Cars come with so many driver assistance systems these days it is hard to know which is which. In this article, we take a look at what traction control and electronic stability control systems are and how they differ.
The Lamborghini’s of the 1970s were beautiful cars. As you might imagine, they were also extremely fast. Despite their appearance, however, they were scary to drive. You could go unbelievably fast, but it felt like the car could take off in any direction at any time. It took a might brave or stupid person to drive one of the beasts very fast.
Modern car designers and engineers have focused on car control as a major issue. The good news is they’ve come up with some serious inventive systems to assist drivers. From anti-locking brake systems to cars that parallel park themselves, things have never been better. To systems that really help and are often confused are the traction control and electronic stability control system. Let’s take a look.
Traction control systems have been with us in one form or another for a long time. They really were heavily developed in Formula One open wheel racing where teams spend upwards of $400 million a year on extremely high tech cars. In fact, the systems were developed to such an extreme that cars hardly slowed down at all on the track. This resulted in a ban of all traction control systems, but the technology is standard on most cars sold to the public now.
A traction control system works by monitoring the spin rate of each wheel. This is done through the all conquering ECU [electronic computer unit] that controls the car. When a wheel starts to spin faster than the other three, the traction control system will slow it down by slightly triggering the brake on the wheel in question. This works to effectively stop slides or skids just before they become a major problem. Some traction control systems will also reduce the power being supplied to the wheel in question.
Most people mistakenly think a traction control system and electronic stability system are the same thing. They are not. The electronic stability control system [ESC] does not deal with wheel spin, but total car control. The system monitors the wheels, but also your steering wheel, the pitch of your car to one side or another and acceleration. If it determines the car is turning too much or too little, it will adjust the power to certain wheels and apply the brakes on other wheels to compensate. Let’s consider an example:
You are driving down a road in the rain. You come up on a left hand turn a bit fast. You turn and the back end of the car starts to spin around to your right. The ESC system automatically takes action. It will active the brake on the front right wheel and perhaps add a bit of power the left rear wheel if your car allows for it. This will effectively stop the back end of the car from continuing to swing around and save you from a wreck. Pretty amazing, eh?
If you are looking for safety in your car, you do not have to choose between traction control and electronic stability systems. Get both and throw in anti-locking brakes as well!
Dirk Gibson is with DCJAutoParts.com - where you can find the lowest prices on high performance
auto parts and accessories.
