A Moving Base Simulator Investigation of Effects of a Yaw Stability System Caused by a Side Impact

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate how an electronic stability control (ESC) system may aid the driver in a critical sideswipe accident. Another objective was to investigate the possibility of having a realistic simulation of a sideswipe accident in a large moving base simulator. The experiment can be divided into two parts. In part one, the driver is unaware of the sudden side impact and in part two, the side impact was repeated six times. The experiment was driven by 18 persons. With the ESC system active no driver lost control, while with the system inactive there were five drivers that lost control in part one. In part two, the ESC system showed to stabilize the vehicle faster, and the improvement in stabilization time was between 40% and 62%. It was also seen that 2% loss of control occurred with an ESC system active and 45% without.