my biggest complain is the complete lack of control I have now.

Before when it was wet outside and I made a right turn...I made a choice on whether to ride the slide, or simply stop it by tapping the brakes.

Now, the TC controls the vehicle for me...despite anything to the contrary I might wish



For those who are fans of the TC...I suggest you go and deliberately activate it. It ain't pretty, and I think most people will agree that it is downright dangerous. There are times when you need the power. TC quite simply removes you from that power and attempts to put you in a safe padded arena.

Of course someone can argue that you (the driver) shouldn't put yourself into a situation like this...but hey, it happens. Sitting in a vehicle with the throttle cut and the brakes engaged without your input is freaky...even moreso when another vehicle is barrelling down your throat and your stuck.



Wish I could find the article I read a few years back. A writer for 4x4Offroad did a whole 2 page write-up about the new safety features being introduced like T/C, Descent Control, ABS and several others.

It was quite interesting. He himself was against most of these systems due to the fact that they removed the driver input from the Driving Equation. I'm going to have to do some searching. Hopefully I find it.

 

Sorry I have been away until now. Looks like this dialogue has continued. The RSC interface with with the rest of the systems is thru a aircraft style gyroscope that senses for/aft and side/side "yaw" and combined with steering angle, throttle angle, load etc. will apply the brakes to a single or multiple corner to offset the yaw.
I fully understand the shortcommings of the systems in some situations. Early versions would sit and go nowhere.
For the system to be effective, it has to take throttle out to reduce spinning. No rear brakes can hold back 450ft# of torque. The advent of electronic throttle eliminates the idle air valve, improves cruise control function, idle speed at cold start, and even modulates during trans shift to get the silky smooth shifts our trucks now have.
All in all the technology is wonderous. It has made todays cars much better in all aspects. Just no more burnouts which is childish at best.
The downside is there are some situations as pointed out here that may not be advantagious with traction control.

 

Not true according to this http://www.motorcraftservice.com/pub.../09f12og3e.pdf on page 278. If you press and hold the button, TC never reengages.

In any case 30MPH or 100MPH indicated on ice and you're not going anywhere. No friction.

This sounds just like anti EFI arguements. It's new, so it has to be bad.

Mike

 

Sure am glad my logging truck don't have this item on it.
Would never get up to the cut blocks if it did.

 

Your right that the only people it has really affected are people who wanna do burn outs and people who wanna go around corners sideways and try and control it. If you are gonna be driveing sensible then traction control should never come on. Lets be honest it only affects these above people. But it is very handy if you hit a ice patch or oil in the road like i did the other day. Didnt see it coming and before i knew it i was almost faceing the other way but thanks to TC and RSC it cut power well before the truck was 20% through it's oversteer problem. I ouldnt have let of the trottle until well after that. I sure does function quickly.

 

Yeah I guess it would have been impossible to hold the button down to totally turn it off.

Mike

 

18 gears to shift does not allow a spare hand to hold a button while driving.

For the people needing it on glad ford puts it in their trucks.
For the people not wanting it wish they made it an item we could turn off once and be done.
I like choices.
Maybe next ford can just offer them all in white paint and black leather to why have choices.

 

Start truck
Hold button until TC flashes and goes solid
It stays off until the next time it's started.

So if you like choices, this is the system for you.

Mike

 

go drive down a gravel road. Nothing fancy. Just drive 30 mph and see what happens.

I tripped off my RSC/TC in the Expy last week just by going the normal speed on a dirt road. As I mentioned in a prior post, I've been driving that road for 2 yrs without flying out of control and dying...hell, I wasn't even being stupid since the wife/kids were with me.


Yes, I do want to be childish at times, on my terms at a time of my choosing. Why else would I have Supercharged a Truck...or now own a Mustang Bullitt that will be seeing 8 psi in a year.

 

Then turn it off. I don't see the problem.

Mike

 

OK, so what if you're in icy conditions where wheelspin is the only way to get moving, or in muddy conditions where wheelspin is the only way to clean the tire treads out and keep moving? In these situations, the T/C engages, the wheels slow way down, and you're dead in the water.

And you fail, yet again. Why don't you read the next item in that table:
"Vehicle speed exceeds 35 mph (56 km/h) after button is pressed and held for more than five seconds". RSC and ESC reengage above 35MPH - they are a part of the overall traction control system, they apply brakes and cut engine power.

