Traction System Activates - Dry Highway
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 27
Likes: 0
Traction System Activates - Dry Highway
I just bought an '06 C6 on Saturday and am LOVING it.
One issue I noticed while cruising down a dry, straight highway at about 70 MPH was that the car would intermittently slow down to about 60-65 and nothing would happen if I pressed the accelerator pedal. After a couple of seconds it would return back to normal. This happened three or four times over the course of a 15 mile highway trip on Sunday.
At first I was thinking fuel system, but it happened again today under the same conditions and I noticed that the DIC read "TRACTION SYSTEM ACTIVE" for a couple of seconds and then returned to normal (I did not notice it Sunday, but that does not mean it was not displaying it).
The car is a manual transmission and I've not been using the cruise control... it's summer in Houston, so there's no black ice. Every time it's happened I've been going in a straight line on dry pavement and have not been accelerating. There hasn't been any bumps or skipping of tires or any other indication that I was losing traction somewhere.
I'm not getting any "SERVICE XXX" messages, nor are any other warning lights on.
I went to my local auto parts store to see if they might be able to pull a code, but they told me that without a CEL there'd be no code to pull.
Any ideas?
One issue I noticed while cruising down a dry, straight highway at about 70 MPH was that the car would intermittently slow down to about 60-65 and nothing would happen if I pressed the accelerator pedal. After a couple of seconds it would return back to normal. This happened three or four times over the course of a 15 mile highway trip on Sunday.
At first I was thinking fuel system, but it happened again today under the same conditions and I noticed that the DIC read "TRACTION SYSTEM ACTIVE" for a couple of seconds and then returned to normal (I did not notice it Sunday, but that does not mean it was not displaying it).
The car is a manual transmission and I've not been using the cruise control... it's summer in Houston, so there's no black ice. Every time it's happened I've been going in a straight line on dry pavement and have not been accelerating. There hasn't been any bumps or skipping of tires or any other indication that I was losing traction somewhere.
I'm not getting any "SERVICE XXX" messages, nor are any other warning lights on.
I went to my local auto parts store to see if they might be able to pull a code, but they told me that without a CEL there'd be no code to pull.
Any ideas?
Last edited by Tecksun; Aug 17, 2009 at 06:12 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,307
Likes: 26
From: Miami
I got this one..
It can be one of these:
1. The tires put on the car do not match the size of the factory runcraps
2. The owner before you had different sized wheels on it and tunned the car for them.
3. Diffrent tires in front than the rear
You can put factory sized wheels or get the car tunned for the size wheels you have on.
Used to happen to me at 120(at the track) and I had it tunned out
It can be one of these:
1. The tires put on the car do not match the size of the factory runcraps
2. The owner before you had different sized wheels on it and tunned the car for them.
3. Diffrent tires in front than the rear
You can put factory sized wheels or get the car tunned for the size wheels you have on.
Used to happen to me at 120(at the track) and I had it tunned out
Tech Contributor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 12,094
Likes: 197
From: Colorado Springs, CO
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Worn tires activate it too.
The traction system and active handling work by reading rotation speed of the tires calculated in part by the tire diameter which isnt a constant because as tires wear, their diameter shrinks. The tune has a tab that includes an input for tire diameter which varies and throws off the calculation. When the variance grows bigger such as turning with the curves of the hiway, the speeds of the inner and outboard tires arent the same and if the tire is worn enough, it just barely triggers the system by being just outside normal parameters.
When you use a non-runflat aftermarket choice (especially you 305/30/19 guys, your tire new is barely in acceptable range and when its worn its 1/2 inch too small.
You can input a new smaller starting number for this value in the tune.
HPtuners has it on the speedo tab.
The traction system and active handling work by reading rotation speed of the tires calculated in part by the tire diameter which isnt a constant because as tires wear, their diameter shrinks. The tune has a tab that includes an input for tire diameter which varies and throws off the calculation. When the variance grows bigger such as turning with the curves of the hiway, the speeds of the inner and outboard tires arent the same and if the tire is worn enough, it just barely triggers the system by being just outside normal parameters.
When you use a non-runflat aftermarket choice (especially you 305/30/19 guys, your tire new is barely in acceptable range and when its worn its 1/2 inch too small.
You can input a new smaller starting number for this value in the tune.
HPtuners has it on the speedo tab.
