There are just a few precious seconds to react before an accident occurs during which the danger can be averted. In the Tourismo, sensors from the ESP® and BAS systems detect different critical situations at an early stage, such as oversteering or understeering, a critical turn of the steering wheel, or critical/emergency braking.
Driving safety is enhanced by a chassis that grips tight to the road, soft steering and an independent wheel suspension of the front axle.
The electronic stability program (ESP®) is an active system for increasing safety in-motion and road holding ability. It significantly reduces the risk of skidding when going around turns and performing evasive manoeuvres. To achieve this, in situations that are critical from the point of view of motion dynamics, breaking power in each wheel is regulated independently in accordance with a particular purpose: for example, if the bus starts turning to enter the lay-by/hard-shoulder area. Engine output is simultaneously decreased. Therefore, the bus potentially entering into a skidding is prevented due to carefully-controlled braking within the bounds of physical capacity.
Amongst other functions, ESP® controls the lateral acceleration of a bus. If for example, the bus encounters a critical situation when travelling on a long bend/curve in the road (e.g. on exit slip-roads) or in cases of a very fast lane change, the vehicle speed is automatically decreased until motion stability is restored. ESP® can be compared with the systems used in passenger cars; however, when it is implemented on buses, it has further corrected and advanced functions.
