I found this article interesting. It has to do with C5 traction control.

 

Yea that's gay, there is something that prevents you from spinning out... it is called driver skill...

 

Traction Control will limit wheel spin by applying brakes, reducing engine throttle and reducing engine spark.

Active Handling helps maintain directional control by applying brakes as necessary.

Default mode is Traction Control "ON", Active Handling "ON".

Pressing the "squiggly car" icon on the console will immediately turn off both Traction Control and Active Handling.

Pressing and holding the "squiggly car" icon on the console for 5+ seconds (I find that it's at least 8+ seconds) will turn the traction control "OFF" , but leave the Active handling "ON".

The latter is my preferred driving selection, and I wish it didn't take such an extended "effort" to achieve it.

And yes, maybe people should learn to drive vehicles without these aids, so that they will know what to do when an event actually does occur.


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All you really need for traction control is to keep your foot off the gas on a road that is not dry and/or clean.

I found an open stretch of road, 2 lanes and wide shoulders with no one around one day when the road was not quite bone dry yet and decided to test the traction control with my auto tranny. I accelerated gradually until 1st gear was floored and winding out, it hit second gear and the back end immediately broke free and the traction control kicked in, proving to me that it does work and works well if it is needed. It is the only time it ever came on, so I do not see the need to shut it off, there just in case, you never know.

 

Had a good friend of mine gun his 04 while on the entrance ramp of I10, the concrete divider straightened his car out before the traction control did. This happened this weekend. As an old MSgt used to say, "If you play, you pay".

 

^ Wow, hopefully he is ok. Was there a lot of debris on the road?

 

Ouch!

 

I learned very early that TC does not save you in every circumstance. It is much safer to use your right foot as traction control.

 

Sadly, we currently live in a NANNY STATE mind set government. Soon, only we older folks will remember how to control a vehicle with throttle steering wheel and brakes. And before much longer, there will not be an on and off switch for T/C or A/H. I do not look forward to the future any longer where everything is done "for your safety." The current powers that be must look to the past and shudder, wondering how we all managed to survive without their help. Rant off.

Scott

 

He was fine, more embarrassed and PO'd than anything.

 

Lots of folks don't understand he difference between traction control and active handling. Know your car.

Everyone (Corvette owner) should run an autocross or two without traction control or active handling turned on..

 

AND READ their Owners Manual so the UNDERSTAND what the vehicle was DESIGNED to do.

 

Very few Corvette drivers have truly played all out with their current car or a previous car. They simply don't know their cars limits or their own limits in that specific car.

The Internet is full of videos of C5s and C6s losing control and crashing into another Vette or an obstruction.

There is nothing wrong with not knowing the limits of your car or your own driving skills, so long as you are smart and don't test those limits in an unsafe environment such as a freeway on ramp or a curvy city street or a rainy road.

In a parallel scenario, very few pilots today have any real experience flying aerobatics, yet wake turbulence from other aircraft or mountain rotor clouds can put any plane upside down in a heartbeat and maybe at only 200 feet altitude. We have long recommended that every pilot go get some upside down time with an experienced instructor.

Likewise, every Vette owner should invest a few hundred bucks and get some track time and skid pad time with an experienced instructor.

Vettes previous to the C5 were pretty much understeer cars and comparatively easy to pull out of a sudden unexpected fix. But, with the extra power of C5 & C6 generation Vettes and the new 50/50 weighting, these cars can easily both understeer and oversteer and each scenario requires a very different recovery skill set.

I was running my old '94 ZR1 at a drag strip against an identical ZR1 on my right side. When the light went green, he punched it, lost control, and went up and over a three foot high retaining wall. Lucky for me he lost it to the right. I have never raced against a low time amateur since. Likewise, I don't ride in close formation with another motorcycle rider unless I know he has the skills to respond to any likely situation.

A driver's confidence in handling his machines should not come from confidence in the machines ability to remain within a safe performance envelope. It should come from his own demonstrated skill set of what to do when safe parameters are exceeded.

 

Very good advice.

 

I wish we had a track to go play!

 

This. Or driving quickly vs fast.

Same for some other things like "laser radar" too.

 

http://www.thelapd.com/profile.asp?I...&CategoryID=47

I installed one of these in my 02 a long time ago ( I would guess in 03?). I have it set for "competition" mode at all times. It's nice to not having holding down the button every time I start the car. It's also nice to still be able to use active handling or shut it completely off, I rarely use either, in fact, I cannot think of a time where I used the button.

With my 98, it doesn't matter what setting I have selected. If I floor it before hitting at least 90 mph, the rear tires can/will break loose and scare the living hell out of me and those that see it. Only once did I loose control of the 98 and it sucked. I did not wreck, but spilled coffee all over the interior and gave those cars behind me a good laugh. I'm sure at least one of those cars behind me used the word "dumbazz" to which I was.