Background "Why Torque Based ETC"

WARNING: This page does not describe the selected car, but rather 30 other vehicles, including the 2004 Mercury Sable, 2004 Mercury Mountaineer, 2004 Mercury Monterey, 2004 Mercury Marauder, and 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

Torque based ETC enables aggressive automatic transmission shift schedules (earlier upshifts and later downshifts). This is possible by adjusting the throttle angle to achieve the same wheel torque during shifts, and by calculating this desired torque, the system prevents engine lugging (low RPM and low manifold vacuum) while still delivering the performance and torque requested by the driver.

It also enables many fuel economy/emission improvement technologies such as:

VCT (deliver same torque during transitions)
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)

Torque based ETC also results is a less intrusive vehicle and engine speed limiting, along with smoother traction control.

Other generic benefits of ETC are:

Eliminate cruise control actuators
Eliminate Idle Air Control (IAC) Bypass actuator
Better airflow range
Packaging (no cable)
More responsive powertrain at altitude and improved shift quality

It should be noted that the ETC system includes a wrench light on the instrument cluster that illuminates when a fault is detected. Faults are also accompanied by DTCS and the "Check Engine Soon" light.