This year, Subaru will be introducing Active Torque Vectoring (ATV) to select models. If you don’t know what Active Torque Vectoring is, it might sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie. You can probably imagine a starship captain telling his crew to engage thrusters and enable Active Torque Vectoring. ATV isn’t out of science fiction, but it’s not far from it.
ATV is a new yaw-control system technology that will increase handling and precision by incorporating the braking system on turns. The way ATV works is pretty cool. When you turn into a corner, everything will go business as usual, but as soon as you accelerate coming out of the corner, ATV kicks in by applying the tiniest amount of brake pressure to the front inside wheel of your vehicle. This is designed to compensate for the understeer that can occur from weight imbalance while cornering.
If you read the words “cornering” and “brake pressure” and the alarm bells are now ringing, they shouldn’t be. Active Torque Vectoring will be imperceptible under most circumstances. Though a truly observant driver might be able to detect ATV under some specific conditions. Still, Subaru puts every vehicle through rigorous testing to ensure safety. That's why every Subaru model is a perennial top safety pick.
Active Torque Vectoring is a part of Subaru’s Vehicle Dynamics Control System, or VDC. This system is designed to increase the driver’s experience by calculating the desired trajectory through a series of sensors that include steering angle, engine speed, selected gear, and breaking conditions. VDC can prevent problems like oversteering and understeering, and helps to promote safe driving.
As useful as Vehicle Dynamics Control is, the driver has the option to disable the assistive system. There are some scenarios where a driver wouldn't want VDC, like getting stuck in a snow bank.
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