A Panhard rod is a component of a car suspension system that provides lateral location of the axle. Originally invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been widely used ever since. Diagram of Panhard Rod - authors own drawing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... The front suspension components of a Ford Model T. Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. ... An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. ... A Panhard-Levassor was the first automobile to be introduced in Japan, in 1898 A 1920s Panhard A VBL of the French Army Panhard, originally Panhard et Levassor, is a French automobile manufacturer. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ...

While the purpose of the rear suspension of an automobile is to allow the wheels to move vertically with respect to the body, it is undesirable to allow them to move forward and backwards, or from side to side. It is this latter movement that the Panhard rod is designed to prevent. It is a simple device, consisting of a rigid bar running sideways parallel to the rear axle, connecting one end of the axle to the car body or chassis on the opposite side of the vehicle. The bar is attached on either end with pivots that permit it to swivel upwards and downwards only, so that the axle is in turn allowed to move in the vertical plane only. This does not effectively locate the axle longitudinally, therefore it is usually used in conjunction with trailing arms which locate the axle in the longitudinal direction. This arrangement is not usually used with a leaf spring rear suspension, where the springs themselves supply enough lateral rigidity, but only with coil spring suspensions. A chassis (plural: chassis) consists of a framework which supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animals skeleton; for example in the construction of an automobile or of a firearm. ... A trailing-arm suspension is an automobile suspension design in which one or more arms (or links) are connected between (and perpendicular to) the axle and the chassis. ... A leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. ...

The advantage of the Panhard rod is its simplicity. Its major disadvantage is that the axle must necessarily move in an arc, relative to the body, with the radius equal to the length of the Panhard rod. If the rod is too short, there will be excessive sideways movement between the axle and the body at the ends of the spring travel; therefore the Panhard rod is less desirable on smaller cars than larger. A suspension design that is similar but eliminates the sideways component of the axle's vertical travel is the Watts linkage. Watts Linkage The Watts linkage is an automotive rear suspension designed in the early twentieth century as an improvement over the Panhard rod as a means of locating the rear axle of an automobile relative to the body and preventing relative movement side to side. ...

A Panhard rod may also be known as a Track bar. A track bar is a part of a live axle suspension also known as a Panhard rod. ...

Solid axle and Panhard rod on a 2002 Mazda MPV