Own a car that has steering wheel wobble and this usually means there’s a mechanical problem with the vehicle. Experience wheel judder at any point and this could indicate you have under inflated tyres, the wheels are out of balance, or you have some issue with steering or suspension components, which could be dangerous.
In this instance get the car looked at by auto technicians, if there’s an obvious sign of wheel judder, this is a safety risk and you could be placing yourself, other people that travel in the car, and fellow road users in peril.
We’d be happy to fix your vehicle at Mercury Care Centre if you were experiencing problems with faulty steering or suspension parts, but say the car was meant to be like this?
Suppose the wheel judder was designed to wake you up if you were falling asleep at the wheel, in this instance, it could save your life, and a British company has been developing such a system.
Wheel judder could be a good thing
A rather clever company based in Cambridge has recently developed a quirky new safety system which could help to save the lives of drivers. It uses camera monitors to gauge the blink rate, head position and eye alignment of people behind the wheel, monitoring their movements and looking for abnormal signs that could indicate the driver has fallen asleep.
This is such a remarkable idea. When the driver starts to doze the early warning system sends pulses through the steering wheel, whilst sounding an alarm at the same time. The audible warning, coupled to the buzz through the wheel, is enough to wake the driver up and they can react accordingly, preventing an accident in the process. Mounted conveniently next to the rear view mirror, the camera continually monitors the driver and at the first sign of danger it’s ready to react.
Ways to prevent falling asleep at the wheel
This is probably the only time we could condone steering wheel judder at Mercury Car Centre. At any other time we’d be recommending you bring the car to us, so we can fix the fault!
Of course, falling asleep at the wheel is a common problem for tired drivers covering hundreds of miles. That being the case, here are our recommendations to help you stay awake at the wheel, if you haven’t got a driver fatigue warning system of course!
- Aim to get plenty of sleep prior to making long journeys
- Try not to drive long distances late at night or very early in the morning
- Listen to music or chat to passengers
- Open a window or use air conditioning to keep the interior cool
- Take regular breaks
- Pull over somewhere safe if you feel especially tired
And remember, if your car starts to experience wheel judder and you are wide awake, book it in with us, we’ll soon fix that fault!
