ESP celebrates 15 years
February 17, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Fifteen years ago next month Daimler-Benz first introduced ESP, a technology codeveloped with Bosch, on its Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupé. The technology became standard across the Mercedes-Benz range by August 1999.
Unfortunately the trickle down effect of this vital piece of safety technology has taken some time for the industry as a whole to adopt with many manufacturers still struggling to offer the life saving technology – even as an option – in many of their vehicles.
ESP has saved countless lives since its implementation by reducing the risk of skidding on cornering and by maintaining the vehicle’s directional stability – even in critical conditions.
This is achieved by selectively braking individual wheels, thus counteracting the tendency to skid in critical handling situations and allowing the driver to maintain control of the vehicle.
Oversteer is corrected by applying brake to the front outer wheel, understeer by applying brake to the rear inner wheel. Engine power can also be limited in some applications.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 15 years for ESP to be offered as standard in all vehicles of any brand.
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Should be a standard ADR on all cars.
and like the old tyre ad,
if it saves you once a year its a goodyear…
CA says: “Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 15 years for ESP to be offered as standard in all vehicles of any brand.”
Toyota? Are you reading this? Took long enough in the ZRE152R Corolla (although the Ascent and Levin SX still optional, jeeeezzzz), what about that Yaris?
Yep absolutely Salesman,my ExEx and I bought one of the first Mercs that had ABS back in 1990 {300CE} it was an unreal safety devise and one salesman became a little overzealous demonstrating putting the car on its lid. All those years latter and look how many cars have ABS .
Pity it doesn’t work anywhere near as effectively as speed cameras and mobile undercover radars……… :p
(ummm jokes people)
I hate ABS ESP and Traction Controll
I would rather learn to drive.
I hate it when people think they are better than a computer that does thousands of calculations a second
Mitch while I know what you mean, I agree with Horse. I prefer having full feeling of the car. But I suppose most vehicles now have a button so you can turn it all off for when you want to have fun in your car, and just turn it back on for regular street use.
Horse, that’s silly. I would be very surprised if you were younger than sixty.
ESP could be the best thing on a car since the starter motor. It is just a fantastic piece of technology. However, I do believe that every car that has it should have a button to turn it off.
Horse,
So when you are behind the wheel you car brake wheels individually, take power away from a wheel that is spinning and transfer it to a wheel that has traction, etc, all in less than a second. WOW. I wonder what it would cost to train every driver on the road to be as good as you.
This system saves lives. I have personally experienced it in action on the Mt Cotton driver training circuit and on the skid pan and I can tell you it is nothing short of amazing.
I know where Horse is coming from though,some of today’s gadgets are nanny controls,some however are life saving.Im sure thats all he meant by it.
Alex said:
“……… However, I do believe that every car that has it should have a button to turn it off.”
I agree.Some cars however,do have an off button but the ESP re-activates when a certain speed is reached.
On my car,the ESP can be switched off and only comes back on if I push the button or if I have re-started the car.
As enthusiasts we enjoy and understand what it means to turn ESP off, which is all well and good when the situation allows, but for the majority of poorly skilled, under-trained, A to B type drivers ESP is a necessity as far as I see it.
I agree with the article, and some other readers, ESP should be included standard on all cars, but just leave the switch on the dash for the rest of us :)
Ahhh, ESP, developed to keep PS3/xbox gamers alive in the real world.
But now that we have it, it’s here to stay because like a using crutch with a broken leg, people soon won’t be able to handle a car without it.
I believe if manufacturers have some sort of mandate to pick up ‘filtered down’ old ‘S class’ technologies (airbags, ABS, radar cruise, cyl cut technology etc) then ongoing compulsory driver education should also be mandated these days aswell.
As for the ESP off button, legislation will probably come in stating the hazard lights come on when the ESP is off!!!!!!!
Horse I hear understand your concerns, but if the system has been tuned correctly as a person who can drive properly “road conditions” you should never actually feel the nanny noose tighten. If you read my comments in one of the FOrd tests on CA about them saying the system reacted too late compared to the Holden system I stated exactly that. It is set up to let drivers play, but catch if you do over cook it.