ESP Saves Lives

Wednesday, 25. June 2008

As any of you that have become readers of my weekly ramblings would know I am a great supporter of the safety system ESP developed by Bosch. I believe that it should be fitted in all new cars as it is relatively cheap and would save more lives than ABS. Well, the good news is that Bosch have started work on a new version that will hopefully move them closer to having the system fitted in all cars. The new version integrates sensors for Yaw Rate measurement and lateral acceleration in the electronic control unit. Yep – you are thinking the same as me! Let me explain the expression Yaw Rate for the ignorant few out there –

A yaw rate sensor is a gyroscopic device that measures a vehicle’s angular velocity around its vertical axis. The output is usually in degrees per second or radians per second. The angle between the vehicle’s heading and vehicle actual movement direction is called slip angle, which is related to the yaw rate. The measurement is based on the Coriolis effect.

So there you have it, basically the ESP system slows the car down creating more traction in certain wheels to prevent a skid if you are cornering too fast! Lets have it in all cars.