Mercedes-Benz Unimog in the Dunes of Erg Chebbi in Morocco. Unimog (ˈjuːnɨmɒɡ designates a range of multi purpose Four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. Erg Chebbi (عرج شبّي is the sole Saharan erg in Morocco. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Note the high ground clearance due to Portal gear axles

An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. Gravel is rock that is of a specific Particle size range In Geology, gravel is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters (2mm ^[1] It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads and a flexible suspension, or even caterpillar tracks. This article is about tires used on road Vehicles including pneumatic tires and solid tires. Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, Shock absorbers and linkages that connects a Vehicle to its Wheels Suspension Continuous tracks are large (modular tracks used on the so-called caterpillar Tanks construction equipment and certain other off-road vehicles 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. A tractor is a Vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high Tractive effort at slow speeds for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a Winder, Wire ropes or Chains and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm ----A bulldozer is a crawler ( Caterpillar tracked Tractor) equipped with a substantial metal plate (known as a blade) used to push large quantities A golf cart or golf buggy (officially referred to as a golf car according to ANSI standard z130

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. Desert racing is the act of Racing through the Desert in a 2 or 4 wheeled off-road vehicle Rock crawling is an extreme form of Off road driving using vehicles anywhere from stock to highly modified to overcome obstacles The three largest types of All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) / Motorcycle competitions are Motocross, Enduro, and also Desert Racing like Dakar Rallye and Baja 1000. An all-terrain vehicle (ATV is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires with a seat that is straddled by An all-terrain vehicle (ATV is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires with a seat that is straddled by MotorCycle is the title of a 1993 album by Rock band Daniel Amos, released on BAI Records. Motocross is a form of Motorcycle sport or All-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed Off road circuits Enduro is a form of Motorcycle sport run on courses that are predominantly Off-road. The Dakar Rally (or simply " The Dakar " formerly known as "The Paris Dakar" or "Paris to Dakar Rally" and now as "The Lisboa Dakar" is Baja 1000 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in the fall The most common use of these vehicles is for sight seeing in areas distant from pavement. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel The use of higher clearance and higher traction vehicles enables access on trails and forest roads that have rough and low traction surfaces. A trail is a Path or Road used for Walking, Cycling, Cross-country skiing, or other activities A gravel road is a type of unpaved Road surfaced with Gravel that has been brought to the site from a Quarry or Stream bed.

History

Nicholas II' Delaunay-Belleville with Kégresse track

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^[2]. Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville was a French luxury Automobile manufacturer from St A Kégresse track is an unusual kind of Rubber tracks which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments Adolphe Kégresse, ( 1879 Héricourt - 1943 Croissy-sur-Seine) was a French Military engineer, inventor of the Half-track. Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation. The system uses an unusual caterpillar track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. Continuous tracks are large (modular tracks used on the so-called caterpillar Tanks construction equipment and certain other off-road vehicles 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. A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering and Caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the 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. See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Citroën (pronounced See-Troh-Enn is a French Automobile manufacturer, founded in 1919 by André Citroën. Military vehicles include all land Combat and transportation vehicles excluding rail-based which are designed for or are in significant use by Military forces The Citroën company sponsored several overland expeditions with their vehicles crossing North Africa and Central Asia. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south

After World War II a huge surplus of light off-road vehicles like the Jeep and heavier lorries were available on the market. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Jeep is an Automobile Marque (and registered trademark of Chrysler. The Jeeps in particular were popular with buyers who used them as utility vehicles. Utility vehicle is used to describe a Vehicle, generally Motorized, that is designed for a specific task 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, Datsun/Nissan, and Japanese Toyota and Mitsubishi. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Land Rover is an all-terrain vehicle and Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV manufacturer based in Solihull, England, now operated as part of the Jaguar For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. (pronounced) is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and is currently the world's largest Automaker. The, Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese conglomerate consisting of a range of autonomous businesses which share the 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, later called SUVs, were produced. A sport utility vehicle ( SUV) is a generic marketing description for a rugged automotive vehicle similar to a Station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis 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 were early SUV examples, essentially a station wagon body on a light truck frame with four wheel drive drivetrain. The Jeep Wagoneer was an early Sport utility vehicle (SUV produced under varying Marques from 1963 to 1991 The Ford Bronco was a Sport-utility vehicle produced from 1966 through 1996 with five distinct generations Land Rover Range Rover Classic|Range Rover SportThe Range Rover is a Four-wheel drive luxury Sport utility vehicle (SUV produced by Land Rover in the A station wagon (or simply wagon) in American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand usage and an estate car (or just estate The Toyota Land Cruiser is a series of Four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation. Light truck or' light duty truck' is a classification for Trucks or truck-based Vehicles with a payload capacity of less than 4000 pounds Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4x4 ("four by four" is a four-wheeled Vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four Wheels to For the UK engine manufacturer see Powertrain Ltd. In a Motor vehicle, the term drivetrain, powertrain or powerplant

