The latest episode of Fifth Gear (28 March 05) has a great story on VSA.
Recommend it to all - see: http://www.finalgear.com/
Travelling at 70 miles per hour they show the difference between a swerve on a slippery road (in this case ice!) with and without VSA. No matter how good you are at driving - only VSA can brake individual wheels. Mercedes says VSA can reduce the chance of death by 30% - Toyota says 50%.
On the other hand - Victoria Police says slowing down is the answer "wipe of 5" - to reduce road toll. Has it really worked? There are still lots of unsafe shit boxes on Victorian roads. The road toll is also up this year. I think it would be smarter to provide incentives for people to buy cars equipped with VSA. I am not saying it is the only answer - but what has the "wipe off 5" campaign done?
Curious why VSA is not offered on the V6 Accord - but is standard on Euro. People seem to be concerned with ensuring a new vehicle has 2, 4,6 or 8 airbags -but how many people look for VSA? I don't get it. How about avoiding the accident in the first place?
Has anyone really seen the limits of the VSA on the Euro? I have only done a few simple tests - but has anyone REALLY seen it get them out of deep shit? Any stories? I guess to some extent you may not know the difference unless you did the same thing with the VSA off.
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