Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 22:54:35 EDT
From: PAULES56@aol.com
<<Help
Honda's ATTS (Active Torque Transfer System) is supposed to direct power to
the OUTSIDE front wheel in turns. This is supposed to help the car turn.
Sounds good to me but no salesperson could explain how it works. This sounds
different than an LSD.
Can anybody explain how it works or at least that it does work? Is it worth
paying the few extra grand to get the SH to get this feature? (You also get a
spoiler, special wheels, smaller front swaybar, faster steering box, leather
shift knob and an extra hundred pounds.) >>
I have not driven one to know how well it works, but the theory sounds good.
There is a pair of planetary gear sets and clutch packs. the gear sets are
set up to spin the opposite wheel a percentage faster. One clutch will spin
the left wheel faster, and the other spins the right wheel faster. the
clutches are hydralically operated by a computer which read wheel speeds and
steering angle to determine if it is needed and to what degree. When an
inside tire stars to spin too fast, the computer applies pressure to the
clutch to turn the outside tire faster using the spinning inside tire as the
power source.
What I don't understand is why they made ot so complex. I would think just a
single clutch that would couple the inside to the outside wheel when the
inside is spinnning faster would do 95% of the same job at 25% of the
complexity. Picture a clutch type limited slip with a hydralic cylinder to
put pressure on it. Compare wheel speeds and add pressure to the clutch if
the inside wheel is spinning faster than the outside.
Gary M.
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