Avensis Traction Control - What's It For?

[Springy]

Hi Gang,

As we all know, the Avensis comes with a wealth of safety features including traction control, but I don't see much use for it as implemented on the Avensis, when it suggests you turn it off when trying to get out of snow, wet grass etc. I thought that this would be exactly the circumstances when you would want it turned on? I thought the traction control was there to get you up hills in snow etc, as demonstrated by Tiff Nedell here

at about 4:40 into the clip. I tried driving up a wet grassy slope recently and the TC certainly didn't react as in the clip, the wheels just kept on spinning. Am I using it incorrectly?

Neil.

[tubaman]

I always keep mine on and it certainly worked for me this morning when driving down my icy road - whells just did not spin like the used to on all of my previous cars that did not have traction control

[hertsnminds]

Traction control is there to stop wheel spin and skidding. In a majority of cases it does this by cutting the throttle. So it is possible, if stationary on a very slippery surface (sheet ice or mud), for the wheels to just spin so the traction control cuts the throttle and the car does not move at all. This is when you would turn off the traction control so YOU and not the computers get to feather the throttle and slip the clutch to try and get some traction.

Other explanations

http://securitydriver.com/aic/stories/article-111.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traction_control_system

[Springy]

Traction control is there to stop wheel spin and skidding. In a majority of cases it does this by cutting the throttle. So it is possible, if stationary on a very slippery surface (sheet ice or mud), for the wheels to just spin so the traction control cuts the throttle and the car does not move at all. This is when you would turn off the traction control so YOU and not the computers get to feather the throttle and slip the clutch to try and get some traction.

Other explanations

http://securitydriver.com/aic/stories/article-111.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traction_control_system

Thanks for the replies guys, I think I need to get a little more experience in driving conditions wher TC is needed - roll on winter!

Neil.

[Fitter]

Hi Gang,

As we all know, the Avensis comes with a wealth of safety features including traction control, but I don't see much use for it as implemented on the Avensis, when it suggests you turn it off when trying to get out of snow, wet grass etc. I thought that this would be exactly the circumstances when you would want it turned on? I thought the traction control was there to get you up hills in snow etc, as demonstrated by Tiff Nedell here

at about 4:40 into the clip. I tried driving up a wet grassy slope recently and the TC certainly didn't react as in the clip, the wheels just kept on spinning. Am I using it incorrectly?

Neil.

Traction control is to realign the car in the event of the car going into a possible spin by losing the rear end. It applies the brakes to the correct opposite front and rear wheels and cuts the drive to the necessary front wheel to correct the direction. Thus if the car rear end skids to the right the brakes will be applied to the front left and rear right brakes and the drive to the front right wheel will be stopped. It is better switched off when stuck in snow or mud because it stops the drive to any spinning drive wheel making it hard to get the car out.

Fitter

[reece]

Traction control is to realign the car in the event of the car going into a possible spin by losing the rear end. It applies the brakes to the correct opposite front and rear wheels and cuts the drive to the necessary front wheel to correct the direction. Thus if the car rear end skids to the right the brakes will be applied to the front left and rear right brakes and the drive to the front right wheel will be stopped. It is better switched off when stuck in snow or mud because it stops the drive to any spinning drive wheel making it hard to get the car out.

Fitter

No it isn’t! That’s Stability Control (VSC/ESP)

Traction stops the wheels from spinning when accelerating

[Q.S.]

Traction control is to realign the car in the event of the car going into a possible spin by losing the rear end. It applies the brakes to the correct opposite front and rear wheels and cuts the drive to the necessary front wheel to correct the direction. Thus if the car rear end skids to the right the brakes will be applied to the front left and rear right brakes and the drive to the front right wheel will be stopped. It is better switched off when stuck in snow or mud because it stops the drive to any spinning drive wheel making it hard to get the car out.

Fitter

No it isn’t! That’s Stability Control (VSC/ESP)

Traction stops the wheels from spinning when accelerating

Got to agree with 'reece' on that one, sounds like your getting crossed with ESP (electronic stability program)

TC usually works through the ABS sensors picking up the wheel spinning, the TC then cuts power to try minimise the spin, but if you've got 4 wheels on ice, it aint got a cat in hells chance.

[Fitter]

Traction control is to realign the car in the event of the car going into a possible spin by losing the rear end. It applies the brakes to the correct opposite front and rear wheels and cuts the drive to the necessary front wheel to correct the direction. Thus if the car rear end skids to the right the brakes will be applied to the front left and rear right brakes and the drive to the front right wheel will be stopped. It is better switched off when stuck in snow or mud because it stops the drive to any spinning drive wheel making it hard to get the car out.

Fitter

No it isn’t! That’s Stability Control (VSC/ESP)

Traction stops the wheels from spinning when accelerating

Got to agree with 'reece' on that one, sounds like your getting crossed with ESP (electronic stability program)

TC usually works through the ABS sensors picking up the wheel spinning, the TC then cuts power to try minimise the spin, but if you've got 4 wheels on ice, it aint got a cat in hells chance.

Your are quite correct. I was confusing the TC with ESP which combines TC, ABS and Engine Management. As you said TC puts the drive to the wheel with the most resistance.

Fitter