Vehicle suspension system

A rear vehicle suspension system comprising:

• a trailing arm member arranged generally in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body for controlling the movement of a rear wheel in the longitudinal direction;
• a strut-type shock absorbing means disposed between the rear wheel and the vehicle body for exerting a reaction force to suppress the upward movement of said rear wheel which includes a damper member connected to the vehicle body at the upper end to the wheel support member for rotatably supporting the rear wheel at the lower end and a spring member disposed coaxially around the damper member, said shock absorbing member being arranged to incline rearward with respect to said rear wheel so that it produces a horizontally forward component of said reaction force acting on said trailing arm member;
• a resilient means provided for defining the resilient characteristics of the trailing arm such that it exhibits soft resilience against said horizontally forward component of the reaction force while it exhibits hard resilience against a horizontally rearward force;
• and,
• a pair of front and rear lateral link members disposed in the lateral direction of the vehicle body between said rear wheel and the vehicle body, each of which is pivotally connected at its laterally outer end to said wheel support and at its laterally inner end to the vehicle body.