LX470 VSC - Good News And Bad News

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Desert Guy

Desert Guy

10 Year
Joined
Aug 27, 2012
Threads
6
Messages
27
Location
Long Beach, CA
I've had my '01 LX470 since December '11, and two things I wanted to do right away was override the height control and the skid control. I thought the height was more important until the skid control almost caused me to crash while bombing down a canyon heading down the hills towards Barstow. I couldn't figure out what all this beeping was about as I was in a nice controlled slide around some rocks and trees, and then my right side brakes locked up and almost sent me into the wall of the wash.

So what do I think now? I think the skid control has to go, big time. I don't even want it for the street! As it is here in Sunny So. Cal. we only have to deal with rain (unless we want to go to the snow, that is), and that not very often, but I know how to drive sideways, and the VSC scares the beegessus out of me, especially after reading some of the other posts about it activating on the highway.

So the good news? The good news is that I found that though the manual states that the VSC only deactivates when you lock your differentials and are in 4-wheel low, it works in 4-wheel high as well. I have yet to find a good place around here to get sideways, but I want to do that soon so I can make sure the VSC goes off when the differentials are locked in either high range or low. So that solves my off road issue.

The bad news? I've searched high and low through this site and others looking for a fix to disengage the VSC without locking the differentials and haven't found a fix yet.

And for GP, this VSC crap comes on some other off-road 4-wheel vehicles, and some friends have told me they can usually be turned off, but have known guys that have forgotten and crashed, and bad crashes too.

And more GP: I'm very appreciative of all of the information I have pulled from IH8MUD here, and I'll be here on and off for a long time to come, as I have a lot to do yet for my LX, and there's a lot of information here so I can do it right.

Thank y'all and :cheers:
 
Pull your ABS relays out when blasting away through the trails, and slap them back in when you commute home.
 
Bad news is you're tearing up roads/trails and driving like a douche.

Good news is you're hundreds of miles away from me.
 
phsycle said:
Bad news is you're tearing up roads/trails and driving like a douche.

Good news is you're hundreds of miles away from me.
Click to expand...

Why would you even post something so useless :mad:
 
Interesting

Arbetrader - What do you know about S. California deserts? How do you respond to a slide when you loose traction? OH my, I should let the car fix it for me? My instinct is to steer opposite of where I want to go, and the VSC does EXACTLY THE WRONG thing for me. It's from years of driving and riding motorcycles in or on rain, sand, and snow, on and off road, and even in boats or on a surfboard. So by Psycle I'm a douche! And obviously, you agree. All I can say is HUH?

Psycle - You seem to not know either, so you must stay home in UT and crawl rocks.

And I bet both of you have your tires sticking outside your fender wells so you can throw rocks on the highway to see how many windshields you can break on the cars following.

Here I thought this forum was for the free exchange of information and fun, and not for insulting others who join in with that in mind.

So given that you guys are a couple of the big boys here, I guess I'm just in the wrong place. I'll go play elsewhere, and think of you two with a chuckle now and then.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/images/smilies/thefinger.gif
 
Oh yea

007-FJC: Thank you, that's the sort of information that I was looking for. And moron one and moron two in the other posts must think I'm a guy who drives like a desert racer all of the time. What do they know? I think I'll just pull them and give up the ABS all together if it doesn't screw anything else up. I'd keep the ABS if it didn't come with the VSC. And besides there are lots of posts on the ABS or VSC activating for no reason on the highway. Who needs that? Like a lot of people, I pay attention when driving and don't need ABS to help me drive the vehicle.

Maybe that's wrong to some, but it makes me feel a heck of a lot more comfortable that my life is in my hands and not some electrical device that has been known to malfunction in, AT LEAST, the amount of times I've read about in these forums, and that's a lot.
 
I've gotten my 4Runner sideways with the CD Locked. The VSC beeps but doesn't make corrections when power sliding in fire roads. I know the feeling of the truck correcting you when you're trying to correct the truck. I've had a few instances like that in the rain going a bit to quick around a turn. The VSC system was designed for a Majority of American drivers that don't realize they forgot to hang up the pump before they drive off every time they fill up. I'll probably find a fix for the VSC problem when I get time in the future. I'd like to disable it completely without sacrificing ABS, but I can live without the ABS system after I put lockers on it. For now, I rely on the traction control offroad. :(
 
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Thank you for pointing that out, hoser. Being new to forum stuff, and being realistic, I sometimes don't pay attention to the details as one should (not the brightest bulb?), I didn't realize the post was about the quote from phsycle and not an agreement. I apologize to Arbetrade for my insulting response to him.

I also intended not to return to this board, but had to at least check it one more time, and I'm glad I did. I can handle an insult here and there, and normally don't take my ball and go home the first time one comes.

It also gives me a chance to maybe explain better what I was trying to say. Sometimes you want to be steering in the direction of your slide (where the vsc might help). This is when you want to get straight. But sometimes you want to hold your current steering angle while going a bit sideways until you reach a point where you want to straighten out, which was the case when it almost caused me to crash.

