Keeping Your Car Under Control

Every car owner dreams of keeping full control of their car in all kinds of situations. Those situations can include emergencies, such as a skid or an obstacle appearing ahead or to the side. To give drivers full control over their cars, manufacturers came up with a few levers for influencing a given situation, and in this article I'll try to describe those levers, so that you never end up needing an early repair on your Corolla or any other car.

As a rule, a skilled driver needs at least three levers of influence to stay in full control of a car — acceleration, braking, and steering. I put acceleration first for a reason. Acceleration is the single most important element that lets a driver avoid most emergency situations.

In fact, acceleration matters more than braking. Braking only helps a driver when there's an obstacle ahead of the car. In some situations, braking can actually just create an extra headache for the driver. For example, under hard braking a driver risks getting rear-ended by a car behind them. And on a slippery road, hitting the brakes can send a driver into an uncontrolled skid. Working the throttle, on the other hand, often helps a driver stabilise the car during a skid, or prevent one altogether.

Among beginner drivers there's a common belief that a less powerful car is safer, since its inability to accelerate quickly or reach high speeds helps avoid most dangerous situations. That view is logical and has its merits. However, most experienced drivers consider powerful cars the safest, precisely because they let the driver stay fully in control of the situation on the road. In their view, powerful cars can accelerate quickly, which cuts the time spent in the oncoming lane during overtaking to a minimum. And experienced drivers don't treat top speed as the priority — what matters most to them is acceleration.

Inexperienced drivers very often rely on the clutch pedal, or like to coast up to a turn or a traffic light in neutral, thereby losing grip on the road and the ability to fully control the car. After all, with the clutch pedal pressed or the car in neutral, a driver loses the ability to accelerate and can only steer and brake. A skilled driver, by contrast, always tries to drive with a gear engaged, pressing the clutch pedal only to pull away, shift gears, or come to a stop. That way, they can almost always accelerate whenever they need to.

So it's worth remembering that you'll only get full control over your car if you always have the ability to accelerate, brake, and steer. I hope you never find yourself in an unpleasant situation, and that the only reason you visit a service centre is for scheduled maintenance on your Toyota Land Cruiser or any other car. Don't despair if something isn't working out — everything comes with experience. Good luck on the road. Drive safely.

Marat Latypov.