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An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle
which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally
characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads and a flexible
suspension, or even caterpillar tracks. Other vehicles that do not travel public
streets or highways are generally termed off-highway vehicles, which would
include tractors, forklifts, cranes, backhoes, bulldozers and Golf carts.
Off-road vehicles have an enthusiastic following because of their many uses and
versatility. Several types of motorsports involve racing off-road vehicles. The
three largest "4 wheel vehicle" off-road types of competitions are Rally, Desert
Racing, and Rockcrawling. The three largest types of All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) /
Motorcycle competitions are Motocross, Enduro, and also Desert Racing like Dakar
Rallye and Baja 1000. The most common use of these vehicles is for sight seeing
in areas distant from pavement. The use of higher clearance and higher traction
vehicles enables access on trails and forest roads that have rough and low
traction surfaces.
History
One of the first modified off-road vehicles was the Kégresse track, a conversion
undertaken first by Adolphe Kégresse, who designed the original while working
for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia between 1906 and 1916. The system uses an unusual
caterpillar track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal
segments. It can be fitted to a conventional car or truck to turn it into a
half-track, suitable for use over rough or soft ground. Conventional front
wheels and steering are used.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Kégresse returned to his native France
where the system was used on Citroën cars between 1921 and 1937 for off-road and
military vehicles. The Citroën company sponsored several overland expeditions
with their vehicles crossing North Africa and Central Asia.
After World War II a huge surplus of light off-road vehicles like the Jeep and
heavier lorries were available on the market. The Jeeps in particular were
popular with buyers who used them as utility vehicles. This was also the start
of off-roading as a hobby. The wartime Jeeps soon wore out, though, and the Jeep
company started to produce civilian derivatives, closely followed by similar
vehicles from British Land Rover and Japanese Toyota, Datsun/Nissan and
Mitsubishi. These were all alike; small, compact four wheel drives with at most
a small hardtop to protect the occupants from the elements.
From the 1960s more comfortable vehicles were produced. First they were popular
for many years with rural buyers due to their off-road and load-lugging
capabilities. The U.S. Jeep Wagoneer and the Ford Bronco, the British Range
Rover and the station wagon-bodied Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser and Nissan
Patrol were essentially a station wagon body on a light truck frame with four
wheel drive drivetrain. Later during the nineties manufacturers started to add
even more luxuries to bring those off-road vehicles on par with regular cars.
This eventually evolved into what we call the SUV today, and the newer Crossover
vehicle where utility and off-road capability was sacrificed for better on-road
handling and luxury.
To be able to drive off the pavement, off-road vehicles need several
characteristics: They need to have a low ground pressure, so not to sink in soft
ground, they need ground clearance to not get hung up on obstacles and they need
to keep their wheels or tracks on the ground so as to not lose traction.
Wheeled vehicles accomplish this by having a suitable balance of large or
additional tires and tall and flexible suspension.
Tracked vehicles accomplish this by having wide tracks and a flexible suspension
on the road wheels.
The choice of wheels versus tracks are one of cost and suitability. A tracked
drivetrain is more expensive and costly in terms of maintenance. Wheeled
drivetrains are cheaper and give a higher top speed. For pure off-road
capabilities the tracked drivetrain has the edge.
Most off-road vehicles are fitted with especially low gearing. This allows the
operator to make the most of the engine's available power, while moving through
challenging terrain slowly. A combustion engine coupled to a normal gearbox
often has a too high output speed to be usable. The vehicle often has one of two
things; either a very low ("granny") first gear (like the all wheel drive
Volkswagen Transporter versions) or an additional gearbox in-line with the
first, called a reduction drive. Some vehicles, like the Bv206 in the picture on
the right, also has a torque converter to further reduce the gearing.
Many wheeled off road vehicles have all wheel drive, to keep traction on
slippery surfaces, although in vehicles designed for use both on and off road,
this may be switchable so that the vehicle has fewer driven wheels when on the
road.
SUVs are built with higher ground clearance for off-road use and have a higher
center of gravity, therefore increasing the risk of rollover. Research has shown
that whenever an SUV turns, the vehicle's mass resists the turn and carries the
weight forward allowing the traction from the tires to create a lateral
centripetal force as the vehicle continues through the turn. The conflict
between the top weight of the SUV's desire to go straight while the friction of
the tires on the road cause the bottom of the vehicle to move away and out from
under the vehicle during a turn.
Pickups and SUVs are more likely to be in rollover accident than passenger cars.
According to a study conducted in the United States, pickups have twice the
fatality rate of cars and SUVs have nearly triple the fatality rate in rollover
accidents. Of vehicles in the US, light trucks (includes SUVs) represent 36
percent of all registered vehicles. They are involved in about half of the fatal
two-vehicle crashes with passenger cars, 80 percent of these fatalities are to
occupants of the passenger cars.
Environment
In the United States, the number of ORV users since 1972 has climbed
sevenfold—from five million to 36 million in 2000. Government policies that
protect wilderness but also allow recreational ORV use have been the subject of
some debate within the United States and other countries.
All trail and off-trail activities impact natural vegetation and wildlife, which
can lead to erosion and invasive species, habitat loss, and ultimately species
loss, which decreases an ecosystem's ability to maintain homeostasis. ORVs cause
greater stress to the environment than foot traffic alone, and ORV operators who
attempt to test their vehicles against natural obstacles can do significantly
more damage then those who follow legal trails. Illegal use of off-road vehicles
(ORV) has been identified as a serious land management problem ranked with
dumping garbage and other forms of vandalism. Many user organizations, such as
Tread Lightly! and the Sierra Club, publish and encourage appropriate trail
ethics.
ORVs have also been criticized for producing more pollution in areas that might
normally have none. In addition to noise pollution that can cause hearing
impairment and stress in wildlife, according to the U.S. Forest Service,
old-style two-stroke engines (no longer a component of new off-road vehicles,
although some are still in use) "emit about 20 to 33 percent of the consumed
fuel through the exhaust" and "discharge from two-stroke snowmobile engines can
lead to indirect pollutant deposition into the top layer of snow and
subsequently into the associated surface and ground water .In 2002, the United
States Environmental Protection Agency adopted emissions standards for
all-terrain vehicles that "when fully implemented in 2012... are expected to
prevent the release of more than two million tons of air pollution each year --
the equivalent of removing the pollution from more than 32 million cars every
year."
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