Understeer and oversteer are situations in car handling where, during cornering, the direction of movement of the vehicle does not correspond to the direction in which the wheels are pointing. It is important to note that these can arise without loss of traction. Factors that can contribute to understeer are

• variations in slip angle between front and rear wheels
• body roll during cornering can cause the wheels to be angled such that the car would tend to steer towards the outside of the corner.

Because of their weight distribution, front wheel drive cars tend to be more prone to understeer than rear-wheel drive ones. Understeer is generally considered to be a safer handling characteristic than oversteer.

See also: car handling, oversteer