Benefits of ESP – Part 2

By Alborz Fallah | June 15th, 2007

Yesterday we talked a little about the benefits of ESP and included a few videos to demonstrate this point. After many requests, we have sourced more videos showing the difference between vehicles equipped with ESP and those without.

Firstly, ESP on:

Looks pretty good!

ESP Off :

The benefits of ESP are clear in the second video, although, we admit, it seems as though the driver makes no attempt at correcting the vehicle’s path.

troy

No wonder they put it on, the handling was WOEFUL without it.
Ross

I think this demo is good, but if you watch the driver you can see that for the ESP equipped run he steers a lot “smoother” and with more precision. For the NON-ESP equipped run you can see that he yanks on the steering wheel much more abruptly, and he doesn’t even attempt to steer the car back through the end set of cones.

Cheers,
Ross
Sam™

meh, cant see a huge difference, although there would be, it does look like he was pushing it more in the second.

in a real world situation it would definately have its benefits of course, however proper and adequate driver training (depending on driver) could overcome even the second situation with esp off.
Paul

QUOTE = For the NON-ESP equipped run you can see that he yanks on the steering wheel much more abruptly, and he doesn’t even attempt to steer the car back through the end set of cones.

Yeah you look at the first obstacle with ESP off… he does not make any attempt to correct the vehicle. Im not doubting the effectiveness of ESP, but I think a moderately experienced driver could get through that without a loss of control. In the wet, different story though.
Bavarian Missile

Nanny controls are over rated !!!!!!!. People are told when purchasing the car how fantasic and safer your car is with them. I belive people come to rely on them ,like airbags !! Ohhh I have 8 Airbags ,I cant die thing. Crap !! Air bags were developed by Merc to help reduce facial injuries in the begining . They REDUCE injuries and I think people tend to think all these controls {if they work too}will save them from dieing !!!! REDUCE,REDUCE REDUCE YOUR CHANCE. Driver control is still needed people. I remember a classic,when ABS first came out on Mercs, a salesman advised a sales punter to put 2 wheels in the gravel and 2 on the black stuff.Then stomp on the brakes ,trust that new ABS you will stop. Yep car landed on its roof and was a write off. And traction control !!!!!! I wouldn’t rely on that either in some makes,its just an anoying light that flashes on the dash and does nothing else.
Paul

^

Lol. Although I agree some people are abit ignorant about it, cant undervalue them either, I think airbags for instance are amazing… if there was one feature Id keep it would be that. ABS, EDB etc yea they are great, but you can live without them, pump your brakes etc! But airbags, you get hit from the side and your a gonner without them. You have a head on and your a gonner from the injuries to your head etc. The one thing that is really crap about this is maintenance. All these airbags need to be maintained even when not in use, and when used they cost like $2k per air bag or something like that. ABS, EBD, drive by wire… all the same, more things to go wrong! Dont think you will find cars lasting as long as they use to completely trouble free with all these features.
Bavarian Missile

I totaly agree Paul air bags are amazing,but in the end if you lokk at the crash that killed Lady Di the Merc had air bags gallore and all the other Nanny controls available too at that time on a Merc I guess,but! If you speed are,drunk and don’t wear a seat belt your going to die!
falcon

in the esp off video, the bloke doesn’t even try to correct the oversteer he just turns into the skid which ever knows you don’t do
Simon

ESC or whatever you want to call it still has its limits. Too hot into a corner (the problem with most drivers whose ambition exceeds their abilty) and the laws of physics take over. Its not the technology that we should be promoting but driver behaviour on cars fitted with these so called ‘safety features’.
As a Driver, I think anything that takes away from the driver skill is cheating but for the average everyday Joe, its a must. I asked a Toyota engineer once why they dont have switchable VSC (as they call it). His answer floored me at the time…”Why would you want to turn off a safety feature?” was his reply. Point taken. If the manufacturer designs the car with ESC in mind (ala the Porsche Boxster – which lapes the Nurburgring quicker with it on than off)then fine. But a lot of manufacturers these days are using it, not as a safety feature, but to hide deficiencies in cost cutting during the chassis and suspension setup (Benz anyone?).
Glen

ESP on all cars is not a bad idea but it should be switchable so it can be on or off so people who dont wont it on dont have to have it on, whether they believe they can handle an emergency situation or other things (I wont mention what or those pedestrian council people will call me unfit for society .

But driver’s still need to be taught how to drive not how to pass a test. The thing is with abs brakes you should be able to steer around an object anyway but most people panic and just hit the brakes very hard and hope to stop in time
Me.

It’s all a set up, look at the seccond video with it off, he doesn’t turn againts the drift, when on the first one you can see the way the drivers controling the drift.
Bavarian Missile

Most Women have ESP standard! Extra Special Perception!

I know I do!
scott

propeganda ! with the ESP off , the driver does not even attempt to correct the slide >
what a load of crap