If a driver loses control of their vehicle while cornering, one of two handling dynamics, namely oversteer or understeer, may be to blame.
Both could lead to dangerous situations, including cars leaving the road surface, crashes, and endangering drivers and passengers if they don’t know how to navigate these situations.
According to driver training and road safety organisation MasterDrive, understanding how a vehicle drives at its limits can be the difference between maintaining control and losing it entirely.
The company’s CEO, Eugene Herbert, explained that the first dynamic, understeer, occurs when the front tyres lose grip before the rear tyres.
“This causes a vehicle to take a turn wider than intended through a corner. Instead of turning in the direction you are steering, the vehicle drifts outside the bend,” he said.
“Drivers of front-wheel-drive cars experience it more commonly. If you have not experienced it before, it feels like the steering is disconnected or unresponsive.”
Herbert added that, during an instance of understeer, the driver is turning the wheel, but the car simply is not responding to inputs.
On the other hand, oversteer is the opposite. It occurs when the rear tyres lose traction, and the back of the car begins to slide outward, pointing the front of the vehicle away from the intended direction.
“In extreme cases, this can result in a spin during correction. Oversteer is more common in rear-wheel-drive vehicles. It is triggered by excessive throttle, harsh braking mid-corner, or entering a bend too quickly,” explained Herbert.
He added that understanding these phenomena is important, but knowing how to navigate them and bring the vehicle to a halt is just as important.
While he discouraged motorists from practising reacting to being in these situations, Herbert explained that it is critical to practise correcting oversteer and understeer.
Getting yourself out of trouble
Once a driver understands the physics behind the two dynamics, it becomes easier to navigate them, but Herbert shared some tips to get out of trouble anyway.
“To correct understeer, ease off the accelerator smoothly, avoiding sudden braking. This can destabilise the vehicle further and make recovery more difficult,” he said.
“Additionally, ease off your steering to give the front tyres a chance to grip the road again. Once traction returns, steer the vehicle smoothly back to where you want to be.”
According to Herbert, the key here is patience and remaining calm, as any harsh or sudden input makes it more difficult to regain control.
When navigating oversteer, he explained that fast but calm reactions are important for achieving correction.
“Steer into the slide. Thus, if the rear slides out to the right, steer to the right to counter it and vice versa. This technique is called counter-steering,” he said.
“Simultaneously, release the accelerator slowly, as a sudden decrease in power can cause a pendulum effect and snap the car in the opposite direction.”
Herbert noted that once the car straightens, drivers should smoothly recentre the steering wheel and drive on if it is safe to do so.
The MasterDrive CEO shared a few more general safe driving tips:
- Reduce speed before a bend, not during it. Braking mid-corner increases the risk of both understeer and oversteer.
- In a slide, drivers instinctively look at what they fear hitting. Focus on your intended path instead, and your steering will follow.
- Front-wheel-drive tends toward understeer; rear-wheel-drive toward oversteer. All-wheel drive is more stable but not immune to either.
- Worn, underinflated, or mismatched tyres reduce grip and make both conditions more likely.
“Nothing replaces real experience. Driver training builds the muscle memory needed to react correctly under pressure,” he added.
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