What Traction Control Button Does & When to Turn it Off!

Christina & Jeff uncover the truth about your car's traction control button. Why you would push "traction control off". We mix in some fun demos to show how traction control works.

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The objective of AutoJeff Reviews is to give you as much information as possible about these incredible vehicles. I try to put my sometimes quirky and funny spin on things with my pop culture references.

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[jimf.]

The best Traction Control explanation ever. I am one of those people that benefitted from Jeff's demonstration going uphill. Thanks for thinking of us. Much appreciated.

[ShermanJames-ys]

I aways thought it was a warning that there are 2 snakes behind me 😮

[Keith]

I am an older driver that knows how to use the gas pedal to control slippage, but you have to pay attention to what your drive wheels are doing in icy or snowy conditions.

[AXer]

In some vehicles, pushing that button, and seeing the indicator on the dashboard is no guarantee that the system is actually disabled. I was instructed to park a trailer in a yard area that was very soggy, and the 4X4 RAM 3500 began spinning the wheels. Even after unhooking the trailer and shutting off the TC, I could feel the system interfering with my efforts to get out of the muddy, deepening tire tracks. I referred to the manual and pulled the fuse which protects the system. The truck drove out almost immediately. Sometimes engineers are tricky; they only let you *think* that you have control, but they're still involved.

[seanmiller]

It’s important to know how your traction control works as they’re different per manufacturer, and to know how invasive they are. It makes a difference in how it’ll help you in various situations. The C5, maybe even the C4, Corvette had a great traction/launch control that could get a novice driver to do perfectly 1/4 miles runs. My E46 M3’s system hinders it drastically by cutting engine power for a few seconds where the pedal basically goes dead to my inputs…that has caused some scares when pulling out into traffic where getting on the throttle and accelerating moderately is key, but when my tires slipped on some water or gravel (or this time I had not very grippy tires) traction control kicked in and I made less than ideal progress and pissed off a few drivers. My system works great in snow with proper tires though. The Mercedes ML320 in the 90’s had a good system of AWD that applied braking power to a slipping wheel to transfer power other wheels, that’s a system you’d leave on for that hill example.

[Doc]

My wife has a Subaru Outback with single stage Xmode, which causes the front wheels and the rear wheels to work together. Kind of like a posi traction rear end . In a Subaru stage 1, is called Snow and Dirt mode. It’s great for pulling away from a light on lightly snow covered roads or if it’s patchy snow, ice and pavement.
I have Dual Xmode on my Subaru Forester Touring. The Fist stage ; snow and dirt responds just like her Outback, but stage 2 in my Forester is for Deep Snow and Mud. This program takes the traction control Off, allowing each wheel to spin faster independently.
And yes having the traction control off is a blast for cutting donuts in a large parking lot covered in snow and ice.

[bangdollarsign]

There are lots of explanations of traction control on the Internet, but this is the prettiest

[AzureTwilight]

Traction control on a high performance car also wears out your tires a lot faster (unless you're intentionally burning out all the time...). Turn it on when road conditions are not optimal to help with control but in good conditions leave it off so your tires last longer.

[larrybraun]

The Toyota salesman did not know what the traction control did. Good information learned from your presentation

[antoinelavoisier]

Jeff is so funny. He makes learning fun. So creative. That demo running up the hill should win an award.

[eloo]

The button is confusing as hell no one tells you that the traction control which supposedly keeps the tires from slipping is actually ON by default on the car so pushing that button will TURN IT OFF. Not like every other button does. Any other button in the world turns the action you want on when you first push it. So I thought it was turning my traction on when i pushed it and the orange light lit up. Even though the word OFF is clearly on it. I couldnt understand why something would be off while lit up. Also when I push it THATS when my traction gets better in rainy weather. When i push it again and the light goes off my car immediately starts slipping in wet weather. So its confusing as hell

[MariusBota-xi]

Good video! This happened to me where I got stuck in the snow with my 2017 Altima and trying to get out of the snow didn't work since the power was cut from the wheels; turned TC off and I was able to rock back and forth out of the spot. It was a one time deal but saved me from a tow :)

[sida]

I'm always so excited about these add ons like traction control, terrain modes, auto cruise control, auto brakes etc...until I realise that I'm not a lazy driver and actually enjoy "driving" and having control of my vehicle. Once you gain a bit of experience, you're able to control the vehicle using the basics...like brakes, accelerator, and gears and actually have fun doing so. These are all gimmicks.
Good solid and fun explanation of traction control, though, so thanks for that:)

[ygstuff]

I was going up on a very shallow, but iced-over incline coming out of a parking lot.
Having to stop at the top to check for traffic, my vehicle was simply unable to pull out on the road...my front-wheel drive just kept slipping.

Cars were coming up behind me, but I was simply not going anywhere, and the front wheels were just spinning.
When the vehicles behind me came around me and clear out, I got thought, "Well, lets try it, " and turned off my traction control.

Lo and behold, my vehicle moved forward without any issue and I got onto the road...totally surprised me: the traction control was working against me.

[audibletapehiss]

Well, well, well... so that's what happened to me. Had a truly horrible experience on a long, steep incline road during a sudden snowstorm 5 years ago. Car just kept slipping backwards down the hill and I was too far up to let it slide all the way back down. I fought it for almost 10 minutes before getting to the top. If I had only known. I suspected something when I noticed how much my car hates the ECT button on my own driveway at home - that's why I watched this video! Well, thank you now.

[MedievalMan]

When you circled magic around my screen Christina Banks @ 00:13 you filled my heart with so much joy! 🥰

[ebonymanyfingers]

Resent experience in Canada.
Rush hour, snow storm, facing a residential slippery hill of about 300 mts long.
After about 200 mts, I encountered 5 cars spread on the road spinning and spinning their wheels unable to continue on that hill. I was sure I was going to end up like them.
Suddenly I felt a scary lack of engine power, my car almost stopped and I thought that my journey was done in the middle of that hill too, BUT NO, my car kept moving forward on a straight line at about 5 to 8 kph for the las 100 mts of that hill. The traction control of my little car had come to my rescue and worked like magic!!!
Behind were left 5 cars in the middle of that hill unable to climb it, including a Chrysler 300.
My car: Hybrid 2011 Honda CR-Z, FWD equipped with Nitto winter tires... and TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM . 🙂

[TravisTalbert-tj]

im from florida and they are correct, i have a 23 corolla cross and moved to new hampshire, we just had a snow storm and I could not get up the hill at all due to snow and it being a 2wd vehicle. I had to back down the hill, the vehicle just stayed in one place no matter how much i applied the gas pedal, it just wouldn't move up the hill. After watching this, I tried again without the traction control off and up the hill it went. Thanks guys.

[kevi]

In a bmw if you keep the traction control pressed for about 30s, it will not only disable traction control completely but also turn off the ABS. This is useful if the ABS sensor is damaged and the car goes into limited power mode. It happened to me and BMW told me to do this so that I could get to their workshop.

[tonydayz]

Wow. Thank you both for the explanation! I have a very hard time going up the steep hill to my house when there's ice or snow. I got stuck several times