Technical

Swedish Hägglunds Bv206 with wide rubber tracks

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. Bandvagn 206 ( Bv 206) is a tracked articulated all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds (now part of BAE Land Systems) for the Swedish Army Ground pressure is the Pressure exerted on the ground by the Tires or tracks of a motorized vehicle and is one measure of its potential mobility especially Ride height ( ground clearance or simply clearance is the amount of space between the base of an automobile Tire and the underside of the Chassis; or more

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. A tracked vehicle (also called track-type tractor tractor crawler or track-laying vehicle is a vehicle that runs on tracks instead of Wheels Typically used

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 is the page for mechanical Gears For other uses see Gear (disambiguation For the gear-like device used to drive a roller chain see Sprocket This allows the operator to make the most of the engine's available power, while moving through challenging terrain slowly. An engine is a mechanical device that produces some form of output from a given input In Physics, power (symbol P) is the rate at which work is performed or energy is transmitted or the amount of energy required or expended for A combustion engine coupled to a normal gearbox often has a too high output speed to be usable. The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a 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. Volkswagen Transporter is a reference to the following range of Volkswagen Motor vehicles T1 Volkswagen Type 2, generation T1 A reduction drive is a Mechanical device to shift rotational speed Some vehicles, like the Bv206 in the picture on the right, also has a torque converter to further reduce the gearing ^[3]. A torque converter is a modified form of Fluid coupling that is used to transfer rotating power from a prime mover, such as an Internal combustion engine

Common off-road vehicles

Jeep in action

Common commercial off-road vehicles include four wheel drive pickup trucks like the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, GMC Sierra, Toyota Hilux, Dodge Ram and similar. A pickup truck is a light Motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling The Chevrolet Silverado (along with its GMC counterpart the GMC Sierra) is the latest line of Full-size Pickup trucks from General For the 1999-present F-250 and higher models see Ford Super Duty. The Chevrolet Silverado (along with its GMC counterpart the GMC Sierra) is the latest line of Full-size Pickup trucks from General This article is about the pickup sold in North America until 1994 and other markets as of today This article is about the full-size truck For other uses such as the full-size van see Dodge Ram (disambiguation. Also common are light trucks with station wagon-like bodies, which have been very popular since the 1980s. A station wagon (or simply wagon) in American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand usage and an estate car (or just estate These include Chevrolet Blazer, Dodge Ramcharger, Ford Bronco, Jeep Cherokee, International Scout, Land Rover Defender, Discovery and Range Rover and Toyota's Land Cruiser and 4Runner. See also Chevrolet Blazer (disambiguation The K5 Blazer was the smallest full size SUV version of the General Motors C/K Trucks family The Dodge Ramcharger was a large Sport utility vehicle built by Dodge from 1974 to 1993 and based on a shortened-wheelbase version of the Dodge D Series The Ford Bronco was a Sport-utility vehicle produced from 1966 through 1996 with five distinct generations See also Jeep Cherokee for other models using this name The Jeep Cherokee (XJ was a Monocoque (unibody Compact The International Harvester Scout was one of the first production American civilian off-road sport utility vehicles. The Land Rover Defender is a British four wheel drive Off-road utility vehicle The Discovery is a Four wheel drive on-road and off-road vehicle from the British car maker Land Rover. Land Rover Range Rover Classic|Range Rover SportThe Range Rover is a Four-wheel drive luxury Sport utility vehicle (SUV produced by Land Rover in the The Toyota Land Cruiser is a series of Four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation. The Toyota 4Runner is an SUV manufactured by Toyota and sold in countries such as the United States, Canada, Panamá, Australia

