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ESC (or in our case ESP) is only a must if... Posted by Snowmobile [Email] (#686) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Snowmobile) on Wed, 21 Dec 2016 06:40:07 In Reply to: Re: IIHS Safe Vehicles for Teens: ESC is a must?, Dave The Ice Age Knave [Profile/Gallery] , Sun, 18 Dec 2016 08:52:48 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
...the car isn't already decent in terms of it's behaviour...
Seriously. I drive in snow *a lot*. Snow is the #1 condition that triggers ESP in the 9-5. I don't think it has ever gone off in any other situation. Maybe in water, but so uncommon I don't recall it! However, in snow, it goes of daily. Multiple times on just about every drive. I have top end snow tires on the car. If I turn TCS off, it is downright scary how it performs in snow. No wonder people might think ESP is a necessity for safety. It is in the 9-5 in winter.
I also have a couple older c900's, one of which does not even have ABS. These can do everything faster/better in snow than the 9-5: handle better, take corners better, accelerate and brake faster... basically they do everything snow better and safer than a 9-5 with EPS on... I've driven the c900's at the handling limit in snow, and they correct well... and in fact are good for teaching this! What happens if ESP fails (in fact a common repair item in the 9-5)?
Are the c900s safer than the 9-5? No. For sure it is better in a collision... but they are pretty good at avoiding collisions in the first place.
I think ESP is good for kids driving modern cars with too much power that could get them into trouble... and that is basically all cars now. so I think the gist of the IIHS recommendations is right on, but some subtle but important safety things have been lost in the past I guess... (kind of like sight lines, and cockpit lumination colours etc)...
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