I agree that VSC is too often considered a litmus test of safety. It's sometimes annoying when people say they simply won't buy a vehicle without it.

However... please consider:

It's pretty amazing in action. I encourage people to hold off questioning the value of VSC if they haven't had an opportunity to drive a VSC vehicle in an emergency situation. You ask, Will VSC be helpful in an emergency? I believe that a person who has experienced VSC would not wonder about that.

Second, and this is probably more useful/credible than a personal experience testing cars on slippery surfaces: Numerous studies exist and the generally accepted numbers* are that there is a 30%-35% reduction in total single car crashes for vehicles with VSC. In SUVs it's a 55% to 65% reduction, depending on which study you look at. Fatal single car crashes mirror those numbers. This is a big reduction, statistically significant. Which is why VSC may be mandatory in all US-sold vehicles in 2011.

I think a lot of people demand VSC in their next car once they see the stats.

* From NHTSA and the insurance industry, neither of which I totally trust but they are the ones with the data

 

Terry -

Good points. I agree for the typical driver in a top heavy, over-powered SUV (or car for that matter) the VSC will help lessen the damage of driving mistakes. Hence the stats - and I tend to trust what I see from the NHTSA.

Having worked on the design of complex electro-mechanical systems, I know the software can never predict the right response for every incident - because the possibilities are infinite.

For the atypical, alert and knowledgeable, driver in a small car (Prius) I would bet the driver can avoid the dangerous conditions better than the computer - at least until they start programming a.i. into the PCMs.

As you note from your experience, the key is not getting into the situation in the first place. Not every driver can do that. But is that a strong enough case to mandate VSC in vehicles via legislation?....I don't know.

 

Agreed, it is much more beneficial in SUVs.

Funny you mention the Prius, as it was the car that turned around my view on VSC. I owned a VSC Prius for two years.

I hadn't owned a VSC car 'til then and we repeatedly did crazy things to see when VSC would/wouldn't assist. It always did what it was supposed to, things no driver could do unless they had four legs and four brake pedals and a lot of know how! Of course it would initially slide when there was no traction, but the system would take over and slow the car until the slide stopped. It was consistent, in my experience. A friend later got a non VSC Prius and we compared them, which was really convincing.

Mine kicked in a few times in real world conditions. The one incident I recall clearly was descending a narrow canyon. The inside was a steep cliff leaving the turn in a shadow, and there was some gravel on the road that I didn't see until too late. I was going too fast and hit the gravel, which was in the tightest part of the turn. The system did its thing and kept me from running wide and possibly leaving the road. It's possible that if the nose had plowed too far ahead that I'd have probably panic-braked and the ABS may have saved me from running wide anyway. But who knows.

 

Well there's your problem right there!!!


I personally, can predict the laws of physics, since I deal with them every day. I cannot predict what a tiny, invisible computer will, or will not do.

This is only an analogy... but... take the newer, very realistic video games. In the car race games, you can set it to "beginner, intermediate, or pro" driver. In the beginner or intermediate modes, the computer will help you drive around the race track. It is also more forgiving to you if you make errors. But to me, this is very annoying. And it does not make me a better driver. It just allows a 6 year old to drive. I cannot predict how my "pretend" car is going to behave in beginner mode. Sometimes I WANT to skid around a tight curve to keep my momentum up.

With RSC, ABS, and others... we are going to produce a generation of all "beginner" drivers. Is that a better world? Remember what happened with "Skynet"?
-J

 

I don't see how a human could pump brakes 15-20 times per second like an ABS system does. Even Formula 1 drivers, who I would consider skilled, rely on lots of computer controls because computers tend to think a lot faster than humans which is an advantage.
As for airbags, a young driver decided to run a red light and t-bone my FEH at 40+ mph. Luckily, with the side airbags deployed, I rolled a few times and was able to walk away. Not all collisions are avoidable, especially if you live in a populated area where they are almost a statistical certainty. There are unskillful drivers everywhere.

 

Statistics can be used in many ways to make things look like they're better than they really are. A 55-65% reduction in single car crashes sounds huge, and admittedly reducing something by one-half is always thought to be a lot.

But consider this: if the real numbers aren't that high to begin with, a reduction of 50% isn't a large number. Example: say we have, over a measured period of time, one car crash out of a million. That's a pretty small number of crashes. If, over the next equal time period, we have zero crashes, now we've reduce the rate of crashes 100%. Sounds pretty impressive. The reality of it is, what's the chance of having that first crash anyway? Pretty slim.

 

I find those numbers very hard to swallow (& statistics can be made to prove whatever you want them to anyway)

I find it VERY hard to believe I am 64% more likely to be involved in a crash if I don't have traction control..............

~John

 

Mercedes Benz is one car company that pioneered VSC, along with GM. MBZ did several studies of crashes involving their cars with VSC vs those without, which they cite as their primary motivation behind making it standard instead of optional back in the 90s. Some of that data is available online.

The IIHS and the NHTSA have both studied the issue, as have researchers in Sweden (they found about a 20% reduction) and Australia. That's why I gave citations along with the data: So readers could look for themselves before claiming disbelief or statistical manipulation.

While I have my own doubts, especially of anything from the IIHS (they claim a 40% reduction), I have no reason to believe their data is hugely inaccurate or fraudulent. The studies are extensively cited and appear to be pretty well corrected for anomalies.

For more information, try searching the internet using terms like "stability control fatalities" or "VSC crash reduction". It's interesting.

 

I am disappointed that the Escape Hybrid doesn't have stability control. To say that it is not a worthy feature just because millions of SUV drivers have survived without it is silly, because a fair number have not. One need not predict what a computer control is going to do, after all, we don't don't need to know the dwell time or spark advance for every cylinder at every firing, do we? One can predict the laws of physics, but one cannot always predict what is around the corner.

While descending I-80 in the Sierras one winter I wondered why the Jeep Grand Cherokee in front of me was skidding off the roadway, at least until I suddenly discovered the same patch of slippery hail he hit. I managed to keep my big Expedition pointed in the right direction, but only because I used to be competition racer and pretty much all of our racing is at the limit of traction, but 99.99% of drivers don't have that level of experience.

I've driven non-competition street cars on the race track with and without stability control and the system will definitely reduce the number of drivers stuffed into ditches. Race cars don't use stability control, because it cuts in before the tires achieve optimal slip angle, leaving a healthy margin for safety but compromising speed. As someone noted, stab control can do things a human simply cannot. ABS is helpful in about 50% of racing situations and scary in about 1% (Some racing series ban it because it's unmanly), but I can't think of why it, like stability control, wouldn't be a big benefit in a family car.

 

Even the big safety gurus like the IIHS had to admit shortly after ABS became standard on most cars ....that it wasn't reducing accidents as much as they predicted. Turns out is was difficult to re-train all drivers to slam on and hold the brake pedal down (for optimum ABS operation) to decrease stopping distance. Panic-y drivers still wanted to pump the brakes. I love having ABS and feel it is a must have.

But that is because, as the operator of the vehicle, I have decided it needs to be stopped as soon as possible without losing control.....and that's what ABS contributes to.

Roll-over and Vehicle Stability ?.....that's another matter.
I believe: 1) in many cases, overall vehicle stability has more variables than can be programmed into the current VSC systems, and the properly prepared human brain is better at processing all of those variables, 2) in high center-of-gravity, over-powered SUVs (like the Expedition, inherently unstable to begin with) VSC is likely to improve the safety of almost all drivers. So, to me "mandatory" VSC depends on the vehicle and the driver.

I believe the first generation FEH does not have Ford's RSC because it was just too tough to design into the complex hybrid s/w and still make the 2004 release dates.