traction control, etc.

[gfl@cc.bellcore.com (grant f lenahan)]

Reiner says:

When the quattro car attempts to accelerate, the rear wheels will slip,
be breaked by ABS, torsen center diff transfers torque to the front
wheels, and the car moves.

I say:

Given 4 driving wheels, the real advantage is that the wheels
will NOT slip until a great deal of additional torque is applied
to them - quattro (or any *real* AWD system) will *prevent*
slippage, rather than merely react to it.

It is also easier to maintain traction than to recover
from a slide - so the moral is: "don;t slip in the first
place"

(this is one of the reasons that I found M-B's "4-matic"
such an ill-conceived system.  It waited till a wheel slipped,
then engaged a combination of clutches to clean up the mess).

Grant