Thread: Teach me about T/C

Traction Control, as it pertains to on road, off road, 4x4, gravel , mud etc, and an auto if that makes a difference, never had TC before
I noticed it a few weeks ago and tried it out, I notice I don't seem to squeal the tyres so much when taking off in town on a turn,EG side street, then turning right. The rest though, is a mystery

I looked in the hand book and it just tell you how to turn it on and off and says something like, "There are times when you may not want Traction Control'??
I assume they are talking 4x4? maybe?

4x4
TC cuts drive to whatever wheel starts to loose traction.
Effectively it maximises grip

IIRC my 14 year old vehicles instruction book said turn it off when offroad.
My vehicle has a dash light that comes on when it actually doing something, doesn't light up very often, mainly on gravel roads.

So it should be used on gravel then
Admit to having a play today on some back roads, could be my imagination as, you know, new thing, but I thought the back of the ute didn't chuck itself about as much when floored, ?

Pretty simple in a decent rear wheel drive car, TC on, no donuts TC off, BIG donuts

In my Hilux TC, ESP etc get turned off automatically in Low box 4WD

Every vehicle brand and model is different in how it is programmed and most even when "off" isn't fully off.
Same goes for anti lock braking and stability control.

As a general rule if you are off road in slippery conditions where you might need momentum and wheelspin to clear tires turn it off.

And of course if you want to do a skid turn it off

My Tritons trac control is so intrusive that at the 2018 Toby shoot rolling across a nearly flat yard it kept braking wheels and killing power till I was stationary and alternately spinning one tire then the other about a 1/4 turn at a time while not getting above 1000rpm despite being planted on the floor
Once disengaged and some wheelspin allowed it was off again no worries.
It seems to work well when on with some momentum and throttle say climbing a steep gravel driveway, it limits wheel spin and creation of corrugations but slow speed paddock stuff it will just get you stuck.

Snow & mud etc are "fun" with TC on....the vehicle says to you "no more power you are being a dick" & you come to a halt, once you stop sliding, hopefully not backwards....

Thank goodness you can turn it off

Reminds of years ago when ABS was new on trucks, it wasn't set up right & would still work at slow speed causing the truck to take way to long to stop,

This ruined many bumpers & sets of undies in both the Truck & whatever it hit

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

Snow & mud etc are "fun" with TC on....the vehicle says to you "no more power you are being a dick" & you come to a halt, once you stop sliding, hopefully not backwards....

Thank goodness you can turn it off

Reminds of years ago when ABS was new on trucks, it wasn't set up right & would still work at slow speed causing the truck to take way to long to stop,

This ruined many bumpers & sets of undies in both the Truck & whatever it hit

ABS is bloody useless on anything but tarseal. Dont ask me how I know....

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

ABS is bloody useless on anything but tarseal. Dont ask me how I know....
Attachment 124165

Yeah, it can get exciting

I'm amazed how fast my one can stop on gravel if you absolutely stand on the picks

But thats on a nice flat bit with all wheels on the same surface, not sliding down into a ford going slowly thankfully this morning with all sorts of noise coming from the front

Having said that my tyres are shagged to be fair

Traction control and electronic stability control are different, generally ESC is turned off in L4 while TC remains on. ESC cuts power from the motor as well as applying brake to any spinning/slipping wheel, while TC just applies brake to any spinning/slipping wheel (sometimes in combination with a limited slip diff to help transfer torque to the other wheel). TC can be good on some surfaces, but you need to keep power on and let the computer sort it out, if you back off when you feel wheelspin it will never get a chance to work things out. It needs wheelspin (loss of traction) before it will work, and is inferior to locking diffs and keeping all 4 wheels on the ground with spring pressure (suspension articulation). The sensors also fail periodically like any of these things.

Use L4 on anything rougher than a gravel road.

Originally Posted by gimp

Traction control and electronic stability control are different, generally ESC is turned off in L4 while TC remains on. ESC cuts power from the motor as well as applying brake to any spinning/slipping wheel, while TC just applies brake to any spinning/slipping wheel (sometimes in combination with a limited slip diff to help transfer torque to the other wheel). TC can be good on some surfaces, but you need to keep power on and let the computer sort it out, if you back off when you feel wheelspin it will never get a chance to work things out. It needs wheelspin (loss of traction) before it will work, and is inferior to locking diffs and keeping all 4 wheels on the ground with spring pressure (suspension articulation). The sensors also fail periodically like any of these things.

Use L4 on anything rougher than a gravel road.

Not entirely correct, depending on the vehicle and programming TC absolutely will limit power output....to the point of idle in some cases.

Yes, true, I am mostly talking about Toyota where ESC in high range limits power but TC in L4 does not, just attempts to minimise torque to slipping wheels/transfer torque to other wheels

With my 2018 D-Max it (what ever the electronic "it' is) takes over and makes it impossible to gun it up a slippery slope because it cuts in and drops the power/revs to hold traction. Annoying and a real fun killer. But that said, on real muddy tracks it idles me through some really difficult places. The best vehicle I had for electronic controlled traction was a 2008 Freelander. That was wonderful on muddy tracks if left to do its own thing.

The challenge on gavel roads is to keep the yellow light on at all times, but to drive well enough to be able to watch it it!!