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2003 Volvo XC90 Luxury Sport Utility Vehicle
…Continued
Brings comfortable quarters and safety gear
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Object of this test is to run the XC90 at 40 mph and -- without tapping the brake pedal -- turn quickly to move into the other lane and steer around the barrier.
This side-stepping action simulates an all-too-common situation confronting motorists in traffic: Some other vehicle or object or perhaps even a person suddenly appears ahead in the lane, and the driver faces the instantaneous choice of either continuing straight and colliding with the intruder or quickly cutting the wheel to the left or right to steer around the problem and avoid a disaster.
Drive a high-hiking sport-utility wagon, however, and that quick lane-changing maneuver may also be risky because the sudden veering motion can shift the weight of the top-heavy vehicle to the side and set up a dangerous roll-over.
But that's not the way it works when steering the XC90.
This SUV -- riding on the chassis of a car and rigged with a turbo-charged powertrain plus all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction -- also carries the entire complement of electronic safety controls that characterize Volvo vehicles.
Among the alphabetical soup of acronyms for safety gear is an anti-lock brake system (ABS) and traction control (TRACS) plus Volvo's Dynamic Stability and Traction Control (DSTC), which employs an on-board computer and various lateral plus linear motion sensors tied to ABS, TRACS and the engine's throttle. DSTC monitors the vehicle's forward progress and -- if dangerous oversteer or understeer skidding is detected -- it acts automatically to correct the unstable maneuver by braking wheels or cutting the throttle.
In addition to DSTC yaw control, Volvo overlays the device with a Roll-Over Protection System (ROPS) which adds Roll Stability Control (RSC) with gyroscopic sensors measuring the risk of rolling over.
If these gyro sensors detect that XC90 is about to roll, the RSC automatically counteracts that body movement by activating the DSTC, which then may brake an individual wheel and force an understeer maneuver to block the roll.
That's what happens when one XC90 takes a severe swerve during tests on the parking lot in San Francisco Bay: It performs the side-stepping move in three precisely executed turns and returns to the intended course as the electronic gizmos modulate slipping and non-slipping wheels to hold all tires on pavement.
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