What normally happens with passengers in a car when they are confronted with lateral acceleration of 0.4G, which is created by the cornering forces? In plain English, when you are passenger in a car and the driver is driving along a curvaceous JKR badly maintained road, you will be swaying from left and right without much control. This torso movement will in time make you tired and a little irritable……especially when the driver is trying to get better steering movement from the car. Malaysians drivers are known for using their steering too aggressively and this is why passengers love highway drives where the road are relatively straight and steering movement is calmer.
Now Mazda has decided to give passengers a better ride comfort with their new drive technology. It’s called G-Vectoring Control and it is NOT a product of Star Trek. G-Vectoring Control uses the engine to enhance chassis performance. It controls the level of engine torque based on steering inputs, in order to control the vertical load on each axle and thus improve traction.
Mazda says that with G-Vectoring Control, the movement of the car is more in line with the driver’s intentions, reducing the need for steering corrections and helping to improve handling and stability on less than ideal road surfaces. Mazda engineers on site explained to us that the changes in acceleration forces also tend to be smoother, which can reduce occupant sway. This we tested and felt for ourselves as we tested the system on the new Mazda3 against the older Mazda3 that does not have the system installed. It works well and it really keeps passenger movement to the minimum.
Watch this video (below) and watch the left part of screen and see what happens if the Mazda is fitted with G-Vectoring Control and the other car is not fitted with G-Vectoring Control.
