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Pretty much all systems marketed as 'active' aren't really 'fully active'. Remember from mechanics/Differential Eqns, a suspension system is basically a damped harmonic oscillator. The two main constants are the springing and damping. The majority of cars just have electronically variable dampers. ie the same oem parts from bilstein/dephi/bosch with some silly marketing acronym on like Porsche PASM, MagneRide etc.

Some have variable strength roll bars, but roll bars are really just a 'hack' anyway. Very few have used a variable springing system (Merc ABC). An air suspension can change springing and ride height, but's it's slow.

In addition to low latency damping/springing adjustments/ride height, a fully active system in able to apply force into the suspension so the attitude of each corner is under complete software control, milli by milli. You can have a perfectly smooth ride, but no roll. All current non-active designs are a compromise between sporty and confort (high vs low springing/damping constants, and movements in attitude due to accelerating/braking/downforce/cornering/road surface.

The main problem with fully active is that it uses quite a bit of power and is very complex. Here's some more info http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/suspension/tech_sus...




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