What is ABS, EBD, TCS, and VSA?

With the slew of technology available on modern automobiles, manufactures use a host of acronyms to simplify long technologically heavy names. Unfortunately, when a vehicle lists 15 items in a row, it's enough to make any one's head spin. Here are some of the more commonly heard items and why they are important....


ABS - Anti-lock Brake System
This system allows you to maintain control of the car while making a panic stop. It places sensors at the wheels and the moment a tire locks up and starts to slide it will reduce brake force maintaining maximum stopping power. Modern 4-channel ABS systems have become very advanced over their counterparts and allow the novice driver to make panic stops in the shortest possible distance. Should you realize that you cannot stop in time and you need to take evasive action, ABS systems maintain the ability to steer the car without taking your foot off the brake. As an added benefit, ABS system will keep the car from losing control when each side of the car is on different surfaces, for example, if you drop two tires off the road or hit a puddle along the curb. Without ABS, applying the brakes would cause a car to spin violently.

EBD - Electronic Brake Distribution
All cars have more braking power at the front wheels. This is why your front brakes are always bigger than the rear ones. When a manufacture sets the force for front and rear brakes they want to makes sure that there isn't too much force in the rear, or the car could spin out. With EBD, modern cars have the ability to send more braking force to the rear when appropriate, such as when a car is full and has more rear traction. Without EBD, cars are set up to be more stable when empty, which is less brake force than possible when weighted down. In short, EBD allows for the shortest possible stop in all load situations. A must have for the family car.

TCS - Traction Control System
A traction control system uses one or multiple sensors to determine if the drive wheels are slipping, and then reduces power to regain traction. This system is often found on sports cars with high horsepower motors.

VSA- Vehicle Stability Assist
Stability assist has many names depending on the manufacture. The advanced systems will utilize a sophisticated yaw sensor to detect when a vehicle is about to lose control, either by sliding off the road or spinning out. The system then applies braking force to one or two wheels to maintain control of the vehicle, pulling it out of the spin/slide. The NHTSA has shown that VSA can reduce the chance of a single car collision by 30%. This modern feature is found on more and more new cars, especially on larger mass vehicles more likely to lose control such as sedans, SUV's, and vans.

Tip-prone vehicles such as vans and SUVs receive and added benefit of VSA from the reduced chance for roll-over. By reducing the likely hood of spinning or fishtailing, these vehicles are far less likely to find themselves in a dangerous situation.