Maserati GranTurismo Convertible: Active Safety
In the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible, performance and safety go hand in hand as Maserati strives to produce cars with high degree of safety engineering. The design of the suspension architecture, including the shape and angles of the four wheels independent control arms is an art for Maserati. The independent suspension system featured by the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible is in fact remarkable in its precision, rigidity and motion range, all of which contribute to provide high handling limits and superb road performance. Further enhanced with standard Skyhook active variable damping system, the Maserati suspension is designed to instantly and continuously adjust the damping levels to the road conditions to retain its sharp handling character while allowing a smooth and controlled ride quality.
The Maserati GranTurismo Convertible features self-leveling Bi-Xenon gas discharge headlights to secure the brightest illumination possible. The Bi-Xenon headlights are further enhanced by the new Adaptive Light Control System, a mechanism that makes the headlights turn in the direction of the car when driving around the curves. This improves road illumination as well as surrounding areas, becoming a particularly important safety feature when travelling at night on winding roads. While the headlights are on, an electronic control unit monitors the steering wheel and its angle, as well as the car’s speed. With this information, the headlights activate special motors that rotate the light cones through angles of up to 15° on the inside light and 7.5° on the outside during cornering. For safety reasons the system only works at speed over 3mph, the rotation angle becomes smaller between 56 and 75 mph and deactivates above 75mph. The fog lights are separate units that are integrated into the front bumper, providing a particularly broad beam. The rear light units also feature LEDs. Among the key advantages of LEDs, they illuminate quicker than ordinary light bulbs, are brighter, last longer and use less energy.
The Maserati Stability Program, or MSP, have been developed exclusively by Maserati and encompasses a series of electronic systems that are designed to optimize the car’s dynamics and safety capabilities on the road. The system has a series of sensors that can detect anomalies in the dynamic behavior of the car and its stability thanks to the interaction between the system and the brakes as well as engine.
The Maserati Stability Program is designed to recognize the onset of skidding and help stabilizing the car in milliseconds, prevents the wheels from locking under braking (ABS), distributes the braking force between the front and rear axles to maximize braking force (EDB), prevents the drive wheels from spinning on low grip surfaces (ASR) and avoids the drive wheels from locking when down shifting on low-grip surfaces (MSR).