I drove about 20 miles, tonight, on the Interstate on complete black ice.

I had a good distance from the trucks in front and in back of me so I played around a little to get a feel for the car.

With the VSA "on" the car was pretty amazing. Push a little gas and it just pulled forward. Push a little too hard and blinking yellow light and major VSA intervention.

Then I turned off the VSA. Just tapping the gas caused the wheels to spin. I was amazed that it was that slippery. The VSA had lured me into believing it wasn't as bad as every other driver thought it was (we were going really slow!).

It appeared to me that when the "traction control" intervenes with only throttle application reduction, the light on the dash does not blink. It only seems to blink only when more major brake application type intervention happens??

Botton line is that I felt it drove pretty good in some pretty bad conditions. There were at least 15-20 cars in the ditch along the way, and I felt pretty comfortable.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! Keep the VSA on.

 

Our little electronic friends help us "go" but they don't help us "stop". Nothing defies the laws of physics. We get ice where I am all the time and I wouldn't even think of driving with anything but snows. Y'all be careful out there.

 

This one good point you're making here, I noticed the same thing.

Guys, it may become important for us to remain very conscient of the limits a VSA has. Having it working for us may evntually lure us into a feeling of safety and overconfidence--just like in an SUV. But don't be fooled, it's just a feeling, and VSA is also subject to the laws of physics.

I'm afraid someone somewhere is going to find out the hard way. When you drive, if it looks like the car couldn't handle one situation without the VSA, avoid this situation, because it could be too much even for the VSA.

 

i've driven the car trough blizzard, also very impressed with VSA, kept me straight the whole way home. of course, it can be overcome, so don't be a cowboy when there's snow or ice on the road.

 

I hope I wasn't being misunderstood. I did not mean to incite crazy driving tactics since the car has VSA.

I was just pointing out that I found that it seemed to work pretty effectively.

I also think it is pretty important that people find a good safe location to explore the handling characteristics of a car.

I think way too many people experience ABS for the first time in a panic situation or have no idea what capabilities a car has as another car pulls in front of them.

I think they should wet down a big section of asphalt, in the high school parking lot, and make drivers ed students push the car beyond it's limits, so they have some concept of how to handle a car as it goes out of control.

 

Well...I took a safety course here in Portland, OR--Pro Drive. Learned a BUNCH! It was a lot of fun to drive around in their special skid cars (check out the link to learn more 'bout Pro Drive). Currently have a butt load of snow up here on the mountain (home) and it is snowing down in the valley right now. I'm really glad I took the course because it really has helped me handle some scary situations.

Pro Drive

Safe drivin' ya'll...Portland is going to be a total MESS in the morning.

 

I agree - VSA is pretty amazing. We had black-ice a few weeks ago, and I was totally impressed with how well my TSX handled - in my humble opinion, I felt just as "in control" and safe as I did with my A6 Quattro.

This car just keeps on surprising me - and making me glad I bought it!

-mj

 

With the last major snowfall around here, my VSA didn't kick in once...I left the car in the garage and took the SUV instead. Four wheel drive with locking differentials will beat a front wheel drive any day.

The last time I had my TSX out in a major snowfall, the VSA wouldn't let me go anywhere. I got stuck on flat ground when I pulled off the road to clean the wipers. Also, I couldn't get any momentum to go up the hills 'cuz the VSA kept limiting my speed due to the slippery conditions. Guess I need to turn the VSA off next time...

 

I was just in Seattle this week. Oh boy did I learn about snow and black ice. I drove my sisters car and just going 20-30, I can feel the tires start to slip. We took the Jeep (Jip) to Mt. Pillchuck and found ourselves turning around because of how heavy it was snowing and black ice. 2 friends of ours wrecked their vehicles due to black ice. The other vehicles swirved into the other lane and hit'em head on. Be careful! I'm just glad to be back in LA.

 

Thanks for relaying that experience. I never was really sure about how the VSA worked.

Regardless of the electronic wizardry, one should never drive in dangerous or hazardous conditions--like black ice--with overconfidence.

The state highway patrol was asked on TV what kinds of motor vehicles generally have the worst problems driving on snowy highways (this was in the Sierra Nevadas on highway 80 between Auburn and Nevada).

Answer: those in 4 wheel drive vehicles are more likely to end up out-of-control and sidelined or in the ditches. Why? Overconfidence and pure and plain ignorance about their 4WD vehicles' capabilities and limitations.

Perhaps there's a false sense of invincibility because they feel "safe" driving 4WD? (One wonders of these bad drivers blame themselves or their vehicle for the problem.)