The VSC Principle
A vehicle normally negotiates a corner according to input from the steering wheel, however surface conditions, excessive speed or emergency avoidance manoeuvres can cause the vehicle to oversteer or understeer. In order to improve the vehicle’s stability under these conditions and therefore reduce the possibility of an accident, the VSC system automatically controls the engine output and the braking of the wheels to help prevent the tyres losing lateral grip.
A Simple Way to Understand the VSC Principle
OK, so how does the VSC system's improve stability during oversteer or understeer situations? To understand this it is essential to grasp the basic VSC principle. Visualise a pair of wheels that are connected by an axle.
- First roll the wheels on a table top. The wheels will roll straight forward.
- Next use your finger to apply light pressure to one of the wheels and note the sudden change in the direction of the wheels.
This simple experiment explains that by applying the brake to one of the wheels, a turning force is generated to change the direction of the wheels.