The esc on my Malibu deadass saved my life today driving to LA in the rain

John, I can confirm what you said about concentrate on looking at where you want to be works. Us bikers use it every time, just look at the exit of a bend and all things being equal there is where you go. Being distracted elsewhere & you will go there. Target fixation it is, can either kill you or you corner like a demon. Nice report !

these beergarden physics videos are currently my favourites from your channel. would you do one on the different kinds of adjustable suspension systems next? magnetic ride, airride and the likes and how they affect vehicle behaviour?

The hand follow the eyes - how true, one of the greatest tip I was taught in driver training - see the line and the car follows the line.

This reminds me when I was back at school probably 16-17 and we were going on a school trip. One of the girls in our class was the daughter of John Harvey you know the .25 Bathurst driver and Peter Brock’s co-driver (I actually think his nickname was slug) anyway we were all so excited to be getting a lift into town in one of the new HDT commodores. To our 17 year old minds the trip was going to be a race on the Calder freeway at hair raising speeds. The reality was a quite sedate drive into the city with a little bit of acceleration from the light but over all, a rather slow trip. We asked why he drove so carefully as being a race car driver he must be able to do 240 KPH all the way. Johns response was “on the track we all travel in the same direction most of us know what we are doing and there are no VOLVO drivers in hats or Old ladies on the racetrack”. A great lesson for a learner driver. He also mentioned ABS and traction control as a future magical invention. You can imagine my thoughts when I heard of Peter Brock’s demise! Traction control is always ON in my cars especially the high performance ones.

Finally somebody bridges the gap between dumbed-down owners manual descriptions of these systems and their complex theoretical underpinnings. We sport drivers deserved better from the automakers. Thanks for explaining--to the right amount of detail--these systems using layman's terms. Readers, who made a sincere effort to understand what you presented, are now safer drivers.

ESC is truly magic, but i have spoken to some young hooligans who fancy themselves as young fangios and crashed "because of ESC". They essential drove too fast relying on the ESC to do the work until they overheated their brakes, and then the ESC couldn't do it anymore and "it" made them crash.

FINALLY someone with some common sense and will to explain this WELL! Thank you, mate! Excellent job!

The ESC is a bit like an auto EBD, everything is soo well thougt out, cars these days are soo packed with passive and active safety systems, that let you brake and swerve very agressively without locking the tyres, just to the very edge of grip on every tyre... Thankfully braniacs are mostly solving those very hard challenges of mass production and pure science, and not salty nuts XD (PS. awesome work, I can watch many of these a day :D)

This and the your last posting are freaking great. I woke up after viewing you last one with the algebra trick an realized the genius in your method. Damn good work and teaching John!

Do us all a favour and use a few more videos of you thrashing the i30n. Hot hatches really aren’t my thing but that looks like an awesome machine.

These are my new favourite type of videos on your channel!

Outstanding video. Reinforces my decision to own only full analog non-front drive non- front engined non-computer controlled manual everything. I like that it is me enjoying the road. Not a VR video game. Have owned such vehicles since 1984 and have not caused nor had any accidents. See what happens when you pay attention and do not let the robo world lull you into a false sense of security? Fun AND safe.

One of the best KZfaq channel. Keep up whit this amazing work!

Nothing should replace driver's ability to DRIVE. Us slightly older guys survived the days without all those esc / tc.

That’s really an excellent overview.ESC undoubtedly has made a subtle difference to the driving experience in a very positive way.

Hi, John. Good work. A full explanation of the interconnectedness of the electronic throttle pedal and throttle body with each other and the other systems in a modern vehicle would be welcomed. Thank you.

One of your best presentations John, thank you.

A great tale of yaw, well presented. Thank you.

Enjoy your videos John and find them very educational. Cheers mate

You are a most excellent 'beer garden speaker' sir! Thank you!

I do enjoy watching you when you do videos like this. You clearly know what you are on about and have a good way of helping the average person to understand what you are on about. I also feel that you sometimes break the sarcasm sound barrier and are a little over the top but thats just my opinion.

Nice one. Always like to learn something new. Now I have to practice keeping my head straight.

One of my reasons for upgrading to my current ute was stability and traction control , I carry varying loads right up to gcm max and travel alot of kays , these features have made it alot more stress free . And it's not the one that keeps failing the moose test over and over and over

Clear, Concise, and understandable once again thanks for the enlightenment. Regards Tony Henderson

Excellent video. More like this please John.

Thank God I never had the "pleasure" of using the system in 30 years of driving. Well my latest car has it. I own that for 4 years now. But even when I did not have the system, I never needed it. I find it a reassuring thought, though, that my present car watches over my adhesion 100 times a second.

Thanks for this potential life saving report.

Thanks for a very well explained idea of stability control.

Loving the reports keep them coming thanks.

Another excellent tech session JC, thank you.

John, I appreciate your concise explanation of how stability control works. I'm afraid of breaking my thumbs in an accident if I keep them on the inside of the wheel though.

Great Video John

Thankyou for another excellent report. I have to admit that I did not understand the functions of ESC before this presentation. I also have to admit that I did not read the manuals on this, but I tend to get put off by the long list of TLAs (like ESC) that abound most car manuals today.

