New Formula E steering damper aims to lessen risk of hand injuries

The FIA has developed a new steering damper as it aims to lessen hand injuries in Formula E.

There have been a few examples of hand injuries in the all-electric category in recent seasons, most notably Sam Bird in Monaco last season, who sustained a fracture that led to him missing three rounds – facilitating the early debut of this season's stand-out star Taylor Barnard. Another incident was Robin Frijns at Mexico City in 2023, who fractured his hand and wrist and had to sit out four rounds.

“Basically, I broke my hand inside the cockpit because I wasn’t expecting the steering wheel to suddenly come out of my hands,” said Frijns. “Unfortunately, I had quite some damage because I broke the bone in three places.

“My injury was quite bad, but the FIA is pushing hard to make it safer for us and they’ve made big steps from that moment onwards. I think the steering damper is a very good tool. If you have a crash, the damper takes all the force away from the wheel so it doesn’t really move out of your hands anymore.”

The incidents led to an investigation from the governing body, which revealed that in front-end crashes, the steering wheel tended to rotate up to 10 times faster than usual.

Following that revelation, steering wheel shapes were modified, along with the additions of new foam in the cockpit and a redesigned front wing to better protect the front wheels. But the biggest change of all has been a new steering damper which better absorbs the energy of impacts and reduces peak rotational speed in incidents by 40 percent.

The damper – which has been developed with Formula E’s street circuit ethos and its four-wheel-drive and front transmissions in mind – was introduced this season, and notably there hasn't been a single hand injury in the category since.