Can anybody tell me what it is? I was driving on the express way while raining and this poped up and says my traction control is off?

 

This is a brief description I gave in another thread....


Advancetrac is really 3 systems in one.

The first system is Traction Control, which works off a simple wheel spin sensor in the rear tires. If any wheel spin is detected it will apply the brakes and/or reduce ignition and fuel flow to the engine. It will continue to ride the brakes and reduce power until you've achieved a speed where the system feels that wheel spin is no longer possible. The problem here is it's virtually impossible to go around a corner in a Mustang without spinning the rear inside tire. Even at slow speeds and slow acceleration there will almost always be some wheel spin. It's just the nature of the live axel rear end and Ford's limited slip differential. So, the wheel spin sensors will detect slippage at the rear tire while cornering and apply some brake to control it, and this will happen almost every sharp corner you take.

The second system is an Electronic Stability Control system. This is where things start getting complicated. This system monitors the suspension and wheel spin sensors in the front tires, so if it detects a wheel that is lightly sprung (ie, not getting good contact with the ground) or understeer/oversteer it will apply the brake on the opposite corner to flatten out the car. While it does work with the Traction Control System, this system does NOT require wheel spin to activate, it will try to level out the car via braking regardless of if there is a loss of traction or not.

The third system is the real killer for a sports car. The Roll Stability Control. This is a gyroscopic controlled system that will activate any time it detect sudden body lean. This system can be set off by driving in a straight line down a significantly uneven road. For instance, an old asphalt road which semis have used for years with deep ruts that alternate sides will set the system off as the car rolls from one side to the other when it passes through the ruts. It can also be set off by quick changes in direction, such as driving a slalom course. It does not detect the road surface, it only detects sudden changes to the angle and direction of body roll, so ANYTHING that causes the body to roll suddenly can set off the system.


Hope that helps you understand Advancetrac a bit better.

 

Thank you!

 

So I'm assuming that if you know how to drive, you should turn it off.

 

For the most part your correct.
Only thing I see wrong is the wheel spin detection uses all the wheel speed sensors and compares the speed of the rear tires with the speed of the front tires and activates if it detects a faster speed in the rear than the front.

Also I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the mustang will not apply its own brakes. It will cut throttle down.

 

The TSC should NEVER go off unless you turn it off.

 

Thanks for your info.

What exactly does this last system do? Braking, reduction of acceleration?

 

I know.. I didn't turn it off it pop up randomly. It don't let me turn it back on

 

Then bring it for service ASAP. 1 push of the button should read "traction control off" push it again it will turn it back on "advancetrac on". Stopped with foot on the brake and push and hold 5 seconds "advancetrac off" (everything is off).........

So of while you are driving you are getting an "advancetrac off" display then something is seriously not right because you couldn't even manually do that yourself while driving. You can however hit the button once while driving and have it display "traction control off"

 

I disagree.

 

+1 lol

 

Yeah man I tryed it and nothing happend... I'm going to take it in today.

 

Negative. It's there for a reason, to save your ***. If you plan on some "spirited" fun lol, then take it off. Under normal and some rough driving there's no reason to not have it on. We are all not as good of drivers as we'd like to think

 

Like I said... I could be wrong.

 

Straight from Ford themselves.

http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=20679




The last one doesn't say what it does, but I can tell you from experience, it assumes you've lost control of your car and tries to stop it.

 

Traction control shouldnt turn itself off, unless there is a problem detected with the wheel spin sensors, maybe one come loose, take it to the dealer

 

It most definitely will apply the brakes. On closed roads, I've tested out the different functions (ABS, AdvanceTrac, etc) just to learn the limits of my own car and if you do an emergency lane change quick enough, it will actually slam on the brakes quite hard. The whole car dips/dives down as if you had slammed on the brakes yourself. While it does work to keep the car from losing control and it keeps it in a straight line, it's quite aggressive.

 

:O
Not sure if i like the car to brake hard when im doing an emergency lane change, sounds kinda sketchy

 

"For a spin, both feet in." I guess the car tries to do that automagically.

I dunno about the fancy systems... I've had my car fairly well sideways both intentionally and unintentionally and didn't really notice much happening that I didn't do myself.

Guess I just need more "testing."

 

If your name is Vaughn Gittin, Ken Block, Randy Pobst or Matt Kenseth, sure. If you're just an enthusiast driving on the street like most of us, turning off those systems for everyday driving is idiotic and akin to unbuckling your seatbelt or disabling your airbags because you think you'll never crash, in my opinion. If you feel the need to light up the tires on a wide open lonely road sometime, that's a different story