Traction control doesn't seem to work.

[Aren Jay]

I can and do spin my tires all the time. I can do this at will.

When does the traction control kick in?

[offroadkarter]

Ive noticed the same thing, lame excuse for t/c lol

[DOOM]

When i fly my car around corners at high speeds i notice mine working and the light flashes on my dash,

[Bradley G]

The T/C seems to come on shortly after the wheels break loose.
The system does work, the car accelerates quicker on ice with the T/C.

[FormulaMarauder]

Mine seems to work, every time I try to break the tires lose, it bogs down and wont go anywhere. Then, I remember to hit the button. lol.

[MERCMAN]

Traction control?? WTH is traction control??

[Cordoba1]

It's probably working just fine -- but it isn't a particularly good system -- and our big fat, performance-oriented tires are just terrible on ice and snow. I had mine in the snow for the first time today, and could barely make it out of a restaurant parking lot that had a hill leading to the road. I had to back up and make a run for it!

[Billzstangin66]

Traction control?? WTH is traction control??

must be something for people who have to drive on snow or ice...

T/C is not in our California dictionary :dunno:

[ts-pa]

......and could barely make it out of a restaurant parking lot that had a hill leading to the road. I had to back up and make a run for it!

I had the exact same thing happen to me once. Co-workers even tried to push to get it going. Quite embarrasing to say the least. Get a good snow tire on all four rims, you will be amazed by the difference!

[Aren Jay]

I have four snow tires.

[ts-pa]

Diabolical1, I was responding to Cordoba1 comment about the four snow tires.

Sorry to ask a dumb question, but does your car have the Traction Control option? Some MM do, some don't. If it does, you may need to get the ABS system checked out. The Traction Control uses the ABS to slow down the spinning wheels (and limits the rpms to 1000?).
Does the ABS work now in a panic stop?




As far as your situation,

[Breadfan]

Personally I am not a huge fan of traction control. I think it's a great safety net and I know it's saved a few cars when a slick road caught someone off guard. In that respect it's a great feature.

But in terms of actively driving on snow and ice, I think it's not replacement for good driving. I've been hampered (in my old car) by traction control on a snowy road. I couldn't make it up a snow covered hill with traction control, it would detect wheelspin and cut power to the engine, I would just basically come to a stop halfway up.

Turn if off though and I was able to make it up no problem, yes some wheelspin but I didn't lose my momentum and I was able to control any wheelspin with my right foot alot better than the TC was.

I think it's a great safety net for everyday driving but personally I would turn mine off if I was in snow, my attention is 120% on the task at hand and I don't need the TC computer getting in the way.

That being said there are many in this area where I live that I'm glad (or atleast hope) their Toyota's and Honda's come with TC, atleast it will help limit the stupid on-snow manuevers they will try to do.

[ts-pa]

^^^what Breadfan said:up:

I turn mine off to get going, and if I remember it, turn it back on once moving.

[BigCars4Ever]

Seems to come on at part throttle in a straight line and most often in a corner. At WOT my tires will just spin in a straight line.

[BlownMerc]

The system used on the cars is a low speed t/c. Because these cars (and my old Mach1 and the Cobras) have an abundance of torque, if you manage to ramp up engine rpm and torque before the computer anticipates or recognizes the wheel spin, the system will not engage effectively or at all due to the small rear brakes not being able to win the battle with the engine torque. Instead of burning up the brake pads, it will give up, especially on WOT accelleration, figuring your intention is max accell, not limited wheel spin. If light throttle and slippery surface is the case, it will try to match rear wheel speed to the fronts by engaging abs to which ever wheel is the fastest and de-torquing the engine by subtracting all the timing it can.

Trust me, the later model drive-by-wire cars work much better since it can control throttle blade position, but I like these least-invasive systems since they allow for much more driver control. That's why I had the tune on my Mach cancel the t/c everytime the car was started, all it ever did was slow me down and one time, detected wheel spin when I was trying to "briskly" get out in traffic and took all of the accelleration away I was counting on and damn near allowed the oncoming car to "catch" me in a not-so-good manner.

T/C is for steering wheel holders, not drivers :)

[RF Overlord]

That's why I had the tune on my Mach cancel the t/c everytime the car was startedBlownMerc, I seem to recall many moons ago people were trying to figure out how to get the T/C to default to the "off" position...pray tell how you did this?
T/C is for steering wheel holders, not drivers Amen, bra...

[Aren Jay]

I have a DTR, A Canadian DTR, they all have tractional control, supposedly.

I'm using about 10% throttle.

I spin I back off automatically when appropriate. I'm just wondering if I'm backing off before the system is?

[Breadfan]

Probably, most tc systems allow for some period of wheelspin before kicking in. Many times if you're aware of it, you can backout before you feel the system kicking in. The light on the dash may still blink to show it detected it even if it doesn't step in to take corrective action yet.

The delay gives the driver a chance to be in control I guess.