ALKO - ESC saved our life

[Meanderthals]

We had one incidence of the ESC (factory fitted) operating, that I know of, on the way back home from picking up the WnP in Adelaide. We missed a turn-off and were then committed to a narrow, windy & rough few K's were there was no possibility of turning around. On one corner the van brakes most definitely locked up momentarily. Both hands were rather occupied at the time, and my mind, and I can't see that there was any possibility in that circumstance were I would have been able to have manually operated the controller without an extreme extension to a 3rd appendage. In hindsight it was one situation where the ESC probably should have been disconnected prior to entering that road but it has made me more aware of some road conditions where it should be disabled and I'm glad that I had rewired the power feed via a 2nd Anderson plug. Having it wired the Jayco way via the 12 pin connector doesn't make sense, especially when they had it going via the smaller pins.

 

[Kingy]

Mate I've investigated dozens of accidents, sadly some fatal. On first look so many of them look like luck, after investigation 99% come down to vehicle maintenance, smart equipment selection and good driving skills......sounds like all three lined up for you during this incident. There is no such thing as an accident, only drivers that cause them and drivers, like you that avoid them and make our roads safer for all. Well done, don't forget to hug the ones you love, and tell them you love them every time you have to leave them, no matter how short the separation.

 

[gwadir]

I'm with you CJ1177, in a situation like you described I wouldn't be taking my hands off the wheel to try and fiddle with a button either, let the system do the work and allow you to concerntrate on negiotating your way around the problem.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Dave

 

[millers]

All good comments. ESC in modern car terms is basic, and you do not want to get into the situation similar to where you beleive that cruise control stears the car (good old Americans). However; like people have said the manual button does require you to activate (concentration, timing and hand off wheel). Having had a van that has started a sway, which is minimal in conparasion with the above, and used the manual button to control I would say that ESC when playing dodge'm with cars and trucks would be useful.

For manual cars (although a dying breed) needs to add the issue of putting gear changes in there as well.

So the question needs to be is the simple solution providing an effective solution, and will the more complex system (with more failure modes) and considered with maitenance and connection between the car and van be significantly more effective.

Note I do not have the answers so do not take this as choosing between them.

My only other comment would be that I am suprised that the ESC lights are not extended into the car cabin to be monitored by the driver.

My thoughts.

 

[Meanderthals]

Millers, by (lights) I assume you are referring to the 2 LED's on the drawbar unit. As they are where they are the lights are apparently only there to indicate all is OK, or not, at the time of connecting up the van and are just only to indicate that the ESC is working (green) or not (red). As to why there are 2 LED's, I was talking to a trained installer and asked about them. He said that they were told by ALKO that it is purely for redundancy if one goes faulty. When we first connected up our van the lights stayed red and it wasn't until the van was moved some distance that they went green. Since then whenever the Anderson plug was connected the lights went straight to green. It would be nice though to have an in-car monitoring of it to see just how often it activates.

Phil