We love new technology in here, especially when it comes to road safety. With the advent of VSC (vehicle stablility control) we’ve noted the predilection of modern 4WDs to resist changes in direction (as the technology was designed to do). …In a typical reaction of a driver to a skippy running out in front of them at speed, a massive tug on the steering wheel used to reward you with big rollover potential. VSC will prevent a rollover by deceleration and selective braking independent of what the driver does.
Lower speed situations however, where the situation isn’t so grave and having the capacity to drive around the obstacle is a good thing, will likely be thwarted by VSC as the vehicle understeers or ploughs on ahead. There’s some refinement going on at the moment with quite a few vehicle makers exploring “torque vectoring”, having the ability to punch out more torque where it’s needed from one side of the vehicle to another in the same change in direction scenario. It’s likely to be less invasive, complementing the VSC intent, rather than smothering the technology at the expense of a driver’s natural ability (hopefully there is some???). Here’s Land Rover’s take on torque vectoring as seen on new RR Sport.
