Traction control is ____

[L8APEX]

Today I drove my GT in the morning in the snow. I have pirreli sottozeros and it drove just fine. Fast forward to now and in really really light snow I couldn't move forward on a flat surface. It would stay stuck at 1k rpm. With traction control completely off, I was able to drive the car just fine. I ended up going around on some cleared roads, and turned the traction control on and it would be fine. Whenever I stop though, I appear to be getting zero traction to the rear wheels.

In the morning, I was able to go up a steep hill. At lunch time, I was unable to go up..I only got up when I turned traction control off.

Any thoughts regarding what could possibly be wrong? Is it me, or the car? I have been driving RWD cars with snow tires for years, so it is not like I am new to this. :shrug::shrug:

Of note: I had the traction control go completely off on be before and the fault light came on. The dealer couldn't replicate it and the light never came back on since. This is weird. There are no codes right now in the DTC

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[Brando]

Had you driven it in the snow before? Could just be that for whatever reason you were just getting more slippage this time around than before. I've heard people on this forum say they have to turn off traction control in snow but I have not had to. I've driven my car in the snow 4 times now and never had an issue. I'm on Yokohama Advan A/S's and have to put effort into losing traction in the snow. I do not have to drive on any major hills, though.

Hope it gets figured out. Good luck.

 

[jasonstang]

What's happening is traction control limits wheel spin and on snowy surface, some wheel spin will help the tires to dig deep into the snow and find grip.

 

[GoBlues38]

yep. traction control requires some level of traction to work. Sometimes you have to disable it to get going, then turn it back on.

 

[L8APEX]

yep. traction control requires some level of traction to work. Sometimes you have to disable it to get going, then turn it back on.

Interesting. I never had to do this with my other RWD Fords(which arguably has much worse traction)

 

[ssyellow]

Interesting. I never had to do this with my other RWD Fords(which arguably has much worse traction)

Could be the tires, I have the same. From a stop its not the best but once it gets going its fine. I drive with all assists off until I get on clear roads.

 

[IslandHopper]

Do the wheels spin when the TC is "messing up"? ... or is the TC not even letting them spin?

 

[L8APEX]

Do the wheels spin when the TC is "messing up"? ... or is the TC not even letting them spin?

The TC is letting it spin. When it is off, I felt the tires grip much better.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Of note: I had the traction control go completely off on be before and the fault light came on. The dealer couldn't replicate it and the light never came back on since. This is weird. There are no codes right now in the DTC

I've had mine flake out occassionally and shut off on gravel (snow, whats that?). Getting back on a solid road and restarting the car clears it. I think when it gets too confused it just gives up. Nothing to worry about.

 

[paul123]

Today I drove my GT in the morning in the snow. I have pirreli sottozeros and it drove just fine. Fast forward to now and in really really light snow I couldn't move forward on a flat surface. ...

Your car premium with SNOW mode ? I didn't think TC would engage until the wheels start spinning. Maybe its too cold for TC? :shrug:

 

[RevvdMedia]

I've only felt the need to turn off traction control twice, once in really mushy snow which gave almost no traction, and once on a right hand turn. I believe my tires (Nokian Hakka R2) are offering great traction though. The problem with TC is it tries to limit or completely negate wheel spin (once it senses it). It often goes overboard in snow and on ice though, as there is next to no friction available.

I have found this on numerous vehicles over the years.

 

[grue]

i never leave the garage without turning TC off in the snow/slush. wheels stopping mid-incline is a bad thing!

 

[VinnAY]

I've had zero problems in the mild Kansas City winter where >3" is a major event. I use Xi3, no weight in the trunk and TC=ON. Start, stop, incline, decline, start in 2d gear, I've been miraculously surprised with this tire.
Previously I had used the Xi2 on a Genesis 3.8 and it was utterly undriveable and downright dangerous even in just above freezing slushy stuff.

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