Automobile Electronic Stability Control

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Automobile Electronic Stability Control

• By
• James Ashe

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What is Electronic Stability Control?

• Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is a driver
  aid, like ABS or TCS
• Put simply, ESC attempts to match a cars path to
  the drivers intended path
• ESC goes by many names StabiliTrak, ESP, DSC,
  VSC, etc.

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Q When does stability control help?

• A Only when the car is turning.

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Understeer and Oversteer

• Understeer this situation occurs when a car is
  turning and the front tires lose grip before the
  rear tires.
• The car will under-rotate and drift to the
  outside of the turn
• To the driver, the car feels as though it is
  going straight

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Understeer and Oversteer

• Oversteer this situation occurs when a car is
  turning and the rear tires lose grip before the
  front tires.
• The car will over-rotate and head to the inside
  of the turn
• To the driver, the car feels as though they have
  turned the wheel to sharply

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Understeer and Oversteer

• Both situations only occur when the car is
  turning.
• Remember that either the front or rear wheels
  still have traction.

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What does stability control do in these
situations?

• Stability control uses the tires that still have
  grip to speed or slow the cars rotation
• Applying the inside wheels brake speeds the
  cars rotation
• Applying the outside wheels brake slows the
  cars rotation

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Components of ESC

• Minimum Components
• Microprocessor
• Steering Angle Sensor
• Wheel Speed Sensors
• Accelerometers
• Hydraulic Pressure Pump
• This set includes the necessary components for
  ABS and TCS

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Statistics

• A University of Iowa and NHTSA study showed that
  34 of drivers were better able to control of
  their vehicles with ESC than without.
• Previous observational studies had shown that ESC
  could help prevent 15 percent of all crashes and
  30 to 35 percent of single-vehicle crashes.

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Questions?