In the past one could experience crosswind situations in any number of vehicles. My own experiences are based on a VW-T2 estate car. No, it never had a high-roof, the rear engine, which resulted in the centre of gravity being at the rear was enough. It didn't even have to be the infamous Mistral-winds, to cause us a lot of difficulty on the Mediterranean coastal roads. In fact, it was even difficult to reach the nowadays often strived after 80 km/h.

There is one form of transport, that frequently suffers at the hands of crosswinds, the airplanes. Have a look at the video below, to see what happens. The difficulty probably lies in keeping the aircraft's nose in the wind until just before touchdown and before landing, to keep the nose-wheel straight, which is an advantage if one basically only has three wheels.

To get to the point right away, the assistant described here, is not suitable for persistent crosswinds. It devotes itself more to the unexpected gusting, which occurs, e.g. on bridges and at the sudden appearance of open and flat countryside. Up to now, the intervention in the steering system is also not being considered.

Nonetheless, the assistant must first of all, ascertain a swaying movement of the vehicle. This is done through the customary ESP-sensors. It doesn't go further than a noticeable reaction for the driver, albeit, in a distinctly weakened form. In addition, a warning light in the display, shows that the crosswind assistant is intervening.

In its simplest form, like in the Sprinter shown above, the assistant activates the individual wheel-brakes, to achieve a yawing movement in the direction of where the side-wind is coming from. In vehicles which have the possibility to alter the wheel-load, the load can also be shifted at the front to the inside and at the rear to the outside, to affect a slight oversteering.

Indeed, the system is not laid out for real curves in the road, it can only assist in keeping a light and natural straight-line behaviour. Thereby, it doesn't make any difference whether one is driving on country roads or on the motorway. Countersteering is presumably still necessary, however, much less than without the system. It was already introduced in 2009 and with a bit of luck, you may be able to buy a used E-Class Mercedes which has it fitted. 06/14