Patent ID: 7407173

Claim:
A motor vehicle chassis structure comprising: a chassis, left and right wheel mountings supporting left and right wheels respectively for travelling along a road surface, and an independent suspension system including left and right upper and lower suspension components having outboard ends directly connected in use to upper and lower portions of the left and right wheel mountings respectively, the suspension components being arranged in use to allow a constrained up and down movement of each wheel relative to the chassis, wherein the upper suspension component on one side of the vehicle is cross-linked with the upper suspension component on the other side of the vehicle by a cross-linkage without direct connection of the cross-linkage to the lower suspension components, and wherein, in order to provide camber compensation, the cross-linkage is arranged so that a downward vertical movement of the outboard end of the upper suspension component on one side relative to the chassis is translated into a lateral inward movement of the outboard end of the upper suspension component on the other side relative to the chassis, and vice versa, irrespective of whether the outboard end of the upper suspension component on the one side is connected to the respective wheel mounting, so that, in use, due to the direct connection between the outboard ends of the upper suspension components and the respective wheel mountings, said lateral inward movement of the outboard end of the upper suspension component on the other side results in an equal lateral inward movement by said upper portion of the respective wheel mounting, and so the chassis structure acts to constrain the rotational plane of each wheel towards an orientation which is substantially normal to the road surface while allowing the chassis to move vertically and to roll relative to the wheels during cornering, acceleration, deceleration and combinations thereof.