A number of military vehicles have also seen civilian use, including the Jeep CJ and AM General Hummer. Military vehicles include all land Combat and transportation vehicles excluding rail-based which are designed for or are in significant use by Military forces The Jeep CJ (or Civilian Jeep) was a commercial version of the famous Military Jeep from World War II. AM General is an American heavy vehicle manufacturer based in South Bend Indiana, best known for the civilian Hummer is a Brand of Off-road vehicles sold by General Motors, also known as GM Some, like the early Land Rovers, were adapted to military use from civilian specifications. Land Rover is an all-terrain vehicle and Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV manufacturer based in Solihull, England, now operated as part of the Jaguar

Specialised commonly available off-road vehicles include ATVs, or All Terrain Vehicles, dirt bikes, dune buggies, rock crawlers and sandrails. An all-terrain vehicle (ATV is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires with a seat that is straddled by MotorCycle is the title of a 1993 album by Rock band Daniel Amos, released on BAI Records. A dune buggy is a recreational Vehicle with large Wheels and wide Tires designed for use on sand Dunes or Beaches The design Rock crawling is an extreme form of Off road driving using vehicles anywhere from stock to highly modified to overcome obstacles A sandrail, or sand rail or sandcar or "rail" is a lightweight Motor vehicle specifically built for traveling across sandy terrain

A typical ATV. The ergonomics are very similar to motorcycles, with a saddle and handlebar.

Heavily modified Chevrolet Blazer typical of the United States hobbyist off-roading scene

Jeep Rubicon Rock Crawling. Off Roading is a term for driving a specialized vehicle on unpaved roads such as Sand, Gravel, riverbeds Mud, Snow, Rocks, Jeep is an Automobile Marque (and registered trademark of Chrysler.

Sandrail at Silver Lake Sand Dunes.

Commercial, military and less common off-road vehicles

European militaries and utilities have used Land Rover Defenders, Haflingers, Pinzgauers and Mercedes-Benz Unimogs for all-terrain transportation. The Land Rover Defender is a British four wheel drive Off-road utility vehicle For Haflinger horse breed see Haflinger (horse The Haflinger is a small lightweight Four wheel drive, Off-road vehicle about The Pinzgauer is a family of high mobility all-terrain 4x4 and 6x6 military utility vehicles Unimog (ˈjuːnɨmɒɡ designates a range of multi purpose Four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. Less common is the Portuguese UMM Alter. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. UMM ( União Metalo-Mecânica, pron. uni'ɐ̃ũ mɨ'talɔ mɨ'kɐnika is a Portuguese metal works factory and ex-automobile manufacturer based

The military market for off-road vehicles used to be large, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s it has to some extent dried up. The " Iron Curtain " was the symbolic ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end The U. S. Jeep, developed during World War II, coined the word many people use for any type of light off-road vehicle. Jeep is an Automobile Marque (and registered trademark of Chrysler. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In the U. S. , the Jeep's successor from the 1980s on was the AM General HMMWV. This article refers to the Military HMMWV not the civilian Hummer sold by General Motors The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled The Eastern Bloc used the GAZ-69 and UAZ-469 in similar roles. GAZ-69 was a Four wheel drive light truck of jeep class produced by GAZ (ГАЗ or Gorkovskij Awtomobilnyj Zavod) between 1953 and The UAZ-469 is an all-terrain vehicle manufactured by UAZ. It was used by the Red Army and other Warsaw Pact forces as well as paramilitary units in

Unimog at IDEF'07 Arms Fair	Two Polish Honkers in Iraq	UMM Alter	Mahindra and Mahindra Classic used by the Indian Army
Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division test prototype Off-Road Vehicles. Unimog (ˈjuːnɨmɒɡ designates a range of multi purpose Four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. IDEF ( Integration DEFinition) is a family of Modeling languages in the field of Software engineering. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Honker (initially known as Tarpan Honker) is a Polish multi-purpose all-terrain Pick-up truck. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. UMM ( União Metalo-Mecânica, pron. uni'ɐ̃ũ mɨ'talɔ mɨ'kɐnika is a Portuguese metal works factory and ex-automobile manufacturer based The Indian Army (Bharatiya Thalsena भारतीय थाल्सेना is one of the armed forces of India and has the responsibility for land-based

