Thought the rear wheels are not to be steered, yet there is a considerable difficulty in the rear wheels springing if the power has to be transmitted to the rear wheels. But even the rear wheel independent springing is coming into prominence because of its distinct advantages over the rigid axle type.

Universal couplings A and B keep the wheel vertical, while the sliding coupling C is required to maintain the wheel track constant, thereby avoiding scrubbing of the tyres. This method has been used in the de Dion type of axle. It's advantages are :-

1. The wheels are always kept parallel to each other and perpendicular to the road surface that is no camber change during rebound.

2. Differential being attached to the car chassis rather than the suspension, the unsprung weight is reduced.

However, there are also disadvantages which overweight the above advantages:-

1. It needs two CV joints per axle instead of one, which adds to weight and complexity.

2. The brakes are mounted inboard with the calipers attached to the transfer case / differential, which means, to change a brake disc, the entire suspension system has to be dismantled to get the drive shaft out.

3. With coil springs, having no lateral stiffness, the system needs extra lateral location, such as a panhard rod, wishbones or trailing links, again making it more complex and increasing weight.

Due to the above reasons this type was never used after late 1970.

Another method of rear wheel independent suspension is the trailing link type. In this the trailing link are pivoted at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the car and carry the rear wheels at their ends. A's and B's are the universal joint to keep the wheel track and the camber constant with up and down movement of the wheels. S's are the coil springs with shock absorbers mounted concentrically within them. The trailing link hold the wheels firmly and also sustain accelerating and braking forces. A trailing link or arm runs from a point forward on the floorpan back to the wheel assembly, while a leading link or arm is mounted to the floorpan behind the wheel. Although the camber remains constant with respect to the vehicle body, yet when the vehicle roles into a corner, the trailing arm rolls for the same degree as the vehicle body, thus changing camber angle with respect to the road surface. As both wheels now lean towards the outside of the corner it leads to understeer. Due to this reason, pure trailing arm is not being used. Further, when these arms are mounted at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, these are known as semi trailing link or arm suspension.

The trailing arms are generally inclined from 20 to 40 degrees to the longitudinal axis. Thus the forces in the links may be resolved into the longitudinal and the transverse directions. The former causes understeer while the transverse component produces oversteer due to body roll. As a result, the two components cancel each other, giving almost a neutral steering response. However, the semi trailing links result in camber angle changes with the up and down movements of the wheel. Moreover, the increased unsprung weight due to the trailing arms gives rise to poor ride quality. That is why most modern sedans use multi link or double wishbone suspension.

A Multi Link suspension is difficult to strictly describes since although theoretically any suspension having three control arms or more is a Multi Link one, yet different designs would have different geometry and thus characteristics. For instance BMW's multilink looks like letter Z and offers very good handling, although occupying large space. Honda Accord's multilink is only a double wishbone suspension with an additional control arm.

The linked trailing arm rear suspension employed in Volkswagen Jetta cars. It is claimed that the combined metal rubber mountings respond softly on straight roads, increasing ride comfort. When cornering, they resist lateral force with a reliable stabilizing affect, even when the car is fully loaded. Such suspension mounted on Passat Saloon.