heads up on vsc in snow

[rieds]

just in case your in this type of situation i thought i'd post this. the vsc is great in snow when your in a open area or moving at normal or higher speeds, or lower speeds where you might not get stuck. but if you approach a situation where you have to slow way down to avoid something or if your going up hill very slowly you lose the ability to keep the tires spinning and keep your momentum going. say your pulling up to a stop sign or intersection where there is an accumulation of snow and you can see its clear to pull out and you want to roll thru with out coming to a stop youll want to turn it off before you get there. i got into a couple of these situations today and figured out quick if you don't turn it off your gonna get stuck.

[thestone11]

Winter tires are still the best friend of the snowy road. And trust me,i am the expert when it comes to snow, from edmonton alberta..we just had a snow storm last night....snow reaches up to the knee.

[himmie]

VSC is a terrible thing...

[Jeff Lange]

VSC has nothing to do with anything in these situations, traction control is what you are referring to. While I agree sometimes you may need to turn trac off, you are most of the time better off not spinning your tires, you aren't really helping yourself and you're just making the road slippery for the rest of us.

In any case, there are definitely situations where you may want to turn it off, but usually not. In my opinion anyways.

Also, if you DO want to turn off VSC, remember to push and hold the switch for 3 seconds, if you just push it and release it, you're only turning off traction control.

Jeff

[SuperchargedMR2]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lange

VSC has nothing to do with anything in these situations, traction control is what you are referring to. While I agree sometimes you may need to turn trac off, you are most of the time better off not spinning your tires, you aren't really helping yourself and you're just making the road slippery for the rest of us.

In any case, there are definitely situations where you may want to turn it off, but usually not. In my opinion anyways.

Also, if you DO want to turn off VSC, remember to push and hold the switch for 3 seconds, if you just push it and release it, you're only turning off traction control.

Jeff

Always nice when you speak about things Jeff, the voice of reason.

[v8eaterWRX]

VSC most definitely DOES have something to do in these situations. When tires spin what happens? Vehicles move side to side, right? So how on earth would that system have nothing to do with keeping you from getting stuck if its dropping power to avoid side to side motion? In most situations, VSC and TRAC should be turned off to get unstuck.

Just cruising, I would not turn either system off. Getting stuck somewhere is another story.

[MattyG]

I dont have vsc or traction control unless i havnt found the button yet....

** edit- no trac or vsc. And i can vouch for thestone11. I had to shovel my car out infront of my house, it literally was over top of the skirts- i couldnt open my door.

[SuperchargedMR2]

Originally Posted by MattyG

I dont have vsc or traction control unless i havnt found the button yet....

** edit- no trac or vsc. And i can vouch for thestone11. I had to shovel my car out infront of my house, it literally was over top of the skirts- i couldnt open my door.

If you have a 2010 model than it was standard on all models, on 2009 models it was an option. It took me a long time to find an 09 S with a 5-speed manual, TRAC/VSC. I think of it like the condom/gun rule......it's better to have it & not need it, than need it & not have it.

[Dimaoala]

Hmmm Jim, I woulda assumed you ordered your S, its almost fully loaded minus the leather

[Jeff Lange]

Originally Posted by v8eaterWRX

VSC most definitely DOES have something to do in these situations. When tires spin what happens? Vehicles move side to side, right?

While you are correct about the potential for the vehicle to move side to side when spinning the tires, you do not have nearly enough lateral acceleration or speed to activate VSC in a situation like this, it's just not how the VSC system operates. (It uses lateral acceleration and yawrate sensors to detect vehicle sliding and instability)

Anytime VSC is activated, an audible alarm (beeps) is heard. If you are not hearing it and only the light is flashing, VSC is not being activated. I challenge you to get VSC to activate when the vehicle is stuck, it will not happen.

Jeff

[rieds]

well i guess i meant the traction control. you can ridicule me all you want, but if you leave it on and your going up a short grade where you can't get a head of steam at slow speed your gonna end up stuck in the middle of it cuase your gonna lose power and come to a complete stop. it happened to me twice today before i tried turning it off. both times i backed down turned it off and tried again and made it fine becuase i could give it a little more gas till the tires spun then back off then give it gas again till they spin again then back off, etc, etc, etc. same situation if you pull up to an intersection where there is snow thats been pushed into the intersection by a plow and you have the traction control on and you want to turn, if you come to a complete stop your gonna sit right there till you turn it off.

[sienna1]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lange

While you are correct about the potential for the vehicle to move side to side when spinning the tires, you do not have nearly enough lateral acceleration or speed to activate VSC in a situation like this, it's just not how the VSC system operates. (It uses lateral acceleration and yawrate sensors to detect vehicle sliding and instability)

Anytime VSC is activated, an audible alarm (beeps) is heard. If you are not hearing it and only the light is flashing, VSC is not being activated. I challenge you to get VSC to activate when the vehicle is stuck, it will not happen.

Jeff

+1, Traction Control prevents the wheels from spinning...... Vehicle Stability Control tries to point the vehicle in the direction that you're steering without too much over or under-steer.

[SuperchargedMR2]

Originally Posted by Dimaoala

Hmmm Jim, I woulda assumed you ordered your S, its almost fully loaded minus the leather

What's funny is that I was getting ready to order one since I couldn't find a Corolla S like I wanted, as you noted it is loaded but no leather as I hate leather seats. When I found mine, it had been ordered by another customer, obviously they had great taste , but they lost their job after it had been built & that's when I swooped in & bought it! I was so excited that I didn't have to wait for it to be built.

[John Mo]

Had traction control on my '02 Sienna and it was awful getting up my driveway in snow. Part of it was that it was front wheel drive and heavy enough in the back that the front wheels weren't carrying enough of the weight uphill. But the other problem was that as soon as one wheel slipped just a little the thing would tap the brakes which is the last thing you want when you're trying to maintain momentum up a hill. I usually ended up backing the Sienna up the driveway. Can't remember if traction control functioned or not in reverse, but more weight on the drive wheels helped either way.

[SuperchargedMR2]

My 09 Corolla has TC/VSC & my 07 Matrix doesn't & 99% of the time I would rather have the TC/VSC.