I wasn't concerned with regaining traction (I did this before I even went over the hill), it was a blind hill, so I was wanting to just not lose control. You're right about FWD cars in that sense though, many a time have I tapped the gas and pointed the wheels where I wanted to go in order to regain traction.

Also how does disabling ABS constitute a lawsuit? Some cars on the road don't have this feature at all. Besides, I wouldn't disable it if I weren't confident in my driving. I just don't want any repercussions coming from having it on, I heard that tapping the brakes on an ABS vehicle has negative effects and I know that in the heat of the moment I'm not going to remember to not tap them.

Interesting watch, and I may very well get VSC for my next xD (assuming, and HOPING they decide this one is totaled). But did you see at 2:15 how the benz lost control going off road? My situation was sort of like that, except the drop was a good foot or two, I think I may have even been on my undercarriage, but I'll have to check and see when I get the car back. That's why I don't think VSC could have helped in my situation. Crazy how much it helps though, not even I could have the reaction time (or capability) to brake individual wheels.

 

Ouch, glad to know you're okay though

 

Disabling a safety device would be cause for a lawsuit. Just imagine if someone disabled their ABS, then they lost control, skidded into your car while you were stopped at a traffic light and [God forbit] killed your child in the back seat. Would you be okay with his explanation that he thought he was experienced enough not to need ABS?

Some cars don't have seatbelts. Do you think a cop would let you use that excuse if you were caught not wearing yours?

Well, hopefully you are rethinking that. The point of ABS and VSC are that they can do thing that you cannot do such as brake hard while maintaining enough front wheel traction to steer, or braking one wheel at a time. No matter how good you think you are, you cannot do these things. Even if you were the most experienced driver on the road, surprises do happen. You have only been on the road a few years -- undoubtedly, you will experience some crazy stuff out there. I was driving along a snowy/ice road a few years back and I was doing everything right. I had snow tires and I was driving at a nice, slow, safe speed. However, the GMC Jimmy that was heading towards me was not. The Jimmy skidded sideways, then into my lane, then flipped and rolled about 4 times. I was lucky enough to be able to get out of the way and still maintain control. Had the Jimmy been any closer to me when it lost control, it would have rolled right over me. I feel a lot better now that I have a car with the ability to maintain traction in situations where my old car simply could not.

Precisely. The 30-year-old Benz without ESP lost control. The new Benz with ESP maintained control. The funny thing is that in the story I told about the GMC Jimmy rolling towards me, I was driving a W123 Benz just like the yellow one in the video... except it was silver.

 

Wishing my RS1 had VSC...

 

Just bought a 2009 xD for my son, I wouldn't settle for one without VSC, 4 dealers later and 40 miles away from my home, I found one with VSC in the color my son wanted, VSC= cheap insurance, even though one may never use it, but if you did need it, it's there. Well worth the extra cash IMO.

 

ouch

 

We got a couple of inches of snow today, and I found some time to play in a large, empty parking lot. When you activate VSC, it beep-beep-beeps at you while it is working. It's not loud... you could miss it if you have music playing. Pretty cool, though. I've played with VWs that have ESP (same as VSC) and it is hard to make them go into a full skid in the snow, believe me. If you added snow tires, they would be unstoppable (okay, until you bottomed out).