Air suspension is one of the new car technologies used mainly by professionals like racers. It uses a powerful airbag to hold the weight otherwise held by coil-overs or leaf suspensions. This way the ground clearance (height) of the car can be adjusted by a computer. The car can be raised on for example an off-road area and lowered on a race track. Air in pumped into or let out from the airbag to do this. Although this can be adjusted to some extent in other types of suspension too but it is not possible to do it during driving.
How air suspension works?
Air suspension systems use a strong plastic-rubber bag that is filled with air. It uses an electric pump or compressor to adjust the amount and pressure of air. In some systems, a reservoir is also used. Pressure is stored in it before being pressed into the bag. The system is controlled by a computer which can be the car’s main one. The driver can control the system through an interface which may be buttons or a touch screen. When the command to increase ground clearance is given, air is pumped into the bag from which it rises. When it is to be lowered, some systems release the air into the surroundings while others return it to the reservoir. The latter saves some energy because it does not waste the pressure created by the pump.
Which cars have air suspension?
Almost all of the good car makers include this system in their new cars especially in sports cars and SUVs. Mainly they include Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volvo, Land Rover, Bugatti, Subaru, Volkswagen, Tesla, Porsche, Lexus, Lincoln and Chrysler.
This is how a suspension airbag and its system looks like.
Almost all modern cars in the US are equipped with this system. It’s not really common in Europe and UK. It is because it is more useful in long road distances which are not very frequent in there. It helps the driver in driving at long distances and people with certain disabilities like those who can’t press the gas pedal for a long time. Moreover it helps the driver to keep a safe speed and (in adaptive,) a safe distance from the car in the front.
What it can do?
Cruise control can be used by the driver to make the car drive at a constant speed for a time. He doesn’t need to press the gas pedal for this. This is pretty useful on long journeys and for people who have difficulty in keeping the pedal in the same place for a long time. In more advanced systems the driver can increase or decrease the speed by the press of a button. The system can be turned on and off through the car’s controls manually but when it is on, automatically deactivates when the driver presses the brake pedal (you obviously don’t wan’t the cruise control to keep running and trying to increase the speed back to the set one) and in a manual vehicle, the clutch pedal too (cause the engine still running would mean wastage of horsepower.)
How it works?
In most cars, the cruise control works in a pretty simple manner. It is controlled by the car’s computer or in some, a separate one. The computer keeps a watch on the car’s speed constantly. For example if the driver sets a speed of 40 mph for the car, the computer will make sure that it does not even get 39 or 41. The ac/deceleration is controlled almost as if the gas pedal was pressed to a certain limit. Although this is not actually done through actually pressing the pedal. The cable is pulled or released somewhere in it’s path to the engine. If the pedal is pressed more than the system is pulling the cable, it will cause the engine to rev up and the pedal released and it comes back to the set speed. The moment the brake (or clutch) pedal is pressed, the system releases the engine cable. If you want, the system will automatically turn on after you release the brake otherwise you’d have to turn it on manually (with the press of a button). I have seen that in many cars the controls of this system are on the side of the steering wheel like those of the turn indicators or on the steering wheel. Their are two buttons to adjust the set speed, each to increase or decrease it by 1 or 2 mph. A button to resume (turning it on again after e.g. a brake) the system is also there.
What is adaptive cruise control?
Adaptive cruise control is a more advanced type of cruise control. In this, a car is able to adjust its speed not only to the desired one set by the driver but also to the distance between the car in front. If the front car comes too close (the safe distance is covered) the cruise control will slow down the car. If the front car speeds up and there is too much space between the cars then the system will make the car accelerate only to the extent that it reaches the safe distance limit of the front car.
Advantages of a cruise control system
Cruise control systems are really helpful for drivers to drive their cars safely and at a constant speed. This reduces the chance of you getting a speeding fine only because you didn’t pay much attention to the speedometer. Then, setting the system’s speed to the car’s ‘economy’ speed will surely help increase the fuel consumption. According to an online article, it can make an average difference of 17.2%! It also frees the driver from many tensions like speed and distance from the vehicle in front. This way they can perform their duties more efficiently like steering.
