AL-KO boosts caravan safety

The Victorian manufacturer of a world-first, anti-sway system for electric-braked caravans believes it should be a compulsory requirement on all new caravans.

"Like ESP in cars, we believe ESC will be standard on all caravans in a very short period of time," says Sven Mannfolk, managing director of AL-KO International, which will manufacture the ground-breaking, electronic stability control system at a new production facility in Victoria.

"For the relatively low cost that the AL-KO ESC will add to a caravan, there is really no reason why ESC should not be mandatory as it is for cars," says Mannfolk.

The AL-KO ESC, which corrects excessive sideways movement of the caravan by automatically applying the van's electric brakes, will not only reduce accidents but help people overcome their fear of towing.

"We believe AL-KO ESC is the most significant development in towing safety ever developed for the Australian market. It amounts to a new era in towing safety and will ultimately save lives,” he says.

"It will also grow the caravan market in general by allowing people to overcome their fear of towing."

The ESC system for electric brakes was designed and developed in Australia over two years in conjunction with AL-KO engineers in Germany. It comprises a black box sensor installed under the van at the rear axle, which is connected to the tow vehicle via a wiring loom to either a 12 point trailer coupling or Anderson plug.

Two accelerometers located in the black box sense when a van’s instability is verging on hazardous, applying the brakes until the van straightens up. A pre-set amount of braking (around 40 per cent of maximum) is automatically applied when either one lateral movement of 0.4 g forces, or four in a row of at least 0.2g, is recorded.

An LED fitted to the drawbar indicates whether the unit is in on or off mode, and the system works independently of any other stability system including the tow vehicle’s.

AL-KO provided the media the chance to experience the ESC system at Victoria’s Sandown motor circuit last week, using a six-cylinder Holden Commodore towing a 1500kg Jayco caravan for the demonstration.

On a very wet and slippery surface, the system worked almost faultlessly over a number of avoid-and-swerve simulation exercises, pulling the caravan into line on most occasions with very little indication to the driver of what was occurring behind.

Asked to put our faith in the system, we were told to drive at 50km/h and then yank the steering wheel from left to right and back again in a manner that would normally cause a jack-knife or worse. Although the van got sideways and the wheels locked up and slid, the ESC still managed to pull the van into line after a few seconds. And this was despite taking the foot off the accelerator, which would normally exacerbate the situation.

On the second exercise, a 90km/h slalom course which was a little like trying to avoid hitting a kangaroo on a freeway without braking or going off the road, the van tracked obediently behind the tow vehicle with little sign of instability or traction loss.

The only issue we had during the test was the system failing to 'reboot' after being turned off and on repeatedly, but that was probably due to the inbuilt diagnostics sensing unusual behaviour.   AL-KO says the ESC has a system of “checks and balances” including switching itself off after seven intermittent connections (on/off switching), in one hour.

According to AL-KO's technical and manufacturing manager, Rob Funder, the ESC can also be fitted to larger camper trailers and has been extensively tested in harsh conditions. "It is close to waterproof as we can possibly get it for Australian conditions," he says.

About 10 different versions will be available, to suit a range of configurations including single and tandem axle vans, 10inch and 12inch brakes, and different ATM weights.

The ESC will initially be available to caravan manufacturers for fitment to new caravans, and AL-KO expects the system to add around $1000 to the overall price.

It should also be available for retro-fit to older caravans with AL-KO electric brakes by approved installers, by early 2013. 

With an estimated 420,000 caravans on the road in Australia, AL-KO expects huge domestic demand for the patented ESC system. It also plans to export the product to the US, which has an electric-braked RV market around 15 times larger than Australia’s.  

For the latest updates visit the
AL-KO ESC website.