As a part of our explainer series, we briefly tell you about the Electronic Stability Program, also known as ESP.
Development of the ESP began in the 1980s, Toyota introduced the ‘Anti-Skid Control’ system for their flagship sedan, the Crown. Other manufacturers followed Toyota and started developing their own variations of the safety system. Since then, ESP has evolved and gotten better with newer-age technology.
The Electronic Stability Program (ESP) is a technology that detects any loss in grip and automatically applies brakes to the required wheels to improve the vehicle’s stability.
The ESP works with the help of wheel speed sensors and steering angle, the modules continuously keep all the parameters in check, and as soon as any loss of traction is detected, the ESP intervenes, to bring the car back into a safe driving line.
There’s a myth about the ESP systems, that they improve a vehicle’s cornering performance, whereas, the truth is that it only helps reduce the probability of a vehicle losing traction.
The easiest way to understand the working of ESP would be a sudden swerve on the highway. Imagine, if you’re driving your vehicle on a highway at a speed of 80 Km/h and due to oncoming traffic, if you were to turn the steering suddenly, the vehicle without an ESP system, would definitely spin and lose traction, in some cases the vehicle could possibly roll over. Whereas, with the ESP system in place Braking is automatically applied to wheels individually, such as the outer front wheel to counter oversteer, or the inner rear wheel to counter understeer. Some ESP systems also reduce engine power until control is regained by the driver.
Hope you now understand more about ESP. If you want us to cover anything specific, do let us know in the comments below.
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