Disadvantages of a cruise control system
More accidents have been occurring only because of over-reliability on the system. Young drivers blindly trust it and in some cases do not apply the brakes even though they see some thing in front. They are confident that their adaptive cruise control and/or automatic emergency braking will apply brakes. But, what if it doesn’t? It does not leave you with time to do it yourself! Sometimes you may not notice that now it is time to slow down and the cruise control would keep your car going the same speed.
Which cars have good cruise controls (probably adaptive)?
All the exotics and super cars have adaptive cruise controls so we are not going to list them. The list is of relatively normal cars with it (all are the newest models only):
It has happened to all of us, or if not, is likely to. You are driving your car between an immense traffic. Your phone is constantly ringing or beeping but you can’t risk even looking at it. The car ahead of you moves about and you pick up your phone forwarding your car. Suddenly the car ahead stops and your reaction time is slow enough to give your front bumper a crack. You curse your phone and the moment you decided to look at it. Well welcome to the future, there is a solution for that. Yes what if your car detects its about to crash and you are too lazy to brake, and it brakes automatically.
How automatic braking systems work?
Cars with automatic emergency braking are equipped with sensors that are continuously checking for obstacles in the car’s path. Their software is programmed to detect rear ends of car, cyclists, motorcyclist, pedestrians and other objects. The range of the sensor is relative with the speed of a car. The higher the speed, the farther obstacles would be detected. When an object is found dangerously close to the car, the computer quickly applies the brakes. The ABS may work during the process.
A power steering is a system used in almost all vehicles now. The first one was invented in 1876. It came to be used commonly in vehicles in the 1950s. Its main purpose is to assist the driver in turning the front wheels. Although people may be able to turn the wheels of a small car easily without a power steering, but imagine the turning a truck’s or bus’ wheels! They are a lot harder to turn and require a lot of force. The power steering provides most of the force and the driver is required to insert less force.
How a power steering works?
All power steering systems have a way of producing force to turning the wheels. This may be a hydraulic cylinder or an electric motor. The power source is attached to a computer which turns the motor on or off. The system can be programmed to give artificial feedback generated by the forces acting on the wheels.
In the hydraulic system, an engine driven pump is used. When the driver turns the steering wheel the pump is triggered and it presses the liquid through valves. A rotary valve detects the driver exerting force on the wheel. The force generated by the liquid is used to turn the wheels through the steering gear.
In electric power steering systems, a computer module checks the level of steering done by the driver and then controls a motor relatively. The main advantage electric system have over hydraulic is that in hydraulic systems the pump is constantly activated whether or not the driver is steering. The electric motor is only working at steering times. In both systems the mechanical steering can be used in case of a system disorder. In electric power steering the ratio of the steering gets adjusted automatically e.g. low at high speeds and high at slow speeds.
There are several air bags in most modern vehicles.
What are they?
Air-Bags are one of the common safety measures of a car and are now included in almost all new vehicles. They are actually sort of strong balloons which are folded into a car’s steering wheel and dashboard or more recently in the roof and doors too. They are supposed to bang open in case of an accident. They are able to blow up really fast.
The Theory Behind This Invention:
According to Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion, a moving object keeps on moving until there is some force acting on it to stop. Same goes for the forces and objects of a car. When a car crashes, it comes to a sudden stop. Every object that is attached to the car also comes to a stop. But wheat about the most important ones, the passengers. They are not actually a part of the car so they would just keep on going until they crash really hard onto the dashboard. At very high speed crashes, the driver and passenger may even crash into the windscreen, breaking it, and land meters ahead the car’s front! This will cause a violent injury which is the only thing we don’t want. Therefore we needed to come up with some way of stopping the passengers too without hurting them. So an American John W. Hetrick of Pennsylvania invented the air-bag which he called ‘the safety cushion’. The idea was to crash the passenger into the soft air-bag instead of the dashboard or anything other.
How Air-Bags work?
