Does anyone have any stories about their VSC saving their lives (or at least their cars from damage)? I am trying to justify the cost of a new car and I currently drive a vehicle w/ no ABS and no traction control and just moved to Dallas from California (where you don't really need ABS or VSC/Traction Control).

Thanks.

 

If it rains you need both TC and ABS (well you don't need them but it helps). ABS helps in panic stops as well.

 

ABS helps keep the brakes from locking up when make sudden stops so can be useful and especially for keeping brakes for locking up in wet conditions..

VSC helps if car starts sliding it kicks in and make the brakes kind of engage (as in not fully engage) to help keep the vehicle from skidding out of control..

Traction Control is there to help if you lose traction in your drive wheels it kicks in to slow the wheel spin so that the drive tires can regain traction...

The are really only for assitance on any vehicle. b/c if you try to make the car do things its not supposed to none of these matter..

 

Individual stories of VSC "saving their lives" aren't really valid, as the driver has no idea of how their car would have reacted without VSC.

The only way to get valid information is to compare a fleet of cars with VSC and another fleet without.

George

 

I Have extesively tested my mom's Camry SE W/ TRAC and VSC- Let me tell you It was the main selling factor in getting my xB! TRAC helps you get going on ice/snow. And VSC helps handing...

 

agreed, I'm in Denver and this is my first winter here... this is my first big snow... at lights pickup trucks just get stuck spinning... I just roll on out...

DSC in my BMW definitely did kick in a few times up in the mountains a few years back... the day before we traveled the same road in a pickup and I was scared for my life - we literally were sliding sideways while driving down the road...

I find that the VSC in Toyotas isnt' as controlling as the BMW version... in a parking lot at the ski resort this weekend I had trouble getting into a parking spot, I had to peel out for the whole 10 or 15 feet... the BMW would slow the wheels to just barely spinning, whereas the Toyota keeps both wheels kickin'...

 

it kicked in for me once, i drove into water coming down a hill,water was about 4 feet and about an inch deep,it worked for me,a lot of beeping from the vsc,so i knew it was on. the car pulled thru. the best money i have spend for a ride. i like it!!!

 

Cruiserblue, check this article regarding the NHSTA's study of VSC/ESC equipped vehicles , might make you write that check a little faster.

http://thecarconnection.com/index.as...&sid=241&n=163

 

The only problem with this study is that safety-conscious people who will pay $$$ for optional VSC would also tend to be safer drivers. The results are skewed because the drivers are not selected at random.

To make a fair study, they should take a fleet of taxis, equip half with VSC and let them run for a year or two.

Another way will be to wait a couple of years and compare RS1 xAs with VSC to ordinary xAs without. That will be interesting.

George

 

that could be skewed as well given the enthusiast draw of the xA RS1.

I've had an instance where I had the VSC beep and it helped my pull straight in an S curve with some icy conditions in the Santa Cruz mountains. I was working on a friennnds PC and it got late, around midnight I was driving home, went into the S curve and the car slid on a slight icing of the road. There's some corners out there that never dry out. About the same time I felt it get wiggly, a distracting beep goes off and a yellow light flashes to draw my attention away from the road... :?

The VSC kicked in and slowed me a little, about then I caught traction again. I'm pretty sure I would've made it thru OK on my own but it did do the job it was made to do. (Altho it can also be used as a performance marker... when I hook this one corner on the backroad to our other office, I know I hit it right if I hear the beeps at the apex. :twisted:

The ABS is also useful, it has saved me on the downward side of an over pass in the rain.

THe other thing to think about with ABS. If the person in front of you has ABS, you better hope you have it too. :D