Patent ID: 7870805

Claim:
A rack-and-pinion steering apparatus in which a steering gear box for transmitting an operation of a steering wheel to road wheels includes: a pinion operatively connected to the steering wheel; a rack bar which has a rack meshing with the pinion, and which is operatively connected to the road wheels; a housing slidably supporting the rack bar; a cylindrical rack guide slidably fitted into a guide hole formed in the housing; and a spring member causing the rack guide to abut on a rear of the rack bar opposite to the rack by biasing the rack guide, wherein a reaction force which the rack guide receives from the rack bar acts on the rack guide in such a way as to cause a rotational moment of the rack guide about a first axis different from a second axis, wherein said second axis is an axis of the rack guide; wherein the rack guide comprises a pressure surface having an arc-shaped cross-section and with which the rack guide presses the rear of the rack bar, the pressure surface having a first tapered notch formed in a first edge thereof and a second tapered notch formed in a second edge thereof, the first tapered notch having a first end with larger width and second end opposite the first end and having a smaller width, and the second tapered notch having a first end with larger width and second end opposite the first end and having a smaller width.