bit of confusion with my traction control in my vrs fabia. in all this snow it still spins the wheels and the traction control light dosent always flash? it tends to spin then start to flash a few secs later. i thought TC was supposed to eliminate all spin in slippy conditions? my dad has a avensis and his traction control light its always flasin away in these conditions. any ideas?

I think you will find the system just cannot react fast enough when there is virtually constant slip going on. I have noticed in the wet, if I exit a roundabout with just a little bit too much power, the understeer kicks in, but the ASR takes about a second to reign it in. When I got truly stuck in snow on black ice the other day, the only way I could make progress was to turn ASR off and leave it off.

For all their electronic wizardry, modern cars are still at the mercy of the drivers capabilities.

ASR is a clumsy tool and not as effective as traction control which works by braking individual wheels as they are detected spinning. More recent cars react t spinning far quicker. In winter the best thing to do is to fit winter tyres, higher friction rubber, better tread design works well in sub zero temperatures.

Turn the ASR off!

what does ASR stand for? so its not the same as traction control? braking the wheels when spinnin?

ASR means Anti Slip Regulation.

It works differently to ABS. ABS uses wheel speed sensors to tell when a driven wheel speed exceeds the other and then all by itself applies the brake to the faster wheel. This transfers torque to the slower wheel and gets the car going on slick surfaces. As far as I know it only works in 1st and 2nd gear and under 25 MPH.

ASR uses wheel speed sensors to tell when a driven wheel speed exceeds the other. It then cuts the fuel supply for a split second which in turn stops power going to the wheels and stops the wheels spinning on slick surfaces. Not as safe or effective IMHO as ABS due to the fact that ASR can almost stop you in your tracks in the middle of the road when pulling out of a junction. Hence leaving you in the path of oncoming traffic!

Hope this helps.

I think Sausage Roll means ESP, not ABS

ABS (anti lock braking system) is to stop the brakes locking the wheels under braking, ESP (electronic stability program) brakes the wheels individually to stop spinning and loss of stability when accelerating or in a slide

Whatever is fitted to the Fabia it don't work. Just a little something to make you think something is doing something, when your the only something that's working correctly.LOL

Agree with 'Sausage Roll' regarding ASR, ( 'Confused_Cheese' ) opposed to ABS or ESP, either way they don't work quite right on the Fabia..

Edited 24 December, 200916 yr by giandougl

I think Sausage Roll means ESP, not ABS

ABS (anti lock braking system) is to stop the brakes locking the wheels under braking, ESP (electronic stability program) brakes the wheels individually to stop spinning and loss of stability when accelerating or in a slide

Thank you for that Mr Confused_Cheese sir.

Where would we be without our fellow briskodians to correct/help us when we make the simplest of mistakes and make ourselves look like a complete and utter muppet.