I purchased a 2012 TL SH-AWD about 2 months ago and love the car. I've read many threads on Acurazine but this will be my first time posting.

Before I get into my question, let me state that I've owned 4 different Honda's in the past decade and I'm very familiar with their VSA system... or so I thought.

In my new SH-AWD, no matter how hard I push it, I have never managed to make the VSA engage. My previous Honda's weren't like this and the orange triangle wold beep and flash on the dash if I accelerated hard enough to lose traction. The other night, I was making a right turn from a stop sign and punched the car a little too hard around this turn and literally got the car almost sideways -- stupid I know. I was able to steer into the spin and get the car reconnected but I was shocked that the traction control didn't kick in. This was the 2nd time I've managed to have significant wheel slip without the VSA light coming on or flashing.

I expect that Honda/Acura must tune the sensitivity of the system to each individual car model and that it must be desensitized for a 305 HP car. if not, we'd all be complaining about the system kicking in and cutting power every time we nailed the gas pedal. But I had this thing going almost sideways and no VSA engagement.

I'm curious to hear other people's experience with the VSA system, specifically when has it kicked in on it's own as evident by the blinking triangle and audible tone.

 

It's AWD. Your past 4 hondas probably were not? I don't know why you would want to drive so hard just to make the VSA triangle appear o.O

 

The tricky thing about the AWD to learn is to keep your foot in it when you're breaking loose, that lifting is about the worst thing you can do to keep control of the line the car is on.

I've never tripped the VSA light, but I've also never been able to break traction on all 4 wheels in a straight line.

I do notice when you turn it off, the car does "feel" a bit more loose and shifting is more aggressive (COULD BE ALL MENTAL).

Interesting to see what others share; I've never been able to get the lights on, even in the winter pushing it.

 

I can get my VSA to go off if I stomp down on the gas.. but I'm FWD.

And I agree when you turn off the VSA the car does feel more opened up. It will rev higher and hold gears longer than if it were off.
Usually when I get stuck in snow I turn off VSA to get out or else the VSA just trips and cuts off power making it impossible to get out of the snow

 

simply put: you're not breaking traction.

 

4" snow last winter, I could pop the VSA every corner by gunning it with the wheel turned and kick the rear end out, fun as hell - turn off the VSA in a heavy snow laden lot and donut yourself to pure ecstasy - the difference with AWD is you can actually choose to stop spinning...

 

Fixed

 

How do you do it?

 

The SH-AWD car will react differently when compared to purely FWD cars.

But in your case, you had a 4-wheel neutral drift, which meant that all four tires had completely lost traction with the asphalt. VSA operates by braking actions. When there is no tire traction, braking is ineffective and so is VSA.

So, no amount of electronic aid and gadget is gonna save you, until enough speed is scrubbed off for the tires to regain traction again. Then, VSA is able to cut in and help keeping the car under control.

VSA and SH-AWD are great inventions. But they are not invincible. They won't help any driver from crashing his car if the car is carrying too much speed into a turn.

 

Of my 4 previous Honda's, 2 were FWD and 2 were AWD. Although none were the SH-AWD (obviously). I wasn't trying to make the VSA light come on, I was just having some fun with the car, almost a little too much fun! Also, I can't say for sure that all 4 tires broke loose. All I know is the rear end came loose it swung around to the side.

FWIW, both times I was able to get the car loose was in wet weather. I've heard that the stock Michelin's aren't that great, even though they cost >$300 per tire.

 

Same thing happened to me few times. The car just slides in a turn, almost lost it once. Not a blip from the the VSA.

 

or it happens so fast, that you dont even see the VSA icon flash.
because I would imagine the eyes are concentrated on the road ahead, especially in a slide.

 

In every Honda I've owned, it flashes for several seconds and makes an audible tone.

 

okay, what does that have to do with a new model with a new all wheel drive system?
my '06 does not make an audible tone.
it also flashes for a few seconds but if im not staring down exactly when it happens, I'll miss it.

so, lets say it flashes for exactly 1.5 secs.
if you're looking at the road, IN A SLIDE, you'll miss it.

 

Which Honda you owned/owns make an audible tone when the VSA kicks in ?

I don't think the Honda/Acura VSA system has an audio output.

 

Toyota's make an audible tone; my 6MT doesn't make a sound, and sometimes it kicks in slightly and you don't even notice it... sometimes it doesn't kick in until I have the tail about 45 degrees out....

 

^thank you

 

My '12 SH-AWD has visual and audio alerts for the VSA

 

^does it "chime" and announce the time and date and what conditions it activated at?

 

rofl, that would be something - as I recall it just beeps similar to a radar detector, I wouldn't call it a chime

 

Does this apply if you always drive with VSA off? Or do you guys leave it on passivily? Just curious because I have done awd slides and never had the VSA kick in, but then again I don't drive with it on.

 

I checked the owner's manual, there is no audible tone but it says that you will see it blink if it is activated (just like in my previous Honda vehicles). I'm not worried about it, just not sure why the system didn't come on when the rear was seriously sliding (spinning?) through a turn.

Moral of the story, don't take that turn so fast!

 

^sigh.

 

My guess is A. you werent going fast enough, B. not braking to cause VSA to activate, C. all 4 tires were traveling at the same speed so the system saw no need for it. Now why TCS didnt activate is a different story.