My only negative experience with ESC was on the latter stage of my L's where I was trying to do doughies in an empty paddock, my Dad and I tested the limits of his company's 2013 Nissan Navara, however you couldn't turn off ESC - for a very good reason - and every time the esc would intervene halfway through the first turn, straighten out the car every time... Other than that ESC is a fantastic idea

Excellent video John

ESP saved my fricking live, love the computer mumbojumbo a lot.

ESP is also acting when the driving wheels lose traction when accelerating (on snow or gravel). It mainly cuts the throttle to slow the wheels enough to gain traction again. It has to be turned off some times when you're stuck and need to allow slipping.

I have a problem. I watch your B.P. vids in the morning. My wife is ****** off because I am sloshed by lunch. Keep going Mate!

Awesome video. Thank you. Love these techie explanations

Brilliant as usual John. 👌

John, really enjoyed this. Thank you!

Stability control is a great thing, I bet it has saved lives of people who had no idea it even activated. It's also very useful for trying to keep big SUVs from rotating about the Z axis

Excellent report JC. I have a better understanding of how it works now. I hope my '12 Kluger has it but I suspect a less sophisticated version.

Fascinating review as usual. I heard you say 'for instance to swerve ... around a kangaroo'. I was shown years ago that you never swerve, just steer straight and slam the brakes on as hard as possible is the safest way. What is your opinion?

I had the base Acura in Switzerland, I think 2010 or as in Switzerland called an Accord. Once I noticed on a wet road in the mountains it taking effect and it did well.

I love these videos, keep them coming

ESC saved me one day when I took a corner a little too fast on a loose dirt road. I won't forget that anytime soon.

Really like the beer garden topics, great content, top bloke :-D

great work as allways john

Absolutely amazing!

Excellent explanation!

Ever tried doing a braking test around a set of cones (witches type) into a bay? Yep did that at a race track learner driving day. Really shows how the ESP works a treat.

I like these shorter format videos - one can only put up with so much Aussie at one sitting.

Must admit neither vehicles I drive have that feature (2004 F150 and 2010 Lincoln Town Car) but I have seen it action more than in my travels, expert Ninja indeed!

I drive a lot in the snow (I work in a ski resort in Switzerland). In a hard turn on snow, it tends to understeer, especially if there is no load in the back. The ESP does not seem to be able to deal with it. Maybe it is technologically obsolete (Skoda Octavia TDI 2003). I use my handbrake to help the rear come around and works out fine. When the tail slides, the front wheel drive and good snow tires do a great job to pull me out.

Great video as usual John, very informative. You mentioned that performance driving enthusiasts often have a negative view of ESC but didn't get into that. It'd be great to hear some comments about what they think and why they think that, maybe in a future Q&A. Cheers.

Excellent information thank you

Great video. Loved it. Thanks! 😀

The engineers that came up with all these safety measures are out and out genius’ for sure. Most drivers don’t have the skills when things go pear shaped, these systems save lives.

Dear John, I had no idea what the hell ESC was; THANK YOU. ps. I love your work.

Another superb video John! Not sure how possible it would be but could you do some videos explaining while driving in those situations. Might be easier for viewers to follow if they see the actual situation of losing control of the car?

Loved this video John. Here is a suggestion for another beer garden physics piece. I'm looking to buy a new car for one of my family members soon and have recently test driven a few hybrids. I notice some of them are smoother than others when transitioning from electric motor to engine power and vice-versa. This got me thinking about how engines and electric motors work together in harmony in a hybrid. How does the vehicle manage revs/power output of each to balance the two systems so they working together without too much roughness, especially when transitioning from one source of power to the other? Sorry I might not have expressed this very clearly but I think you will get the gist of what I'm curious about here.

Informative video. Thanks.

thanks John good stuff.

Hi John, great segment as usual. Following on from your towing video, are you able to do a video on trailer sway and how to over come it? Also on the topic of ESC, trailers can be fitted with it as well, so maybe you could combine the two together. Cheers

Great vlog easy to understand, more like this would be good. Like how does my Kia smart cruise work, the radar bit?

Yet again John sums this up very nicely. It's a pity the importance of those notches on the wheel are not drummed into every driver. If you forget what direction you are turning the wheel the car is going to go the wrong way faster than you could ever imagine.

Thanks mate 👍. Very informative 👍✌️

like this type of video. John is calm n language used r not as harsh

I grew up driving when there was nothing. I was my own stability control. But I do appreciate the innovation.

Hi Mr.Cadogan, 'Love Your Videos! Really informative. It's smart, factual with just the right amount of sarcasm and grumpiness. Now, my question...... in case you have not discussed it yet. For someone who doesn't really change cars very often, How long (mileage) should I keep an average car (a civic, golf, I30) for economic and safety purposes? Many Thanks!

Good video on a great technology.

Love your beer garden physics reports JC. In fact, what I would love even more, is for you to set up another channel and do engineering and physics videos.

