jftjr

No, not at all...

This is my first car with VSA, and I liken the experience to learning how to drive with my first car with ABS.... when I was a kid, and things like ABS didn't come on cars, we were taught "threshold braking" -- pump the brakes and/or modulate pressure to keep the wheels from locking up, and don't steer with the brakes locked.

Along comes ABS, and I had to "un-learn" that behavior, and learn to mash the pedal as hard as possible and steer around an obstacle.

OK, so, now, 20 years later or so, I'm re-learning how to react to skids.

The VSA correction can be violent, and unexpected... and I think it's worth it to spend some time on an empty mall parking lot in the rain or snow, learning how to deal with it.

RL06tech

True.
Note, were not banging VSA, which is the most important safety device since seatbelts, were discussing its actions when driving the car at racing speeds and maneuvers, which a different ball game altoghether. In my expirience Honda has if not the best, certainly one of the best stability control systems in the industry, it allows some play while maintaining you safe. However SHAWD makes the RL and other such equipped vehicles to behave differently when driven beyond their very high limits, were simply sharing our expiriences and thoughts in those situations.

gavine

My experience with SH-AWD is that when accelerating through a turn, the "feel" I get from the system is that the steering wheel doesn't "fight" me. In other cars, when cornering at higher speeds, the car will want to try and go straight and you sort of "fight" the wheel to continue turning. In the RL, I know the SH-AWD is engaged because the car just turns with no effort.

What an incredible system.

neuronbob

This is called understeer and is dialed into many cars (IMHO) as a way to keep drivers from killing themselves in the twisties. Luckily, our RL doesn't do this.

SpicyMikey

Update: I took someones advice and tried to see what would happen on a sharp curve without applying gas. They were right. If you can belive the display the sh-awd kicked in and applied power to the back outside wheel eventhough I wasn't powering through the curve. Still only got one bar but it definitely showed extra power to that wheel. Interesting.......

RL06tech

SHAWD works at all speeds however it can only transfer the torque you give it! If you bury the accelerator you will aproportion it to that wheel. If you give it a lot in a tight corner, you will actually induce oversteer (slide the rear) which can be controlled nicely with the gas pedal (just like in RWD). However it is also better than RWD since it is actually accelerating that wheel thus enabling you a higher speed through the coner as long as tire adhesion is preserved. SHAWD is trully the shizzle. The RL's suspension is truly not sport oriented, however, SHAWD lets it carve corners like more agressively tuned RWD cars. Neuron has written often about the advantages of the A spec suspension. My guess is that full a Spec tune 18 inch wheels with summer rubber and the suspesion knicknacks should easily ream M5's and others in twisty situations.

SpicyMikey

That's what I would have intuitively thought. However, the display showed power going to that back outside wheel (one bar) while all other wheels had no bars. This was while I was making a hard right 90d turn at an intersection with my foot off the gas doing around 30mph. Maybe the VSA is taking over?

By the way, it took the turn like it was on rails. I don't want to do that often with these expensive PAX tires but I was impressed.

Chas2

My guess is that is the acceleration device using available torque, doing its thing.

SpicyMikey

Here's some text from an article I read describing SH-AWD. It appears SH-AWD does in fact kick in without the gas pedal being pressed -- as some stated. It will use acceleration to stabilize a car through a turn to compliment VSA

==========
"The system is comparatively simple, according to Mr. Tokushima, using a transfer case at the front, and a rear differential and two clutches at the rear to distribute torque. It is "proactive," as well, meaning that SH-AWD anticipates vehicle behaviour in particular conditions, and continuously compensates (it's "always active" says Mr. Tokushima) by distributing torque between front and rear wheels, and from side-to-side at the rear.

Likewise, if you're accelerating through a corner, and you abruptly take your foot off the gas, the SH-AWD system will work to stabilize the vehicle.

In case you're wondering, this is different than electronic stability control, where the throttle and brakes are selectively applied when sensors detect wheel slip. In many cases, in fact, braking responses from some stability control systems can come on too suddenly for many drivers, almost stopping a vehicle. Often, it's acceleration that's required to enhance stability, and here is where SH-AWD uniquely (at this point in time) has an advantage. "
========

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Ah...that's what I thought. It's not necessarily applying extra power at that wheel, but rather taking power away from the other wheels. It's not actively overdriving the outside rear wheel so much as underdriving all the other wheels.

RL06tech

Correct!

getakey

mu understanding is that the unbalanced torque on the rear wheels will happen in either acceleration or deacceleration. It is most evident in very hard acceleration through a corner. It is a bit un-nerviing, but you actually get more control if you get on the throttle through a corner. In this case, you can definitely feel the effect without having to try and look at the MID. I have felt it in both wet and dry conditions. As someone else mentioned, the wet condition will often bring VSA into play which does create some interesting effects, but I never felt out of control.

SpicyMikey

I agree. I was the one who started this thread because I was unsure mine was working. However, I now realize I was misunderstanding how it worked. I've "tested" it out over the last few days with the help of comments from here and now see that it works just fine on my RL. Very cool stuff. here's what I learned from my own experiences and everyone elses input

1) The sh-awd kicks in when the engine is applying thrust to the vehicle. The easiest way I've found to see the effect is to take a right 90d turn and jump on it as you enter the turn. You get 5 bars on the outside wheel every time.
2) the sh-awd also works when the engine is idle in a turn. From what I've read the sh-awd acts somewhat as a pre-vsa system to try and ANTICIPATE stability problems and keep the car on track if it senses extreme yaw in the vehicle and responds. it does this by gently overdriving the outside wheels and kicks in BEFORE any problems occur.
3) the vsa system works WITH the sh-awd when the computer determines the vehicle is in an active drift. It then starts applying brake power to reposition the vehicle in the direction the driver is steering while sh-awd applies power. How it coordinates all this is impressive.

This is only my own personal conclusions from what I've seen and heard. I'm no expert on these systems. I admit I am talking out my ass on this a bit. Regardless, it's all very very impressive

RL06tech

You've got it grasshoper!

gdevine

I didn't want to start a separate post on this becuase my problem is some what related. When I am stopped up a hill even though I am in drive, the car will roll down hill (backward). I have to have my foot on the brake or be hitting the gas or I'm rolling in reverse downhill. Is this normal?

My 99 Audi would lock in place. Its not a big deal but can be an annoyance when driving in hilly cities like SFO. Mainly I just want to know if I have a problem.

RL06tech

All Honda's and most other cars do the same thing. Some cars, as your previous audi, have a hill holding feature. My guess is that since all honda's were by and large manual trannies this "feature" has never been part of their tranny "menu". When in France, I drove a renault that had a varietion of the same thing with an electronically controlled parking brake operated by a button.