Hi all, As a full-fledged geek, I came across some interesting technology the other day, that some of you might be interested in as well. Not really Vanagon-related, but evolutionary.... I have a friend at a VW dealer in town, and we were talking about the traction and stability control on the new Eurovans. It is available on the normal van and weekender, but not on the full camper. By the way, the weekender is still being converted by Westfalia, not Winnebago. Anyway, as we all know, one of the main problems with taller vans is body roll in corners. The new system uses technology that senses wheel speed (similar to ABS, I gather) and steering input. Rather than wait until the body starts to lean and reacting to that, the system is proactive based on steering input and tire speed differential. The way my friend described it, as the driver starts to steer into, say, a left turn, the computers running the show will automatically drag the left front and/or left rear brakes lightly, while stiffening the right side suspension. Again, everything happens based on steering input, so the suspension gets stiffened before any noticeable lean happens. The net effect is that the body gets pushed through the turn as if on rails. When the factory rep came out to demonstrate this, he said they were doing donuts at nearly 50 MPH in the parking lot with no lean. Maybe they'll eventually make it like the German Neigezug (leaning train) and have you lean into the curve as well.... :) I'd love to see this technology on the full camper too, especially if they could account for weight differences side-to-side with levelers, etc. Anyway, stopping my propeller beanie now.... tx, bmc :) Ben McCafferty ben@volkscafe.com Volks Cafe 1823 Soquel Avenue Santa Cruz, CA 95062 831-426-1244 http://www.volkscafe.com |
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