Johannesburg - Struggling to understand the alphabet soup of motoring terms and abbreviations? Here's our handy guide:
4WD– Four-wheel drive
Any vehicle which can send power to all four wheels; but, to be more specific, ones which can select between one or both axles. To get really technical, a Subaru Impreza is actually not four-wheel drive but a Nissan Patrol is. Often includes bush-bashing features such as low-range gearing and centre differential locks.
ABS– Antilock Braking System
One of the single most-effective safety features on modern cars, ABS sends fast pulses of brake force to the wheels in order to prevent skids. By allowing the wheels to rotate, even under massive brake force, a vehicle is able to better maintain control when swerving, and this also shortens braking distances - particularly on slippery roads.
AWD– All-wheel drive
Similar to four-wheel drive, but power is permanently sent to both front and rear axles. Examples of all-wheel drive include any Audi with quattro drivetrain, most Subarus and some softroading crossovers. Sometimes regarded as a milder version of four-wheel drive to offer less confident drivers a sense of security in slippery conditions. Also used in high-performance cars to give a traction advantage off the line.
BEV– Battery Electric Vehicle
One of many new acronyms for the latest wave of environmentally friendly cars; this one relies only on electricity for propulsion. A BEV such as a Nissan Leaf or BMW i3 requires charging through either a wall socket or a quick charging station.
C02– Carbon dioxide
Though touted as a nasty by-product of internal combustion engines, C02 is actually vital to life on Earth. But as usual, too much of a good thing can be bad, and when spewed by millions of cars around the world, this component of exhaust emissions contributes to global warming. C02 emission figures are almost always quoted alongside claimed average fuel consumptions in new cars, and in most markets is levied with tax to encourage buying of cleaner burning vehicles, and discourage high-performance gas guzzlers.
CVT– Continuously Variable Transmission
Where a normal gearbox is full of (you guessed it), gears, a CVT usually uses a belt-drive system to continuously and linearly adjust ratios. Enthusiastic drivers are often put off by the droning, constant revs produced by CVTs, but their ability to keep the engine revs at their most efficient point have put them in favour with budget-conscious buyers.
DSG– Direct Shift Gearbox
Officially licensed by Volkswagen, DSG is commonly used in motoring circles in reference to any dual-clutch automatic transmission regardless of brand. A DSG’s complex internals would take paragraphs to describe accurately, but basically the transmission is able to pre-select gears on either side of whichever gear is currently engaged. This makes up- and down-shifts happen much quicker than a regular automatic trsnsmission.
EBD– Electronic Brakeforce Distribution
In the old days, when you slammed the brake pedal, hydraulic pressure would be sent evenly to all four wheels – resulting in dangerous lock-ups or skids. EBD, which works in tandem with your car’s ABS, can sense which wheels have grip and which don’t, and can send stopping power to each wheel independently to most efficiently scrub off speed and also keep control.
ESC– Electronic Stability Control, aka Electronic Stability Program (ESP), or Dynamic Stability Control (DSC)
This complicated system keeps your car straight when it starts to slide. It uses computers to detect a slide and selectively sends braking force or cuts engine power to individual wheels in order to maintain control. The system can usually be partially or completely disabled, but if not can be a drifter’s worst nightmare.
FCV– Fuel Cell Vehicle
A fuel cell vehicle is much the same as a BEV, except instead of plugging in to recharge batteries, it makes its own electricity with a complex hydrogen to oxygen chemical reaction. The process, which happens in an onboard fuel cell ‘stack’ results in only water as an emission. Fuel cell vehicles are widely believed to be the cleanest form of powering cars in the future, but hydrogen refueling infrastucture will be very expensive to roll out around the world.
LED– Light Emitting Diode
These tiny and extremely energy efficient little light bulbs date back to the 1920s, and you may have seen them for decades in your car’s instrument clusters where they’ve often been used to illuminate check engine lights and suchlike. But more recently LED technology has progressed to a state of automotive jewelry, where it’s used for intricate daytime running light designs. We first remember LEDs used in this way in 2006, when Audi’s V10-powered S6 featured two thin white LED strips in its front bumper. Even more recently, LED tech has advanced enough to complete replace traditional head- and tailights. Mercedes-Benz’ latest S-Class uses only LEDs for every light function in the entire car.
MPV– Multi Purpose Vehicle
A tag which often denotes moms' taxis such as the Kia Grand Sedona and Chrysler Grand Voyager. Sub-categories are medium MPVs such as the Citroën C4 Picasso and mini MPVs, for example Ford’s B-Max.
NOx– Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide, or NOx, is a harmful exhaust pollutant which was lesser known by the public until it made headlines recently as part of Volkswagen’s “dieselgate” scandal. This by-product of burning fossil fuels is a known contributor to respiratory disease and acid rain. Diesel powered engines generally emit less C02 than petrol counterparts, but produce much more NOx. There are strict NOx emissions requirements in place in most countries (which VW have been caught bypassing), but carmakers are not required to quote these figures to the buying public.
PHEV– Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Plug-in hybrid vehicles are not only providing a stop-gap between conventional petroleum-powered cars and whatever technology might be around the corner, but also make it easier for buyers to slide into the green scene without taking uncomfortable leaps of faith into newfangled EVs or FCVs. Most PHEVs look exactly like their normal counterparts, but will have a separate fuel flap where onboard batteries can be recharged, and used for short (usually about 20-30km) distances on emission-free electric power alone. Under the bonnet, however, is a normal petrol or diesel engine which can fire up to help charge batteries, provide extra power bursts, or bail drivers out of trouble if the vehicle’s battery range is exceeded.
SRS– Supplementary Restraint System
The key word here is supplementary. As in secondary. As in it needs something else to work properly. As in if you don’t wear your seatbelt, you can expect a serious facial pounding from your car’s airbag if you crash. Yes, airbags are designed to work in tandem with seatbelts, hence that little SRS abbreviation you might’ve seen on your steering wheel. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
SUV– Sports Utility Vehicle
In general denoting any high-riding and box-shaped vehicle that can climb a pavement without ripping its sump off. The term covers a vast segment of vehicles, from those that can barely battle their way through a rain puddle (which has coined the term soft roader), to serious bundu bashers that can handle Namibian sand dunes, the Okavango swamps and even downtown Johannesburg.
TFT– Thin Film Transistor
Where it was once considered very cool for a car to have a one simple monochromatic display in the radio, it’s now all about multiple full colour screens – most of which use modern TFT technology. That big rectangular infotainment display positioned centrally in your car’s dashboard is most probably a thin film transistor unit, and some cars today have completely done away with physical gauges and replaced the entire instrument cluster with one big TFT unit. This system allows for more customisation, such as red backgrounds in sport modes, animated startup sequences, and even full width navigation backdrops.
VIN– Vehicle Identification Number
A (usually) 17 digit code specific to one car only for registration and identification purposes. Most VIN numbers appear on the dashboard viewed in the lower corner of a windscreen, and often comprise a sequence without use of the letters ‘I’ or ‘O’ to prevent confusion with numbers one and zero.
Star Motoring