on video How does ESP Actually work?

 What is ESP on a car? 

ESP is a safety system that’s designed to help you keep control of your car during an evasive manoeuvre such as swerving to avoid a stationary car on the motorway. 

It became a mandatory requirement on European passenger cars in 2014 and it’s been credited with saving thousands of lives since. But what exactly is ESP, how important is it, how does it work, what does the ESP light actually mean and should you ever turn your ESP off? Keep reading for the answer to all these questions.

What is ESP on a car?

ESP on a car stands for Electronic Stability Programme and in broad terms (we’ll get to the detail in a minute) it uses sensors to decide whether the car’s direction of travel corresponds with your steering inputs and, if it doesn’t, automatically brings it back under your control in a fraction of a second.

How important is ESP in a car?

ESP is very important in a car. In 2019 research carried out by Bloomberg Philanthropies found that of all vehicle safety features, electronic stability control is the most important factor in crash avoidance because it reduces deaths in loss-of-control collisions by 38%. 

Meanwhile, research carried out by Loughborough University back in 2007 analysed more than 10,000 road traffic incidents (RTIs) and found that cars fitted with ESP are 27 per cent less likely to be involved in single-vehicle RTIs – the type that is most commonly attributed to driver error. 

ESP or ESC: what is the difference? 

There’s no difference between ESP and ESC (Electronic Skid Control) are one and the same, the disparity can be traced back to when ESP (we’ll stick with that for simplicity's sake) was trademarked under different names by different car manufacturers. 

Is traction control the same thing as ESP?

Traction control is not the same thing as ESP. It is usually controlled by your ESP but it serves a different purpose. Instead of stopping your car from sliding or spinning in corners, traction control is – as its name implies – designed to give your car’s driven wheels more traction under power. 

Say you’re joining a roundabout quickly, you spot a gap in traffic and accelerate from a standstill to make it, only you do it too quickly, your engine’s power overawes the grip of the tyres, they spin and you go nowhere quickly.

Do the same thing with traction control activated and it will intervene, either by reducing engine power or by braking a spinning wheel to send the power to the wheel that does have grip – the idea is to meter out power, making the most of the grip available. It’s particularly effective on wet roads.

That said, there are times when traction control isn’t so great particularly when you want your wheels to spin – like if you’re trying to dislodge the car from snow. Pressing the ESP button on most mainstream cars turns off the traction control – not the ESP – allowing your car’s driven wheels to spin freely, giving you the momentum needed to break free.

How does ESP work?

ESP works like an invisible safety net that constantly monitors you’re driving. A microcomputer records signals from various sensors – for things like wheel speed and yaw angle – 25 times a second to ensure that your steering inputs correspond with the actual direction the car is travelling in. If the two don’t line up, ESP acts automatically and independently by pulsing the corresponding brakes to forcefully counteract the slide and bring the car back under your control. It can also reduce engine torque to counter a power-induced slide. All this happens so quickly and subtly you’ll struggle to notice it working. 

 What is ESP on a car? 

ESP is a safety system that’s designed to help you keep control of your car during an evasive manoeuvre such as swerving to avoid a stationary car on the motorway. 

It became a mandatory requirement on European passenger cars in 2014 and it’s been credited with saving thousands of lives since. But what exactly is ESP, how important is it, how does it work, what does the ESP light actually mean and should you ever turn your ESP off? Keep reading for the answer to all these questions.

What is ESP on a car?

ESP on a car stands for Electronic Stability Programme and in broad terms (we’ll get to the detail in a minute) it uses sensors to decide whether the car’s direction of travel corresponds with your steering inputs and, if it doesn’t, automatically brings it back under your control in a fraction of a second.

How important is ESP in a car?

ESP is very important in a car. In 2019 research carried out by Bloomberg Philanthropies found that of all vehicle safety features, electronic stability control is the most important factor in crash avoidance because it reduces deaths in loss-of-control collisions by 38%. 

Meanwhile, research carried out by Loughborough University back in 2007 analysed more than 10,000 road traffic incidents (RTIs) and found that cars fitted with ESP are 27 per cent less likely to be involved in single-vehicle RTIs – the type that is most commonly attributed to driver error. 

ESP or ESC: what is the difference? 

There’s no difference between ESP and ESC (Electronic Skid Control) are one and the same, the disparity can be traced back to when ESP (we’ll stick with that for simplicity's sake) was trademarked under different names by different car manufacturers. 

Is traction control the same thing as ESP?

Traction control is not the same thing as ESP. It is usually controlled by your ESP but it serves a different purpose. Instead of stopping your car from sliding or spinning in corners, traction control is – as its name implies – designed to give your car’s driven wheels more traction under power. 

Say you’re joining a roundabout quickly, you spot a gap in traffic and accelerate from a standstill to make it, only you do it too quickly, your engine’s power overawes the grip of the tyres, they spin and you go nowhere quickly.

Do the same thing with traction control activated and it will intervene, either by reducing engine power or by braking a spinning wheel to send the power to the wheel that does have grip – the idea is to meter out power, making the most of the grip available. It’s particularly effective on wet roads.

That said, there are times when traction control isn’t so great particularly when you want your wheels to spin – like if you’re trying to dislodge the car from snow. Pressing the ESP button on most mainstream cars turns off the traction control – not the ESP – allowing your car’s driven wheels to spin freely, giving you the momentum needed to break free.

How does ESP work?

ESP works like an invisible safety net that constantly monitors you’re driving. A microcomputer records signals from various sensors – for things like wheel speed and yaw angle – 25 times a second to ensure that your steering inputs correspond with the actual direction the car is travelling in. If the two don’t line up, ESP acts automatically and independently by pulsing the corresponding brakes to forcefully counteract the slide and bring the car back under your control. It can also reduce engine torque to counter a power-induced slide. All this happens so quickly and subtly you’ll struggle to notice it working.