When a car crashes with something solid, it starts to decelerate or simply lose speed at a very high rate. An accelerometer sensor detects it and send a signal to the car’s computer (The deceleration of a crash is times faster than that of braking so the two can be easily distinguished). The computer then sends a signal to activate the air-bag circuit. Then, a heating element is triggered similar to the ones used in irons and toasters. This burns an explosive chemical in a chamber. Different systems use different chemicals. As the element burns, it releases lots of harmless gases like nitrogen or argon. This gas fills in the air-bag and it bursts open. Now, as we don’t want the bag to just keep getting bigger and itself suffocate the passengers to death, there are tiny holes in the bag which let air out as the passenger crashes into them. By the time the car stops, the bag will have been fully deflated.
Advantages of an Air-Bag:
Air-Bags are considered Supplementary Restraint System(SRS). They are supposed to be used along with seat-belts. Relying on Air-Bags without putting on your seat-belt can be very dangerous. Used along with seat-belts they do save lives. They prevent your head from crashing into the dashboard or steering. The seat-belt alone only stops your body from crashing but leaves your head unprotected which is perhaps the most important. Air-Bags are intended to protect your head and face.
ABS is one of the important safety measures of a car and is now included in almost all modern cars. It is a system that prevents a car’s wheels from locking up and skidding in case of sudden braking. Car companies have used it in cars since the 1970s. It helps the car to shorten its stopping distance by applying and releasing the brakes multiple times a second.
How it works?
In a car equipped with ABS each wheel has a sensor attached to it. The system is constantly checking the sensor reading and knows when the wheel is just about to lock up. It releases the brake for a split second and just then applies it again to the extent that the wheel just doesn’t lock. It keeps doing this until the car stops. When the system is active, the driver will feel a strong pulsing in the pressed brake pedal.
Why is it important?
ABS decreases the braking distance of a car in slippery surfaces.
It allows the driver to control or steer the car during the braking process, which is not possible with the normal system.
It is much faster than a driver manually applying and releasing brakes. A driver can, at the very most, do it 2-3 times a second. While the ABS does it 10-15 times each second.
It does not allow the wheels to skid and the car go out of control.
Why some people do not want it?
The ABS increases the overall cost of a vehicle due to the equipment.
Its braking distance is not consistent which will not increase a driver’s experience about his/her car.
The system is much expensive to get repaired than the simple brakes.
A hybrid-electric car is equipped with two or more different types of energy sources among which it can switch at all times. The most popular and common pair of power in a hybrid car are electricity and petrol. This technology makes the car fuel efficient as can operate on electricity in slow speeds and level grounds. While it can shift to petrol when more power is needed. When the car is moving on the fuel other than electricity, the engine is charging the electric battery through a generator. Mostly the everyday hybrid cars operate on electricity on speeds under 60 km/h and on fuel above 60. Although these cars do not have a very good acceleration normally and do not go very fast on electricity, they are still popular because they normally consume about half the fuel of another car the same size!
How this system works?
A HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle uses an internal combustion engine along with an electric motor and a battery. In some types, the battery is charged through the movement of the wheels using a dynamo. Some HEVs can be plugged in and charged.
How the engine and motor join power is also different in models. Some vehicles are totally electric powered till a certain speed and totally fuel powered above it. Sometimes the motor is actually helping the engine to drive at all times. Some models need to be switched manually so they can turn into a completely electric or fuel powered car.
Advantages of Hybrid Electric Cars
They are environmental friendly. sing much less fuel than normal cars, they produce less smoke.
Fuel efficient: They reduce the cost of fuel to a very low level. You don’t have to spend a lot on your car fuel.
The battery gets charged by itself through regenerative braking and/or wheel movement. No need to stop and charge for continuing the ride.
Can be resold on higher value compared to other cars because of the constant rise in the costs of fossil fuel prices.
Disadvantages of Hybrid Electric Cars
Hybrid Electric Cars are much more expensive than other models because of the double engine system. They can cost about $5000 to $10,000 more than another car of the same size.
Have less power than normal cars. Smaller engines and batteries result in lower acceleration and speed.
The high voltage batteries can be extremely dangerous in case of an accident. They can prove lethal to the passengers and are likely to electrocute them.
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