Electronic Damper Control (EDC) is a processor-controlled wheel suspension system that adjusts the shock absorbers to changing road or driving conditions. EDC regulates damper forces electronically, adapting to road, load and driving conditions. EDC is not linked to Cornering Brake Control (CBC) or Automatic Stability Control (ASC + T), a component of Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). 

EDC allows you to choose between a comfortable ride or sporty handling. You can also select Sport Mode manually by a switch.

The Sport Mode is a firm, sports-style damper setting, with the following benefits: 

• maximum comfort and excellent road safety 
• individualized choice of program between comfort and sport (two suspension settings in one) 
• consistently good vibration control and suspension, regardless of vehicle load 

Using a two-stage switch in the center console, you can choose either the Sporting or Comfort suspension setting. 

In the Sports (S) position, the damper curve at the lower end is manually limited. In the 5 and 7 Series, you can choose the maximum sports curve at the touch of a button. This program is retained until you press the button again for Automatic (A). The button LED lights up on the 7 Series when Sport mode is selected.

Third-generation EDC (EDC III) became available on most 5, 7 and X5 vehicles in model year 2001.

All vehicle motions affecting road behavior and driving characteristics are constantly monitored by sensors. A microprocessor evaluates this information and passes  instructions to the dampers, where magnetic valves adjust damper force to one of  three settings. 

The system consists of four electronically controlled dampers, each with three response curves (soft, medium and hard). 

The parameters considered when adjusting the dampers are road speed, load, transverse acceleration, acceleration in the direction of travel, and vertical acceleration of the vehicle. The system uses the following sensors for this purpose: 

• steering angle sensor 
• speed sensor on the final drive 
• vertical acceleration sensor on the front and rear axles 

The signal processor, control logics, hardware monitor, and power terminals for feeding an electric signal to the four dampers are integrated in the control unit.

When driving on good roads, the dampers are automatically set to "soft" and provide maximum ride comfort. When cornering, damper forces are immediately increased automatically in the interests of extra safety. Similarly, when the car suddenly passes over a bump, the system automatically switches to "medium" or "hard" to insure optimum road-holding. 

BMW South Africa page on Electronic Damper Control.

BMW Uruguay page on Electronic Damper Control in Spanish.

Körber valve block is used by BMW as a component of EDC. Click here for a system description.

Hardware/Software-Cosimulation for Mechatronic System Design is a technical paper about a new electro-mechanical modeling paradigm based on hardware description languages. The strategy is illustrated by an example from BMW's electronic damper control.

AC Schnitzer has a system similar to EDC called DFC (Damper Force Control). It is a sports suspension with electronic damper adjustment in three levels, available on the AC Schnitzer M5.

Adaptive Damping article from UK Car describes systems used on Lancia, Ferrari and BMW.