safetytoyota.com

Helps prevent accidents that are caused by the lateral skidding of wheels.

By assisting the driver in controlling lateral skidding, VSC helps stabilize vehicle movement.

According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report, passenger cars and SUVs equipped with VSC are involved in 35% and 67% fewer single-vehicle accidents respectively compared to those not equipped with VSC(Figure 1).

When sensors detect lateral skidding, the braking force on each of the four wheels along with the engine output are automatically controlled, improving vehicle stability.
In the case of front wheel slip, the system controls the brakes to orient the vehicle toward the inside of the curve to keep the vehicle inside its lane. In the case of rear wheel slip, the system controls the brakes to orient the vehicle toward the outside of the curve to keep it stable.

Note that the VSC is designed to assist the driver, but cannot prevent lateral skidding if the driver's steering action is extreme. VSC cannot provide more traction than exists between the vehicle and the road surface.

In the second half of the 1980s, Toyota decided to review chassis control technologies, for which no new ideas seemed to be coming forth at that time. By examining how a tank is maneuvered, Toyota came up with the completely innovative idea of controlling the right and left brakes separately. This new method enabled Toyota to decrease the chances of lateral skidding, which had been impossible to stop until then. This was the system that later came to be called the Vehicle Stability Control system. After overcoming numerous hurdles, Toyota installed its first VSC system in the 1995 "CROWN MAJESTA".