has long been under-
stood that a braked vehicle with skidding rear tires and rolling
front tires is directionally unstable but this instability will not
always manifest itself when a vehicle is traveling at sufficiently
low speeds on level ground. However, besides reducing brak-
ing effectiveness (when compared to four-wheel braking),
rear wheel only brake designs can easily lead to “fishtailing.”
Furthermore, the reduced braking effectiveness on downhill
slopes can lead the driver to falsely perceive a brake failure,
causing him to press harder on the brake pedal, which in turn
leads to a locking of the braked wheels and an out-of-control
skid. This hazard is aggravated at golf courses that incorpo-
rate hilly terrain with steep, narrow golf cart paths and sharp
turns. Such conditions make it desirable to create golf carts
with good braking characteristics for use on courses with
downhill slopes of 10 degrees or more.
Industry standards for the design of golf carts contain
minimal braking requirements that do not include tests for
MAY 2019
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