Oversteer or understeer: which is safer?

Have you heard the expressions, a particular car oversteers or another understeers? Do you know exactly what each term means? If you could choose, which would be safer to drive?

Let’s see what both expressions really mean. Imagine you are in your car in a big empty parking lot with nothing to hit, no poles or other cars.

Now start driving and turn the steering wheel to the right or left to drive in circles. No problem, drive slowly in this big circle and everything is under control.

Now imagine that you go a little faster and faster around the circle. Soon you will start to hear some tire noise. As speed increases, the sound becomes louder and the tires begin to squeal. Soon they are squealing and you know something is about to happen.

If it gets harder and harder to keep the front end turned towards your circle. That is, if the circle gets bigger as you accelerate, then your car understeers.

If, on the other hand, the rear end of your car seems to be slipping and it looks like it’s going to go sideways or backwards in a second, then your car is oversteering.

Oversteering cars lose tire grip at the front of the car and understeering cars lose tire grip at the rear of the car first.

So which is safer? Almost all car manufacturers design cars to understeer. This means that when you drive too fast into a corner, and the front end is harder to turn, you almost instinctively let go of the accelerator pedal. The car brakes and regains grip and you take the corner a bit more slowly and confidently.

This is fine for a typical car and average driver. But if you’re in a race car, or a car designed to run on a race track, you want a car that will survive, because you let the rear end slide a little bit. This points you more into the turn and you can go faster. However, you need to have the driving skills to overcome the slip while taking the turn. Or you’ll lose control, which isn’t too bad on a race track, but can get you killed on city streets.