X

VW steering wheel suggests countersteer

VW steering wheel suggests countersteer

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Wayne Cunningham
Roadholding technologies such as traction control and stability programs are becoming standard on many cars, but VW takes a further step with its steering-impulse system. When your car's tires are slipping and the car is thinking a little countersteer (turning toward a sideways skid) is called for, VWs with steering impulse give the steering wheel a little tug in the right direction. VW points out that the car is not steering for the driver, just making an almost subliminal suggestion about which way you should be moving the wheel. VW claims that stopping distance can be decreased by up to 10 percent with the right amount of countersteer. VW makes the system standard on its Golf, Jetta, Eos, and Passat.