Fiat Professional has made Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) standard on all versions of its Ducato large van. The change was introduced in April, in anticipation of any future legislative requirement for the system, which is already required on new cars.

ESP is an important safety device which uses information supplied by various sensors to check whether a vehicle is cornering safely or not. If the ESP computer believes the vehicle is going to skid, it brakes the appropriate wheel or reduces engine power.

ESP isn’t just a single system and incorporates a range of sub-systems, which are each designed to prevent a skid or loss of control under certain circumstances:

• Load Adaptive Control identifies the size of the load and the vehicle’s centre of gravity to enable the systems to work at peak effectiveness;
• Hill Holder makes starts on slopes easier by holding the brake on momentarily after the driver’s foot has released the pedal;
• Hydraulic Brake Assist increases braking pressure under emergency conditions;
• Anti-Slip Regulation acts on the individual brakes and/or temporarily reduces the power delivered to the engine in order to counteract the effects of one or both drive wheels skidding;
• Motor Schleppmoment Regelung ensures torque remains at the wheels following a sudden downshift on an incline.

Too much technology?

Some drivers may claim that there’s too much technology in vehicles these days, and that real drivers ought to know how to manage without nanny systems watching your every move.

In response to such an argument, I would make two points:

1. Driving isn’t a form of entertainment nor is it a skill contest. Most driving is done for necessity, not fun, so the safer it can be made, the better. No one dreams about how good it would be to have aeroplanes that were harder to fly and crashed more often, do they?
2. Cars are faster, easier to drive, and more insulated from the outside world than they used to be, but human beings are just as slow-witted, easily distracted and error prone as they have always been. Given how many accidents happen every day, we obviously need all the technological help we can get.

Gripping stuff

Getting back the Ducato, one traction-related system that will remain an option is Traction+, which effectively uses the ESP system to simulate the effect of a locking differential on the front (drive) axle. When one wheel spins, torque is taken away from it until it grips again, until traction is regained. Traction+ only costs £150 and doesn’t require any extra mechanical hardware, making it far lighter and cheaper than a traditional 4×4 system.

Similar systems are now available on a number of car models, and I can see that systems like Traction+ may gradually reduce demand for 4×4 vehicles, since if combined with winter tyres, they would provide all the grip necessary for all-season use on all types of road surfaces, relegating 4×4 systems to their traditional roles — off-road and heavy towing.