Silverado Truck - Testing Vehicle Stability Control

© Dale Wickell

Silverado Truck in a Drift at Over 50 mph

Vehicle stability control systems help the driver maintain control of a vehicle if it starts to skid, slide or spin. For this demo, we drove a truck to about 50 mph. Without pushing on the brakes, we turned the wheel as if we were trying to avoid hitting another vehicle. We could feel the stability control systems activate each truck's brakes and assist the steering to keep the vehicle from leaving the road.

I drove a 4WD Chevy Silverado and 4WD Toyota Tundra on this portion of the track. We tested the trucks in 2WD mode -- when you put a Tundra in 4WD its stability control system becomes disabled. The Toyota's ABS brake system makes an annoying chime sound when activated, but overall both vehicles performed well.