Everything has positives and negatives. Some people still use carbed motors - why? They're easier to work on, and some people just like them better. I want to get rid of traction control - why, because I don't like what it does.

Sounds to me like you don't know how to drive.

Since we're arguing anyway - if there aren't situations where disabling T/C, ESC, RSC would be a good thing, why would Ford even install a disable in the first place? Did you know that Ford installs traction control in the Police Interceptors, but recommends it be disabled if the driver intends to be involved in a performance driving situation, such as a pursuit? Chargers and Magnums are the same way.

Now, back to more interesting things:
Fuse #36 and #47 in the underhood box are labeled Roll Stability Control module. Pulling those should eliminate that system, of course the computer will likely squawk. Nothing as apparent for TC and ESC. Of course, if Superchips or one of the tuner companies wanted to make some bonus points, being able to kill TC, ESC, RSC all the time would be a nice feature.

 

This is the problem. We ain't on the road to race or go 100mph to catch someone. If you are driving to the roads conditions then none of these systems will change anything. If your on ice you shouldn't be doing more than 30mph and if your sliding about on a lose gravel road then you need to slow down as clearly your not in control of the vehicle. I think some people on here think they are such great drivers that these Nanny's put them off their pro driving skills! lets face it guys none of you are expert/pro drivers. Do you race vehicles for a living? Do you goto tracks every weekend and race? You may think your good drivers but your not. I seen many people try to correct problems and even pro drivers get into sticky situations so don't give me the I'm a pro driver and can handle it comment. Show me your advanced driving certificates and then you can tell me your a good driver.

But back to the thread. If you get stuck in some mud and need to clear the tires then turn of the TC and turn the wheels. 35mph is more than enough tire speed to clear dirt from treads. I don't class my self as a good or expert driver but just normal and i have never had a problem with a vehicle and traction control. I have had cars that do 0-60 in 4 secs and cars that can go round a track like they are on rails. I have used more 4x4 vehicles than maybe most of you guys on here because of living on an island that got cut of from the main land by ocean every day and i have even been to the nurburgring with my bro more times and i can remember and when you see some of these real drivers go around a track you will know your not a good driver compared to them. Take a look at how many Nanny's are on the new gtr and it's one of the quickest vehicles to ever go around a track including the nurburgring. Nanny's don't cause accidents and problems. Bad drivers do. I guess we should take ABS from cars because it increases stopping distance for people who cant use brakes properly!

 

Speed related to a paultry 30 MPH not actually off !

 

I wrote to the 5star company today asking if they can turn it off permantly.
I will write my findings here when they reply.
The other choice would be unpluging the wires at the wheel sensors I was told by the local Ford mechanic.

 

Some of you are taking giant leaps of assumption in talking about people who question TC. Since when did we become only interested in "childish burnouts"? Also, what are you driving that has 450# of Tq, most all of the F150's and expys are not close to that to have to worry about the brakes holding against it. This discussion has never been about such things as holding the brakes (or even the TC) and flashing the TQ Conv for the max rpm off the line. In any case, only the wheel slipping is the one that gets the brake and that probably splits the engine tq between the 2 wheels. You only have to hold one brake long enough for the other wheel to overcome its traction anyway.

Neither do most of us "like to corner sideways". You should probably be on the Mustang/Camero/Charger forum if thats the people you expect. "Driving senseably TC should never come on" What the he## are you talking about? you are again forgetting that the vehicles we are talking about are ones in which bad traction areas are most likely and they are not equipted with traction adders (some of us see the wisdom of that, that will hold all your torque) No, you are not being honest to say that only those who corner sideways etc are the only ones affected. You are presenting a self serving argument and I for one do not buy into that statement. It is rediculous to me (.02) for someone to accuse this group of "not driving senseably" just because one wheel spins----thats what open diffs are famous for and it has nothing to do with "sensible". Sometimes it isnt your choice to keep both tires (2WD) on solid ground. You "goes" where the road goes!

If you feel that the TC is the greatest thing since sliced bread, then good, why are you in this discussion with those of us who do not? You have every right to your opinion, is this a great country or what, however, dont even try to convince the rest of us that we are somehow not driving right, by your standards. BTW, I dont believe any of us have said that TC/RSC was a bad thing, it could just be under more drive control for those of us who are capable----and we are!