ESP and ABS do work - that's unequivocal. However, they’re not the saving grace some people assume them to be. There are other factors to consider in order to get the best out of the systems, and will still have to remember:
DRIVING AIDS CANNOT DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS
In the 5th Gear video, if that X-Type had been fitted with summer tyres (as the majority of cars in the UK are when it gets cold) it wouldn't have got up that hill, ESP or not. The tyres aren't designed to cope with those conditions - they go brittle in the low temperatures due to the compound of rubber they're made from, and the tread pattern is designed primarily for dispersing water and providing high speed stability, not clawing into icy surfaces and promoting cold weather traction.
Winter tyres on the other had are designed around achieving this, rather than offering summer temperature performance. Indeed, run a winter tyre through summer and it'll overheat and delaminate as it's made from a softer less brittle compound of rubber. Its tread pattern is designed with thousands of sipes which are designed to stop a blanket of snow forming round the tyre which is reduces available traction to zero - exactly what happens with a summer tyre in these conditions.
I've driven all types of cars in all weathers, and you can't get blinkered by driving aids as they are only able to manipulate what's available to the driver. I've 360'd an M3 on the Nordschleife in the summer with traction control fully engaged (BMW Driver Training before anyone accuses me of being irresponsible!) because I simply put the car into a situation where I overwhelmed the systems. Likewise I've driven the same car on a wet bed at 50 mph and not been able to 'lose it'.
ABS works exactly as described too - get ABS working and you can still easily steer round obstacles - assuming though that the other aspects of your car are correct - one of the most important of these being tyre choice. Try steering round a cone with ABS on ice with summer tyres fitted and you won't - because the car will not grip regardless - you have no grip available, the car has no grip available. It might make a better attempt than a human, but you can't call that success. Likewise I've tried to go up icy hills on summer tyres in an M3 CSL and contrary to what the video shows, I got further with traction control turned off than with it engaged - had I had correct tyres fitted the story would have been oh so different.
I guess what I'm trying to say is it annoys me that the systems fitted to modern cars to AID driving and potentially make it SAFER, are marketed as systems that make it impossible to have an accident, and I really think this is more dangerous than not having the systems fitted at all. I know plenty of people who rely on these systems to keep them on the road - even drivers of high performance vehicles who go round corners with the TC light flashing the whole way round simply because they know no better. Take that system away and they'll be in the bushes before you know it.
So, to conclude, I'm with trackdayqueen - learn to handle a car in a controlled environment. Learn the physics of what happens AT and BEYOND the limit of your car. Learn about correct tyre choices and condition dependent driving styles. Then, and only then, use the systems in place in modern vehicles to AID your driving, rather than assume they'll do it for you.
The driving test in this country isn't hard enough - people can legally drive a car on the road having never driven on a motorway, at night, in the rain, in other poor conditions, or even with other passengers in the car. They can then go and buy what they are told is an 'uncrashable' car because it has stability control.
This, as I said at the start, is more dangerous than someone who knows what they're doing driving a car completely unassisted and why I always end up getting on my soap box at this time of year.
Learn to drive.
Maintain your car.
Adapt it to cope with the conditions encountered.
Would you wear flip-flops in a ski resort? No. So don't drive on summer tyres in the winter.
Ben
