My active handling when I start the car and run a little way says active handling warming up but it never goes off unless I reset it. Is there a problem with it? thanks

 

It is not abnormal to get the message if you do sharp turns or the ABS senses the tires spinning at different rates shortly after the car is started, but I thought my message disappeared, followed a few minutes later with active handling warmed up or something to that effect.

Have you seen another message a few minutes after the first one saying it is warmed up?

 

Usually it takes less than a minute for it to calibrate itself and complete its "warm-up", and then it will ding and display some kind of AH warm-up complete message. The longest I've seen it on is about 4 or 5 minutes. I thought that I broke it for a while. I had just picked it up from a huge upgrade of supercharger, cam, diff gear, tranny, torque converter, etc, and I nailed the gas hard as I was merging onto the interstate. But then everything returned to normal.

If it won't go off after 5 minutes, you have some kind of issue.

 

See if you have any DTC codes. Post what you find. It should go off by it's self. Just leave it be and see if it goes out or stays on forever.

BC

 

I think thats what I'm going to do. No problem just to reset it. I was told you don't want it on with a supercharger anyway. thanks for the help.

 

....with a supercharger, Traction Control "not"...just put it in "Competitve Driving" mode (hold button in for 5 seconds)...this will remove Traction Control, but will leave Active Handling & ABS engaged... superchargers don't like Traction Control...

 

ACTIVE HANDLING WARMING UP is a test calibration cycle. It's NOT a mode. If that message is being displayed and it's not extinguishing,,,,you have an issue. Just leave it on the DIC and see if it goes out. If it doesn't go out after 5 minutes or so, I would be looking at fixing problems.

The theory that you cant drive with TC, and AH on is a misnomer. You can if your a good boy. Now,,,having a blower,, your going to want to play and that is why you would want to switch it to COMP MODE.

Just for now be a GOOD Driver and see if the light goes out on its own. If it doesn't, you may need to repair something in the EBTCM System. Most likely you have a mis aligned steering wheel position sensor.

BC

 

Thanks everyone, Could be the steering sensor. I will try to leave it on for awhile and see what happens. RW

 

If the steering shaft has been removed from the rack recently, the shaft may have been put back on 360 degrees out, which will throw this code. It happened on my car a couple of years ago.

 

I've had a few instances with my active handling where the display reads that it's warming up and it wouldn't shut off. This was because I was in a parking lot and didn't allow the device to warm up properly, I let the car sit at an idle for quite a few minutes after the warning was displayed and it stayed on until I drove it for about a 1/4 mile. I initially thought something was wrong, but after apeaking with the service manager we realized what was happening. Not sure if this is similar to your problem, just my 2 centavos.

Another thing I've realized.........you can explain problems to service until you're blue in the face, but if there is no warning on the display, or they can't recreate the problem, they won't do anything about it.

 

Here is something on AH that I posted last year. It explains the warm up procedure and the messages seen during the warm up.

Active Handling Warming Up Excerpted from a 1998 SAE Paper; Chevrolet C5 Corvette Vehicle Dynamic Control System; Authored by Dick Hoffman and Michael Rizzo of the General Motors Luxury Car Group.

COLD AMBIENT - The thermal gradient of the engine compartment was measured at various ambients to establish the time it took for the hydraulic modulator to become warm and capable of full pressure response. When the vehicle is first started in cold weather and driven forward (>10 kph), the passenger zone module (PZM) monitors the engine intake air and coolant temperatures. The PZM contains software logic to determine if the hydraulics are cold <=-10C), and if cold, the cluster is instructed to display the message" Active Handling Warming-up". The system is functional but the first cycle performance can be affected until the next message "Warm-up complete" is displayed. Traction control and ABS actuations prior to Active Handling actuations will improve the cold hydraulic performance.

VEHICLE SPIN DETECTION - The AH detects a spin, defined as when the slip angle is greater than 90 degrees. Once spin has been detected the AH is inhibited for whichever comes first of the following conditions: (1) Ten (10) second time interval has elapsed. (2) If the spinout results in reference velocity = 0 (due to vehicle stopped). The system does not wait 10 sec to initiate control if the vehicle travels forward.
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION I SENSOR CENTERING
The yaw rate sensor and steering wheel angle sensor must be centered after each ignition off-on cycle. AH will not function until centering has occurred.
CENTERING - The steering wheel angle sensor is centered every ignition off-on cycle. This creates a more complex control algorithm but offers significant logistical advantages at the vehicle assembly plant and vehicle service centers. The Corvette assembly plant does not have to communicate with AH to assure centering. Ser- vice centers making repairs to the suspension, steering or replacing the steering sensor, do not have to communicate to the AH system. The AH system requires that the vehicle be driven while the system completes the centering routine.
The yaw rate sensor centers quickly if the vehicle is stationary or driven in a straight line. The yaw rate centering time increases with steering inputs >20 degrees or when the vehicle ignition is cycled to crank while the vehicle is moving.
The steering wheel angle sensor has a digital and analog signal output to the electronic control module (ECU). The AH centering algorithm uses the last "centered" analog value from the previous ignition cycle to quickly center the digital steering wheel angle value. The first ignition cycle at the car plant or after the ECU has been disconnected for several hours during service will require the longest time to center. The digital steering wheel angle value is put through a sanity check to make sure that the centering value is accurate. A sanity check requires driving the vehicle in a straight line after ignition off-on. The time for the sanity check increases with steering inputs .+-20 degrees.
INITIALIZATION - Under normal driving conditions the yaw rate and steering angle sensors will be centered and the AH system initializes within seconds after driving the vehicle forward. However, if for some reason, one or more sensors have not centered and the driver has exceeded 20 kph for a period of time, the PZM will command the DIC message displayed "Active Handling Warming Up", and a icon will be illuminated. This message can be acknowledged and erased from the display. When the centering conditions have been completed the next message "Warmup Complete" will be momentarily displayed, and the icon turned off. The system is functional. If the system never centers the "Service Active Handling" will be displayed.

 

Yea, what he said! Got some of that. I have seen the service active handling displayed. Does this hurt anything or can I just reset it and forget about it? I hate to take it for service just for this since I don't use it anyway. Mine comes on everytime I start the car. Is this normal? If so the button is just for turning it off I suppose or turning it back on after you turn it off. Also when the display says warming up and your parked could you turn the front wheels all the way in both directions to get it to center up or maybe try to trick it to think it is centered? Thanks

 

Bill,
That is some great info. Thanks for sharing. Cut and pasted that into my file of all knowledge on the car.

Ronnie,
If it were my car, I'd want to know more about the fault before I just ignored it. There are some sensors, such as the wheel speed sensors, that are used for both ABS and AH/TC. Unless you pulled the actual fault codes and confirmed the fault didn't impact ABS, I'd be concerned you don't have ABS. I don't know if you'd get a different fault code/warning if the fault impacted ABS as well as AH, but personally, I would assume you don't until I convinced myself other wise.

I'd also want my AH system fully functional in case you got stuck out in the rain or other inclement weather.

 

You have a point their subdriver. I don't plan on being in bad conditions but you never know.
Bill, thanks for all the great information.