It's December and that means most tree in my area--except for the mulberry trees--are at the height of dumping their foliage. On top of that, we've had a fair amount of rain.

I noticed that when I drive over the leaves--which are soggy and several inches high--that my TSX's wheels seem to do some sort of chugging. It's a feel that's more extreme than when the anti-lock brake mechanism engages.

Is that wheel chugging the automatic traction control? I never knew for sure what or how the ATC works.

 

You are certainly describing a situation where the VSA would be likely to be used - wet leaves are like ice! If it engages, you should see that exclamation point in a triangle icon light up on the right middle dash. I don't think it would engage if you weren't accelerating or turning on the leaves, and the only sound mine makes is the sound of the engine's power being cut (lower revs) or a tire spinning as it struggles.

 

does the TSX have traction control?... is VSA like the same thing?

 

Take your car back you should not be able to own a TSX

 

Don't be an ass.

VSA is "stability assist". TCS is "traction control". Either way what they basically do is brake slipping wheels and/or cut throttle.

What you're most likely experiencing is the wheel slipping on the leaves, then after about a 1/4 turn the brake is applied to reduce wheelspin.

 

damn, easy buddy. just thought that since other cars have seperate stability and traction systems that this one only has the stability system

 

Traction control and stability assist collectively make up VSA