"VSC" Caused me to total my LC-100

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Ok, now that winter is here, I can say driving 70mph on packed snow is once again no big deal. In fact, people pass you at 70. 50mph in freezing rain is also no biggie, I had to go to the airport twice this week in freezing rain and traffic was moving about 50. I did get several opportunities to feel stability control kick in on on-ramps, it did well. I initially jerked the wheel to contersteer, but stopped myself and straightened it out. It works great, with a little training.
 
My '99, of course, doesn't have ATRAC or VSC. I'm in your camp: Let me do the driving!!!!!!!!!

Heck ABS, which I do unfortunately have on my rig, is also a troublemaker. I can ALWAYS stop better and quicker with more control than the ABS does on my '99 regardless of ice, snow, etc. If I would have relied on my ABS on those slick surface occasions instead of my own pedal pumping...my insurance rates would be a boatload higher than they are now :rolleyes:.

Maybe its easier to disable ABS...it also would be also nice (IMO) to eliminate the entire ABS circuit as it relates to the brake system!
 
My '99, of course, doesn't have ATRAC or VSC. I'm in your camp: Let me do the driving!!!!!!!!!

Heck ABS, which I do unfortunately have on my rig, is also a troublemaker. I can ALWAYS stop better and quicker with more control than the ABS does on my '99 regardless of ice, snow, etc. If I would have relied on my ABS on those slick surface occasions instead of my own pedal pumping...my insurance rates would be a boatload higher than they are now :rolleyes:.

Maybe its easier to disable ABS...it also would be also nice (IMO) to eliminate the entire ABS circuit as it relates to the brake system!

Mine has an intermitant fault that disables ABS, VSC & ATRAC. When I checked the code it was for the sensor under the centre console. The fault clears itself without me having to do anything more than turn the ignition off & on again. I think you'll have that sensor on a truck that just has ABS so maybe you can put a switch in that circuit to break it so you can disable ABS like that.
 
Mine has an intermitant fault that disables ABS, VSC & ATRAC. When I checked the code it was for the sensor under the centre console. The fault clears itself without me having to do anything more than turn the ignition off & on again. I think you'll have that sensor on a truck that just has ABS so maybe you can put a switch in that circuit to break it so you can disable ABS like that.

I was thinking there could be a way to turn it off. Fortunately it allows me to manually pump the brake pedal when on slick surfaces without the ABS trying to interfere/over-ride me.
 
I was thinking there could be a way to turn it off. Fortunately it allows me to manually pump the brake pedal when on slick surfaces without the ABS trying to interfere/over-ride me.

Just pump your brake pedal to override it. No switches required.

OTOH, ABS really works very nicely and faster than your foot. I would much rather roll over an unforseen curb or obstacle than slide into it (trust me, I've experienced both:bang:). Far less damage to the drivetrain when you are rolling.

If I had ABS I probably would have rolled over that MG Midget, rather than slide into it. Now the passengers of that car would have been dead, but then I would not have been fighting them for the next 3 years either, nor totalled my car.....
 
I was going to fiddle with this, but just decided to lock the center diff and be done with it. I talked with my wife about it and told her that if road conditions are slippery, just push the magic button.

The one time my VSC actually engaged a month or so ago, I was on a seasonal road with snow and ice while pulling a trailer. I was heading down a slight grade and coming around a bend in the road. I started to lose traction to the side, as the trailer weight pushed me sideways. At no point did I feel uncontrolled. The VSC beeped, I did not react, and the wheels did their work and kept me on the road moving forward. I was impressed, but could also see where this system would come on at a really bad time and surprise someone mid-corrective action.
 
I was going to fiddle with this, but just decided to lock the center diff and be done with it. I talked with my wife about it and told her that if road conditions are slippery, just push the magic button.

If your wife doesn't know how to handle a slide when she encounters it, I'd advise she keep the CDL off and let VSC do its job. If you don't understand the mechanics of how a slide happens, you could end up in more trouble without VSC than if you left it on. The more experienced drivers here want to disable VSC because it hinders their ability to countersteer themselves and can in fact be dangerous. If your wife is not one of those people, however, she is much better off keeping the VSC on. Without VSC, she could end up in a massive tail slide, possibly spinning out in the middle of the road, or worse, into a ditch. Besides, the CDL is not for all slippery conditions. I saw some pathfinder the other day hopping around corners with its part time 4wd locked. That puts a lot of strain on the transfer case and could damage it severely.
 
If your wife doesn't know how to handle a slide when she encounters it, I'd advise she keep the CDL off and let VSC do its job.

Great advice.... she's good to go, though. We've had snowpack all week and have had 47" of snow since Friday. We did some practicing this evening... she doesn't need me or VSC! :hhmm: Coming back into our development, she was on throttle pretty good and had the tail end coming around nicely and was calmly counter-steering. We did some running with VSC on and off and she preferred the center diff locked.
 
Great advice.... she's good to go, though. We've had snowpack all week and have had 47" of snow since Friday. We did some practicing this evening... she doesn't need me or VSC! :hhmm: Coming back into our development, she was on throttle pretty good and had the tail end coming around nicely and was calmly counter-steering. We did some running with VSC on and off and she preferred the center diff locked.

Good stuff, real life practice is hard to beat!
 
I've been playing a lot with my '03 4R VSC this winter, pushing it into slides at high speeds as I got comfortable with it. 50mph drifts on icy cloverleafs aren't something I'd normally do, but I have surprisingly more comfort with the electronics on. I prefer it on, now that I understand how to use it. I'll still lock the CDL when I need to accelerate in slick stuff, but for an unexpected slide I'd prefer to have stability control, especially at high speeds.

I've had 200-mile commutes in Michigan for 20 years now, in AWD vehicles. I've been out of control on ice at highway speeds too many times, it can get away from you fast and unpredictably. You have one chance to correct quickly and correctly. If you're too slow, or under or over correct, there's usually no recovery. It's different every time, depending on your speed, ice and snow conditions, angle of the road, wind, the vehicle, tire conditions, etc. You can plan on using all your experience in low speed parking lot slides to save your truck, yourself, your passengers, and others around you. I think you'll do better with stability control and some experience using it.
 
VSC and Height of vehicle

I had very strange situation.

I was offroading on icy/hard pack show covered with fresh wet snow road. When I made gradual LEFT turn, LX ('06) was started to loose traction, slipped to side of the road, and VSC was engaged (I heard beeps). Then I felt like LX's LEFT side lowered significantly and right side was up. The feeling was my LX was traveling on LEFT side tires, and right side tires were on the air. Since I had no experience on VSC handling, I did corrective steering. Eventually I ended up on the side of the road, stuck in deep snow (luckily there was no steepness on the road side)

I read through thread, everyone discussed about engine throttle, ABS, TRAC etc. But there is nothing about height adjustment.

My guess is, VSC lowered inner side shock absorbers, and pushed up outer side ones, in order to PREVENT ROLLOVER. This happened in a split second.

Any comment? Did anyone experienced this?
 
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Sounds like AHC kicked in, but I didn't know it happened that fast. Were you in LO? AHC has an extra high mode in LO. Go do it again and don't counter steer. I'll bet you pull right out of it.
 

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