Criticism of Off-Road Vehicles

Safety

Main article: Criticism of sport utility vehicles

SUVs are built with higher ground clearance for off-road use and have a higher center of gravity^[4], therefore increasing the risk of rollover. Criticism of sport utility vehicles is the expression (made by various groups organizations or individuals of disapproval of Sport utility vehicles (SUVs A sport utility vehicle ( SUV) is a generic marketing description for a rugged automotive vehicle similar to a Station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis Ride height ( ground clearance or simply clearance is the amount of space between the base of an automobile Tire and the underside of the Chassis; or more Off Roading is a term for driving a specialized vehicle on unpaved roads such as Sand, Gravel, riverbeds Mud, Snow, Rocks, Research has shown that whenever an SUV turns, the vehicles 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 centripetal force is the external force required to make a body follow a curved path 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. In the Physical sciences weight is a Measurement of the gravitational Force acting on an object Friction is the Force resisting the relative motion of two Surfaces in contact or a surface in contact with a fluid (e This article is about tires used on road Vehicles including pneumatic tires and solid tires. A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places. ^[5]

Pickups and SUVs are more likely to be in rollover accident than passenger cars. A pickup truck is a light Motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling Pickups have twice the fatality rate of cars and SUVs have nearly triple the fatality rate in rollover accidents. ^[6] Of vehicles in the US, light trucks (includes SUVs) represent 36 percent of all registered vehicles. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Light truck or' light duty truck' is a classification for Trucks or truck-based Vehicles with a payload capacity of less than 4000 pounds A sport utility vehicle ( SUV) is a generic marketing description for a rugged automotive vehicle similar to a Station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis 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. ^[6]

Environment

Sustainable Management of Wilderness has been the subject of scientific study and government legislation since the 1800s. Wilderness is generally defined as a Natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by Human activity Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Legislation (or " Statutory law " is law which has been promulgated (or " Enacted quot by a Legislature or other Governing ^[7] Trails and off trail activities impact the natural vegetation and wildlife leading to erosion and invasive species, habitat loss, and species loss,^[8][9] which decreases the environment's ability to maintain homeostasis. Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region it refers to the Ground cover provided by plants Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind Introduced species|Weed Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions Habitat destruction is the process in which natural Habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species originally present In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa. See also Nature The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a terminology that is comprised of all living and Homeostasis (from Greek: ὅμος hómos, "equal" and ιστημι istēmi, "to stand" lit ^[10] ORVs cause greater stress to the environment that foot traffic alone. The word 'hiking' is understood in all English-speaking countries but there are differences in usage Some ORVs operators like to test themselves and their vehicles against natural obstacles and do significantly more damage then driving the established trail. A trail is a Path or Road used for Walking, Cycling, Cross-country skiing, or other activities ^[11] Most operators stay on designated areas but some who do not cause severe damage. ^[12] 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. Land management can be defined as the process of managing the use and development (in both urban and suburban settings of land resources in WASTE is a Peer-to-peer and Friend-to-friend protocol and software application developed by Justin Frankel at Nullsoft in 2003 that features Vandalism is the behaviour attributed to the Vandals in respect of Culture: ruthless Destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or Venerable ^[13] Many user organizations publish and encourage appropriate trail ethics^[14] some of the more active are Tread Lightly and Sierra Club. Trail ethics deals with Ethics as it applies to the use of Trails. Tread Lightly! is a Non-profit organization in the United States with the mission "To empower generations to enjoy the outdoors responsibly through education Mission statement To explore enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources To educate and In 30 years the number of U. S. ORV users has climbed sevenfold- from five million in 1972 to 36 million in 2000. ^[15] In 2002, the U. S. EPA 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. Air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of Chemicals Particulate matter, or Biological materials that cause harm or discomfort "^{[16] [17]}

See also

• Amphibious vehicle
• Off highway vehicle
• Off road park
• Off roading
• Tread Lightly!
• Ramp travel index
• Sport utility vehicle

References