Esp And Traction Control

By Author: Dennis James
Total Articles: 59
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The Electronic Stabilization Program and the Traction Control System are two very important elements which car manufacturers introduced on their model to improve their stability, handling and safety.

The ESP (Electronic Stability System) has become lately very popular among car producers, but because of marketing and trademarks, it may be found under different names (GE calls if Stabilitrak, for example, while Nissan uses the name VDC - Vehicle Dynamic Control). But the common name is ESP and it is the most used one.

There are a series of sensors which establish many times per second the rotational movement of the car, its speed, the angel you rotate the steering wheel as well as other such parameters. The purpose of the monitoring is for the system's computer to determine if the vehicle is being driven on the intended way. Let's take the over steer situation, which occurs when the car is performing a cornering and the rear wheels are sliding. If this occurs, the sensors will detect this and the computer will reduce the engine's power and some braking pressure will be applied to the front wheel on the outside. ...
... This wheel is the main element which, by applying some breaking to it, is used to put the car back on the intended direction. The ESP works in two ways: it can either reduce engine power, or it can brake a certain wheel, or both of the actions at the same time.
The Stability Programs are commonly used in combination with the traction control systems, but in addition to the latter, it also monitors the lateral movement of the vehicle.

Such stability systems have been proven to greatly increase car safety in extreme situations. It can calculate and monitor the car's parameters way faster than any driver would do and it will take actions accordingly. The phenomenon of under steer and oversteer and greatly reduced if the car is equipped with a stability program. But you should not overhaul such systems, because they have to obey the laws of physics, and if you enter very fast into a corner, your car's direction will not be corrected.

The Traction Control System (or TCS) is implemented in a car to avoid the wheels from slipping the moment you accelerate. It was first introduced in 1986 and nowadays most new cars have this security feature.

ABS limits the wheels from slipping while braking powerfully. In opposition, TCS is used to allow you to have more grip while accelerating. Its sensors will detect if a wheel is slipping and the system will either reduce engine power, either slightly brake that wheel.

Most TCS is configured to work until the car reaches a certain speed (in most cases 25mph). However, the systems on more expensive cars will work and monitor wheel spin at all speeds. The system is not perfect, because sometimes it may lack efficiency on very slippery surfaces (ice for example) where you indeed need your wheels to slightly slip in order to move your car. Newer systems are more intelligent and will allow a certain amount of wheel spin before it will engage.
Because these systems are easy are relatively cheap to equip a car with, rear drive cars do not have a disadvantage when it comes to effectively offering traction in extreme conditions.