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Significance of Traction Control as Car Safety Technology

In the past ten years the arena of automotive technology has witnessed a host of innovations especially in the safety sector. Stimulated by improvements in speed, efficiency, and software development, new cars and automobiles continue to evolve. In addition to many new technologies, traction control system is also a new addition to car safety technology.

Traction control is an advanced car safety feature that regulates the rotary speed of the wheels and reduces torque by cutting ignition if one wheel is spinning faster than the others. It mainly refers to the grip of tyres on road or the ability of the car to maintain adhesive friction between the car and the road. Traction plays a crucial role in accelerating, braking, and steering effectively regardless of the road conditions.

bullet History and Evolution of Traction Control

The history of traction control dates back to mid-eighties when a series of three braking technologies started appearing in cars. The three technologies are anti-lock brakes, stability control, and traction control and all these work in tandem with each other to improve traction between tyres and the road. Traction control was earlier known as Acceleration Slip Regulation (ASR) that is a German name for the technology.

Antilock Braking System (ABS) is mainly designed to prevent locking up of wheels during panic or hard braking. The system comprises a host of sensors that are positioned on the wheels of the car and a computer that keeps a record of how fast the wheels are spinning. The computer evaluates the speed of the car according to the speed of the wheels and prevents wheel lock-up when a brake pedal is depressed suddenly.

Traction control works exact opposite to ABS. It deals with acceleration as it improves the traction between road and tyres while the car is accelerating. When anti-lock brakes are performing their job traction control helps prevent loss of traction to ensure maximum grip between the tyres and the road.

The latest introduction in the series of three innovative technologies is the stability control. Stability control helps to prevent a car from sliding sideways using the same components and sensors as installed in the anti-lock braking system. It is also believed that the ABS forms the basic building-block for traction control and stability control.

bullet Working of Traction Control

Traction control braking system is an electronic unit that works in tandem with the anti-lock braking system and uses the same sensors as the ABS. The installed sensors read the rotational speed of the wheel and judge the difference in rotational speeds. If in case there is any kind of discrepancy and the system finds one wheel to be spinning faster than the other, it immediately reduces the torque or pump brakes to reduce speed of the specified wheel.

This is required because if in case one wheel is spinning faster then the car may lose traction and it may cause an accident. Traction control system brings down the speed of the specified wheel in line with the speed of other wheels and in turn limits the chances of skidding or sliding off the road.

bullet Advantages of Traction Control

As an active car safety feature, traction control system helps to avoid accidents by preventing the car from spinning its tyres under acceleration or on surfaces with low-traction. Especially on muddy and wet roads the technology proves to be a boon in disguise because such surfaces have really low-traction and offer higher chances of skidding. In extreme conditions the system also helps to avoid accidents when a car all of sudden takes a swift turn to avoid obstacles and debris on road.

Apart from these benefits some of the other key advantages of traction control are as follows:

  • It prevents premature locking up of car wheels.
  • It also helps to increase the degree of wheel slip during aggressive braking manoeuvres.
  • It also helps the driver to maintain steering control effectively and efficiently.
  • It also helps maintain directional control.
  • Traction control system plays a crucial role in reducing stopping distances.
  • It improves the functioning of braking system.
  • Increases the ability to regulate brakes during panic stops.
  • It also helps enhance stability on slippery roads.
  • It is reasonably priced and easily installed.

bullet Reliability of the Traction Control Braking System

The traction control braking system has only one moving and functional part that comprises the rubber diaphragm. This diaphragm divides the upper chamber filled with air and the lower chamber filled with brake fluid. It helps to modulate the brakes.

The best of component and polymers are used to design the rubber diaphragm of the traction control braking system. This is mainly done to ensure resilience to the brake fluid as well as heat that is generated from the brakes. The system is designed in an efficient way but if in case the diaphragm fails due to some or the other reason the traction control braking system will fail but the regular brakes will still perform their best. Further to that excessive loss of brake pressure may also rupture the traction control system.

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