My wife and I bought a 05' TL with the automatic transmission over a year ago. So far it has been a great car but recently the Vehicle Stability Assist has been causing some major (dangerous) problems. I will be driving the car and all the sudden the VSA will kick on, causing the car to veer sharply to the right. Here are all the details that I have noted:

-The car will always nose-dive and veer to the right. It feels like the front-passenger brake is grabbing.
-The VSA activates for only a fraction of a second, never more.
-Immediately after, the "!" lights up indicating the VSA has been disabled. The "VSA" light under the speedometer also lights up. The VSA cannot be turned back on at this point.
-Once the car is shut off and turned back on again, neither light remains on. I can also turn the VSA on and off at will.
-I scanned the car with an OBDII code scanner - no codes. I have scanned the car immediately after the problem while the VSA and "!" light was still on.
-There is no consistent situation in when this can happen. Anytime from backing out of the driveway to driving 80 MPH on the freeway. It has happened going straight, on a turn, while braking, accelerating, or coasting.

Has anyone had this happen to them? If so, what was the cause?

 

Yikes find a good local Honda/Acura shop and bring the car in. The ability of the car to brake independently of the driver or worse let off the brakes on it's own has always worried me. There are two things that need to work perfectly everytime you ask of them, breaks and steering. You might be better off having it towed in.

 

Towing is not necessary, since I can simply turn off the VSA right when I start the car. I was hoping to find someone on here who had this same problem and could steer (pun intended) me in the right direction so I can purchase the appropriate parts and install them myself and avoid the outrageous dealer charges.

 

You wont find nothing scanning the motor for codes, instead look in the ABS/ Brake area or Body codes.

 

Thanks for the input! Where would I look for ABS/Brake or Body codes?

 

On my Snap On scanner it is in the ABS section. So go under ABS, all codes should come right up.

 

Might be better just turn off the VSA and drive it that way. This way it wont just kick in when it receives a corrupted signal from a wheel sensor or defective part and tries to correct it self.

 

there are a few TSBs on the brake system including an ABS controller issue

a specialty brake shop can do a code read, or head to the dealer on this one

call acura and make a report too 1-800-382-2238x5

 

bad wheel speed sensor comes to mind as something to check

Seems like a ziner had similar prob and that was the part needed-
bad signal and computer goes nuts

not too expensive and DIY

 

I sure hope it's just the wheel sensor and not the ABS controller ($$$) thanks for all the help guys. I'll update this thread when I get the the bottom of this issue.