What are Pros/Cons of turning traction control off

[o12lando]

Hi guys,

Just want to know if there are any Pros/Cons of turning traction control off? Can anyone also explain what it is?

Thanks,

[DJKOR]

In the Aurion you have ABS, Traction Control, and Vehicle Stability Control. When you go through the deactivation sequence in the Aurion, you end up turning all three of them off. For the purposes of the pros and cons, I will be referring mainly to VSC as that is what most people here refer to when they say Traction Control.

Pros of turning it off - For daily driving, there aren't really any pros for turning it off. In most day to day conditions, you won't ever need TC and VSC to do it's job and therefore you won't notice anything. If you are pushing your car however and intend on having it slip a little (ie. on the track), or if you are trying to move on wet grass or gravel, turning it off will let you get a bit more control out of your car since its on-board ECU isn't intervening. Really, there aren't many more advantages for turning it off unless you plan to take it to the track or something.

Cons of turning it off - For day to day driving, turning it off would mean that should you encounter a slippery surface or obstacle that you need to avoid, it will be completely up to you to overcome it. If the car slips out, you will need to make all the adjustments yourself. Basically, it's just taking away from the safety of your car.

Now in basic English, those three features mentioned above are safety aides that helps keep you car on the road where it should be. It's not something to replace good driving skills, but sometimes there are road hazards that one can not overcome these will help you out, but not completely.

The following definitions are from Toyota and describe what I can not:

ABS (Anti-Skid Braking System) - Modern electronics and a hydraulic actuator compares and adjusts wheel speeds when braking to prevent wheel lock-up and hence a potential skid. (Toyota ABS includes a sophisticated gravel road strategy, which in the special circumstance of braking on a gravel road ensures the tyres brake through the loose gravel to maximise stopping power.)

Traction Control (TRC) - System designed to maximum safety when accelerating on slippery road surfaces or when the available grip differs from one side of the vehicle to the other (such as when two wheels are on a gravel or grass verge). Operated by controlling the throttle and/or applying the brakes to any wheel that is slipping.

Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) - System that ensures control in cornering situations the way ABS does under braking and TRC does under acceleration. The VSC system utilises electronic sensors in conjunction with the ABS and TRC hardware to help control any potential understeer or oversteer situations. Understeer is when the vehicle loses front-wheel traction and wants to push forward nose first. Oversteer is when the rear wheels lose traction and the tail begins to slide.

As well, this video explains how VSC works:

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

And here is another video to give an example of all three:

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

In that second video there, you can see at the 4:50 mark how the stability control does it's thing to the front wheel in slow motion.

[o12lando]

wonderful! :D

Thanks DJ you have once again helped an Aurion noob!

[apg39]

Fully hektic sick burnouts.

:D

[DJKOR]

Fully hektic sick burnouts.

I've attempted that on some old tires. You're out of luck if you want to do this on the Aurion. Wheel hops like crazy. Though this may have simply come down to the Sportivo suspension. Maybe the AT-X will be more forgiving if he was to do this.

[the_random_hero]

Pro's - more 'real' driving experience

Cons - Crashing

:P

[cranky]

no, wheel tramp in an atx aswell

[dannywss]

dont turn it off on the road, even if there is no one other than u, and u THINK u have clues what u are doing, think again.. first time turning it off on the track and goin little over, i nearly pee.. but not on aurion, coz it's no fun at all.. as DJKOR said, nothing more than hop hop hop~