Originally Posted by wstar

Vehicle Dynamic Control. It's a superset of ABS. The inputs to the system are the individual rotating speeds of your 4 wheels (from the ABS sensors), the angle of your steering wheel, the throttle position, and a G-force meter that helps it determine what attitude the car's body is at relative to the line it is physically moving in (as in, are you sliding sideways?). The VDC function uses these inputs to attempt to maximize your traction. When it senses a loss of traction at any or all wheels, it has the option of independently applying the brakes for you at any of the 4 wheels, as well as electronically limiting the engine's power if it thinks the cause is too much throttle input. The goal is that when you do dumb things that cause you to lose control of the car, VDC tries to re-establish traction to give control back to you, usually at the expense of vehicle speed one way or another.