Learned the difference 🤠 thanks

Good report John. Informative and interesting. Maybe one on adaptive dampers in future? I’m particularly interested in your thoughts on adaptive vs traditional, sometimes called passive dampers, and whether they are a worthwhile, particularly where it’s a cost option. Also, does adaptive make it harder to ‘learn the car’, as it will react differently in different situations, whereas passive dampers are consistent regardless and so you know how the car will react?

"Look where you want to go". Wow, that's channeling some serious Keith Code advice, and probably something that almost everyone overlooks as they become "target fixated" on what they don't want to hit (but almost always do).

ESC is great when you need it but I’m so glad that I still press that DSC button when I’m about to enter a snowy empty parking lot.

Good topic

While I love the fact that new cars come with some sort of ESP, basic driver training should include some training on recovering a loss of traction. Unfortunately, most people get their training when it happens for real. Often that ends badly. Back when I was young and stupid, I remember thrashing my first car around empty parking lots quite a bit. Especially in winter. An ancient Dacia 1310 (basically a Renault 12...yes, a 1970's design). The good part was that I learned about threshold braking and recovering from oversteer as well as understeer. Fast forward some 10 years, I was driving a Renault megane on a wet road. I did a bit of a chicane between two cars who were traveling too slowly on both lanes and had another car start to pull into my lane from a side street without looking. I lifted off the throttle and steered to avoid. Surprise, surprise. I found out what lift-off oversteer in a front wheel drive car is like. Luckily, I didn't shit my pants right then (and I really couldn't afford to fuck it up... Parked cars on the right, a fence on the left and basically a lane and a half of width to get it right). I steered into the skid while accelerating and as the car started to recover, I unwound the wheel, caught the second skid before it turned into an over-correction fuck up and that was that. Soon-to-be wife on the passenger's seat barely noticed. I was just happy that I didn't shit my pants. Fast forward more years, I've yet to have had the ESP on a Hyundai i30 fastback kick in... That car has insane amounts of grip and a really solid suspension compared to that boat of a Renault. But the shitty roads? Ugh. Here's hoping I'll never need ESP to help me out... Nor the automatic emergency braking feature... (though I do find the forward collision warning really friggin useful...).

good stuff

Love the vids. Would like one explaining modern AWD. We drive a 2012 Santa fe diesel. I am aware it drives as a FWD normally, because it has no centre diff. When we accelerate hard the front tires spin, I would like to know the order of computation, traction control or engage clutch on the rear diff.

Hey John, big fan from Bangalore. Would it be safe to say that after a Stable passenger compartment, Seatbelts, Airbags and abs, ESP is the next 'must have' safety feature? Or is there some other safety feature that I should prioritize over ESP?

Great video, very informative. ESC using brake vectoring to stabilise the car is okay with me but I'm not a massive fan of cutting the throttle when I'm driving.

I'm glad you gave Mark Webber as an example and not Chuck Norris whose sense of balance is used by E.S.C. software manufacturers as a target (unachievable).

Absolutely more‼️

Would be nice to see comparison, track. control on vs off cornering

Perfect angle

Holy shit John! This video was preceded by a VW ad.

I've had a issue on a gravel road where fishtailing started.I locked the brakes when it centered.Slid straight to a stop and it just dawned on me to do so mid calamity.Very frightening.No traffic at the time and that could of been tragic if it had been.Road change conditions are a lot to figure.

Another great physics and auto technology lesson. I would be curious to see how the recent lessons apply to a larger vehicle like my Prado VX (purchased a few months ago through Georgie --- and I'm very happy with that purchase although I do wish magic did exist, and I was able to magically advance the silly navigation system to the current time domain)

Love ur dwarf chair :D

My brain refused to accept you saying "United States of America", and automatically substituted "Retardisan"! After my experience with having to drive 300 miles on icy freeways in my ESC equipped 2013 F-150 a few years ago, and running emergency no heat service calls in my ESC equipped 2015 Ford T-250, I am a believer in ESC. I'm just glad there is a button I can push to turn it off when I want to have some stupid fun. ;)

John, with my flame suit ready can I ask how well ESC systems work when caravans are added to the equation? Also if an aftermarket caravan ESC is fitted to the van will this help or hinder the cars ESC? As you may have guessed I tow a large van and the dreaded fishtail is my biggest concern! Cheers Peter

Great clip John, Is Electronic Brake Force Distribution the same thing as you just discussed?

Esc abs and traction control have saved my bacon more than once. One time comes to mind when I was on the highway towing a 4000 pound trailer. The cars all started swerving and there was a large object in the road I had to swerve around it and the truck handled like it was no problem. I live in USA and when I lived in Michigan winter driving could be challenging. The esc light would come on before I even felt anything wrong. I now live in south Georgia where it snows maybe once a year and it only lasts a few hours. How the drivers here react is another story!

Please make one on how vehicle weight, shape, affects car safety.

great video thank you. would a 2006 subaru liberty have this system? What manufacturers make this esc system best

So where can I order them N(ot)S(afe)... need to drop the F somewhere W(ork) plates ?

i30n fastback, waiting for it for ever. 3 years ago, I bought an Elantra and was so impressed and loving it (14k euro for all the bells and whistles). But I "need" that 2.0 turbo ruuuly bad, and Elantra just doesn't have that option... Yeeeessss