Most new FLT's come with the Assistor (steering knob) fitted as standard both, centre and corner wheeled lift trucks,They actually do what it say's on the tin assist the operator.having operated with these for many years both three and four wheeled i have not ever seen or experienced any jolting or impact to wrist. I would insist on any of our Counter balance fleet to have these as standard fit prior to operating on our site.

In the "old days" it was common to get a broken wrist from kick-back if you used a steering knob. Most FLT drivers hated them. The knob would whip around and smack your wrist. It happened if you hit a pothole or obstruction (bolt etc) with one of the steered wheels. I remember dealing with several in the Motor Industry in the 1970's Climax used to offer a recessed knob on their steering wheels for just this reason and we even got a monstrosity of a mechanical anti-snatch wheel shipped in from the USA, which proved totally unwieldy. This problem completely vanished with the wide-scale introduction of power-assisted steering and I haven't come across a case since, although it may still be a problem on trucks with non-power steering.