Posted not for the praise for the Dodge, instead for the detailed descriptions of what is happening with FWD and RWD with a limited slip on ice, which the traction control system addresses.
http://www.pfmmag.com/May-June2004/May-June2004The2005DodgeMagnum.htm
Traction Control System (TCS) compares rotation of the drive wheels to the non-drive wheels, then reduces engine torque and applies brakes to the spinning wheel.... TCS also serves to redirect torque to the non-spinning wheel, i.e., it is an electronic version of the mechanically clutched limited slip differential.
The next driving challenge was a simple 300- or 600-foot diameter circle. These are so large, that it can’t even be called a sweeping turn at speeds below 55 mph. One of the constant rate circles was covered with packed and loose snow. The other was glare ice, so slippery that it was hard to walk across without falling.
While the other driving challenges were more fun, and caused more losses of control, the ice circle was by far the most educational. In the FWD cars, as we tried to increase speed on the ice while slightly turning to follow the large radius, all the cars would understeer, then oversteer as a correction was made. Few total losses of control occurred on this course, simply because there was so little traction to get up any real speed. The drivers immediately sensed the near total lack of traction and control. We cornered at between 18 and 20 mph in the traction control, ABS-assisted FWD cars.
On the two RWD LX cars, the driving sensation was different. In the silence of low speeds on ice, you could hear the ESP engage. It sounds like ABS, of course, since it is ABS, just applied to one wheel. With smooth steering inputs and consistent speeds, virtually everyone in a Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300 got through the slalom at the prescribed 35 mph. You could hear and feel the stability program push the car back out of an oversteer and pull the car back out of an understeer with the selected brake.
As we tried to increase speed around the ice rink in the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300, you could feel the understeer start. We would start to drift to the outside of the course. As we corrected with the steering wheel for the understeer, the ESP activated the inside rear brake to pull us back on course.
If the driver overcorrected, which is the rule, the car would oversteer, and here is where many loss of control accidents happen. In the LX cars, when the driver corrected the steering wheel for the oversteer, the ESP activated again. In this case, the outside front brake was pulsed and we were pushed back on course. With smooth and slow steering inputs, we used the ESP to gently seesaw around the ice rink at speeds from 25 to 28 mph. The driver and the car worked together to control the car.
The final driving experience was a lap or two around the snow-covered 0.8-mile Winter Driving School Loop. This road course was obviously set up to challenge the driver during slippery conditions. It had constant radius (sweeping), increasing radius and deceptive, decreasing radius turns with straights long enough to allow you to go fast enough to get in real trouble.
The decreasing radius turn was easy to find. It was the one where FWD car after another plowed off the course and drove head first into the 4-foot snow bank. A tow truck was literally stationed at that turn for just that purpose.
The Loop challenged every aspect of driving, from acceleration (traction control) to braking (ABS) to cornering (stability control). This was not a lap time recorded race. Instead, it was a demonstration of safety— vehicle control under adverse and extreme conditions.
It was on this course that we felt the traction control and stability control working together under acceleration. On corner exit, under full throttle, the RWD Magnum and 300 would just start to have the rear end come around— the cherished throttle-induced oversteer that defines aggressive driving in a RWD car— then the ESP engaged. The Electronic Stability Program can be turned off manually by a button mounted prominently and within easy reach in the center of the dash.
