Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/100966
Drive IT! Velle Kolde, Chief Driving Instructor Kinesthetic communication - What your car is telling you about your driving. Cars today are equipped with advanced electronics that improve performance, economy, reliability and safety. Some of these systems are also great tools for improving your driving while keeping your car (and you) safe. First we���ll take a quick overview of three key systems, and then we���ll talk about how they can help you improve your driving. Here are three systems that give drivers feedback on their driving: ��� Traction control (TC) ��� keeps your wheel or wheels from spinning during acceleration. It accomplishes this by managing the power and braking to the individual drive wheels. It is not designed to aid in maneuvering the car. ��� Anti-lock brakes (ABS) ��� keeps your wheels from locking up during hard braking. This is particularly important, tires need 18 November 2011 to be rotating in order to have traction to steer the car. Once the tire stops rotating and starts skidding, i.e. ���locks up���, you no longer can use steering to control the direction of the car. ABS maximizes the braking performance by providing full braking power, but easing off the brakes when it detects the wheel is about to lock up. ��� Electronic Stability Control (ESC) ��� keeps your car on the intended path around a corner. The Porsche ESC system is known by the trade name ���Porsche Stability Management��� or PSM. ESC/PSM monitors an impressive number of parameters to determine the path it believes the driver would like the car to take ��� and if necessary, will manage power and apply braking to the individual wheels to keep the car on the intended path. Please note that all systems are not equal. Some systems are very sophisticated and very good ��� such as those found in Porsches ��� and others are less so. I once observed an ESC system (not Porsche) mismanage a situation ��� the car had begun to spin, when the car had