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ii As safety continues to take an increasingly important place in the automobile industry, there has been significant research and development in the area of closed loop control of vehicle dynamics. It first started with antilock brake systems (ABS) that prevented loss of steering control due to wheels locking up with hard braking or low friction. Vehicle dynamics control further developed to include traction control: a system that optimally distributes tractive forces and prevents excessive wheel slip. The most recent developments have been in the area of electronic stability control (ESC). As vehicle technology has evolved over the years and ABS and ESC are now becoming standard on most vehicles, not only automobile manufacturers but even governments and regulation bodies have programs dedicated to ensure standards and understand limitations of these systems. As a result, efforts have been made to develop testing systems and test maneuvers to quantify dynamic properties. This research focuses on studying standard maneuvers and developing new strategies to evaluate and rate the performance of moder