Again, thanks fellows for straightening me out in the head.
 
:cool:

Desert Guy, there is a ball switch on the t-case (resembles a spark plug) that signals the VSC module when the CDL is locked or not. You can try shorting that wire and see if it disables VSC. Test it on the switch side and if it works, splice it close to the module. I have a pre-VSC 100 and so have never looked into it though. You'll have to search the location of the switch since there are more than one or search the EWD for the correct pin.
 
I do believe that VSC shuts off with the CDL engaged in 4 high -- so if you're on a low traction surface it shouldn't be an issue.
 
VSC nearly put me into the wall at 80MPH this morning. I was within an arms reach while trying to regain control. I thought I had fixed the issue but apparently not. It's been dormant for 2 weeks now. If I pull the ABS relay under the hood will that disable VSC? I DO NOT want it on this trip this weekend. I'll put it back in when I hit the trails for A-Trac.
 
I haven't checked out my lc as the vsc hasn't bothered me yet... maybe it will this winter.
However on my uncles sequoia I removed a plug from the brake MC and it disabled vsc and abs. .... not sure if its the same for the hundys
 
Desertguy-

I have the same problems when I'm heading to a work site in Victimville...graded roads and pitching Beastie, then mid-slide, BAM, VSC. Same reaction as you.

Not going to further flame phsycle, but as a "fellow" mudder, it might be a response that reflects not being educated or having experienced the pax or drivers seat while racing or testing. Did my time doing both and it doesn't leave you. Ever.

Just not as easy to pitch the 100's out, nor is the travel ideal. But still fun to do when the opportunity is presented.
 
Talked with Loud. I managed to unplug the driver front wheel speed sensor and that did the trick. I have yet to feel ABS kick in or VSC. Although cruise control seems to be acting funky. The alarm goes off but no feedback. I'll be pulling all speed sensors again at camp
 
Name-calling was my bad. But I'll still stand by my original statement that I don't condone skidding/drifting on public roads. I don't care if you're Tommi Makinen--leave that stuff on the tracks or closed courses.

arotrhd - Plenty of time for me in HPDE. But I leave that stuff on the course.

....Now back to your regularly scheduled program of ih8mud 90210.
 
I've had VSC intervene on road, but have not experienced this first hand off road. So please don't take what I'm suggesting personally as I'm interested in technical aspect of the topic.

The idea with VSC is that it augments steering. Specifically, it has additional facilities to assist in yaw control beyond what the steering rack (and driver) is capable of by braking individual wheels. VSC will activate when it detects that the steering angle (as dialed in by the steering wheel) does not match what the vehicle is dynamically doing as detected by the accelerometers. VSC should only augment enough to match your intended line as suggested by steering angle. I want to emphasize that is *should* only match the intended line and not any more.

So where am I going with this?

What I'm suggesting is that the driver may be dialing in too much steering angle given existing front end traction. In other words, understeering with too much slip angle.

When the correction finally happens when there is enough traction, is the vehicle following the drivers intended line which is too much due to too much steering input? Or is the VSC overcorrecting as it cannot respond quickly enough to the changing traction situations?

I couldn't find the exact sampling rate of Toyota's VSC system in our trucks, but they tend to be on the order of 10-50Hz, or 10 to 50 times a second. Which should be enough plenty for it to check itself if it's over reacting.
 
Where we live (desertguy, 007-FJC, myself, etc) VSC tends to come on very easily off the pavement. The desert out here tends to get a lot of washboard texture. It doesnt take much speed in a turn to get the VSC alarm to go off and feel it trying to kick in. You dont have to drive like a jerk to experience it. Alot of the places we go see very very very little rain. The tracks are also heavily run by buggies, pre-runners, trophy trucks, ATV, etc. So, wash boards are inevitable.

I like many others grew up driving with out VSC and learned how to handle a vehicle when in a skid. Now we have VSC and for many it is a first time experience. So, learning to let a truck try and do its thing isnt easy. And I am not convinced it is safe personally. I just do not like the way it works. I have experienced in paved roads, in the snow, and the desert. On paved roads, I was just going faster than I should...again, on a crappy road so the tires slid a bit and of course beep beep beep.... you get the picture...

On dirt and snow, it really doesnt take much speed to make it go. In these conditions, I just lock the center diff and have full control. So that would be my recommendation. I would also recommend a good place to go and and just play with VSC to see if you can understand it. We drive heavy rigs and different road conditions can affect when it goes off.
 
there is a connector for the front wheel speed sensor that is easily accessible. It disables VSC, TRAC, and ABS all together. I wonder if one were to tap into that and add a simple switch, they could disable the system on the fly and not have to worry about crashing. I was playing around on gravel roads at URE this weekend and had a total blast without it. However you kind of need VSC and (a)TRAC for wheeling.
 
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