drive mine everyday. snow, ice, or rain, and that's without ESP.
tires help with traction. ESP does nothing to improve traction. it only helps inexperienced drivers control the power.
Tony, you have had some nasty rides going back and forth from Morris, and I am happy to avoid that while I walk to work.
You are correct, ESP does nothing to change traction which is directly related to the coefficient of friction, however, it does a lot to improve tractive effort by shifting power to a wheel that may have more friction. It certainly helps my wife, however, I would prefer a limited slip differential and scrap the electronics.
This system of traction control (not by braking but actual power distribution)
was developed by GMs EMD to control wheel slip on the monster diesel-electric locomotives quite a few years ago. They sensed wheel slip on the rail and reduced power to that traction motor and increased to another (simple explanation). The concept made its way over to autos only applied differently by using the wheel brakes.
One would think it would be cheaper and simpler just to use limited slip rear ends, but once you get ABS it is just a few logic chips.
