Traction Control 101- All About The Technology and Affordable Cars That Offer It

Traction control was introduced worldwide in cars by Cadillac in the year 1979 when they launched the redesigned Eldorado with their Traction Monitoring System. The principle of traction control is mainly derived from limited slip differential which we generally find in rear-wheel-drive cars of yester years. The year 1988 was when traction control was first introduced in the motorcycle market by BMW in their K1 motorcycle. Before the introduction of traction control system, SUVs managed to provide power to all 4 wheels with the use of mechanical limited slip differentials. After the inception of traction control, the system either assists the traditional locking differential or has managed to completely replace the same.

Technology:

Traction Control System is nothing but an advanced application of Anti-lock Brake System or ABS wherein the change in speed of individual wheels is monitored and brakes are applied accordingly. In any vehicle, in order to avoid loss of grip or control, it is essential that all the wheels have same velocity. When any wheel's velocity goes higher than the other wheels' velocity, it implies that the single wheel is getting more than required torque. The ABS computer immediately interferes to reduce the velocity of the faster moving or ‘slipping' wheel and automatically thus increasing the torque for the wheel on the other end of the driving axle. Since we already know that Traction Control's operation is majorly based on the ABS hardware, its inclusion in cars already equipped with ABS isn't something which will cost much to the manufacturers.

Traction control in India:

The Indian car market was introduced to traction control by Mercedes Benz in the year 1999 when they decided to include Electronic Stability Program (ESP) in all of their passenger vehicles across the world. After its introduction in passenger car, Indian car market was exposed to ESP mainly in CBU or CKD cars since the technologies used in locally manufactured cars in India were quite primitive and emphasized more on cost effectiveness rather than road safety. With advancements in technology making it more affordable today and an increased emphasis on road safety as well, many car manufacturers in India like Tata, Mahindra, Volkswagen etc. have started offering ESP or traction control in top-of-the-line variants of many of their models.

Budget Indian cars offering traction control:

With recent technological developments and government mandates that laid emphasis on road safety, features like ABS and airbags which were once considered as luxury offerings have become a standard offering. With ABS becoming a standard feature, Indian car manufacturers have started offering traction control in many of their budget car offerings. Volkswagen offers ESP variants for all of its car models starting from the small Polo and Ameo to the mighty Tiguan. Some of the models like Tiguan have ESP as a standard feature. Mahindra and Mahindra offer ESP variants in all of their cars upwards of the XUV300. Tata motors, yet another brand emphasizing on safety offers ESP variants in all of its premium car models, beginning with the Nexon. Hyundai offers ESP variant in all segments upwards of the i20. Owing to its limited car option availability, Honda offers ESP variants in all the cars on offer by the company.