Traction Control: How it Keeps You Safe While Driving

We've all been driving in versatile weather conditions. Certain journeys were on dry roads, while others happened on slippery surfaces. Driving on ice-covered roads can be dangerous if the tires aren't able to maintain their grip, which results in the loss of control over the vehicle. In such circumstances, traction control (TC) can be helpful as it can ensure better safety levels. But how does it help?

Traction control is essentially a security feature that stops your wheels from spinning or slipping in certain weather conditions, keeping the tires' surface contact, which enables the vehicle's forward motion and increases overall driving safety levels. In the simplest of terms, traction control helps your tires maintain the road grip when you need it, but there are also times when you'd want it turned off, which we'll mention a bit later.

In order to utilize traction control to its full capacity and for your benefit, it's important to know more about it, right? After all, knowledge is power. Knowing this system will allow you to make more informed decisions during the drive. So, without further ado, let's discuss traction control in more detail.

What is Traction Control?

The traction control is a system that deals with engine power and individual wheel rotation to help maintain grip. When the vehicle's sensors pick up that some wheels are rotating at different speeds from the others, the TC will intervene in a few ways. It can limit the engine power, apply a brake to the spinning wheels, or do both things in order to limit the tire spin and regain traction. This is particularly useful in icy and snowy conditions, but also when it rains heavily. This kind of weather causes slippery and skidding situations, where the tires will spin more than necessary without offering any grip, which is when the TC will kick in and save the day.

While some people confuse the traction control with an anti-lock braking system (ABS), they are in fact different things. The ABS assists drivers in maintaining control over their vehicles in emergency braking situations. When you suddenly hit the brakes, your tires will stop turning, but the momentum of your vehicle will push it forward, causing your vehicle to skid or slip, which is particularly noticeable in different weather conditions, like on wet roads. To avoid this, the ABS monitors the speed of each wheel, preventing them from locking by periodically braking a number of times per second. This restores steering control to drivers.

In other words, the traction control influences the spinning of your tires, while the anti-lock braking system applies the braking in intervals when a driver presses the brake pedal hard. Both of them affect traction and safety on the road.

What Does Traction Control Do?

Like we've previously mentioned, the TC uses wheel speed sensors to keep a close eye on your tires if any one of them is spinning too fast. If any tire exhibits this behavior, the system takes the data, analyzes it, and interprets it as a wheel slip or loss of traction. Since the TC is designed to prevent this, it will take action at this point if it's turned on and correct the wheel spin by applying brakes to the affected wheels or reducing engine power.

This can happen, for example, when it's a rainy day and you're at the traffic light. When the green light turns on, you press the gas and your wheels start to turn rapidly, but you're not getting anywhere. This is where the TC will involve itself to limit the spin of your tires, enabling better road grip and giving the driver control over the vehicle.

Types of Traction Control Systems

By this point, we've mentioned the engine power and brakes a few times already when discussing traction control. They represent two different ways the TC operates. In other words, we can say that two types of traction control systems help during the drive in particular situations.

Engine Traction Control

This is a mechanism that reduces the engine torque through the electronic engine control unit, regulating the throttle valve or fuel injection to decrease the spinning of your tires. It essentially diminishes the power you're investing into the wheels to regain traction and allow you to accelerate and move forward.

Brake Traction Control

It's a system that detects when a single wheel on an axle spins faster than the other wheel on the same axle, reducing its torque with brakes while the other wheel gets more torque. The optimizes the wheel spin, enabling the tire to grip the road and not slip due to excessive spin.

Benefits of Traction Control

Depending on your car, traction control can be automatically turned on, allowing you to reap the benefits it offers. If the TC is turned off, you can typically turn it back on by pressing a single button with an image of a car with squiggly lines underneath it. In certain vehicles, you may also find the word “off” beneath or next to the image. Keep in mind that different vehicles have different locations for the TC button. It is nonetheless located somewhere around the dashboard area.

Once the traction control is turned on, the system essentially improves your safety levels by controlling the wheel spin and reducing it when needed. All of this is done to maintain traction when driving, which improves handling on slippery surfaces when it's raining heavily or when the road is covered in ice or snow. Even when the weather conditions are good, the TC can stay on since it's also helpful when making a sharp turn. After all, maintaining good traction is important regardless of weather conditions. As the TC prevents excess wheel spin, it ensures smoother acceleration.

Sometimes, the benefits of reducing the engine power to the wheel or decreasing the spinning of tires can be counterproductive. When you're stuck in mud, sand, snow, or ice, and when you're trying to go up the roads with steeper inclines, you'll need more power and spin in order to achieve this. If the TC is already running, press and hold the traction control button till you hear the “beep” sound to turn it off. Be mindful that different vehicles might have other methods of turning this feature off.

Traction Control vs. Stability Control

Modern vehicles use many different systems that aid drivers in ensuring a safe performance on the road. Besides the already discussed traction control, the stability control also plays a role during the drive. Let's see how we can distinguish these two.

Traction control, to sum it up, is a feature that detects slips or loss of traction and controls how fast one or more tires spin, helping the vehicle to regain a firm grip with its tires and preventing slipping in inclement weather conditions or when accelerating.

Stability control (SC) is a system that stabilizes your car and helps you keep the direction in which you want to go. It utilizes sensors in your wheels and the computer to determine the intended motion and the actual motion of your vehicle. If they don't align, the SC stabilizes the vehicle's movement to make sure you go where you've intended, effectively correcting understeering and oversteering.

Common Traction Control Problems

While traction control provides significant assistance to drivers, it doesn't mean that the system itself cannot fail due to various reasons. Let's take a look at some common problems that can occur with traction control systems:

• Wheel speed sensors, like any other equipment, can become faulty due to dirt, debris, or damaged electrical connections.
• Warning lights staying on the dashboard is another issue that might stem from a control module or sensors that are no longer functioning properly.
• If you notice a power reduction when accelerating, your traction control system might be too sensitive, requiring adjustment to ensure proper function.
• Connection issues between different elements result in occasional or total system failures, which can happen due to corroded or damaged wiring.

Since different aspects of the TC system can fail, it's necessary to keep it functional to ensure high driving safety. Regular visits to a professional can help you keep the system operational.

Traction Control Maintenance Tips

Since the TC provides great benefits, it's in your best interest to keep it functional at all times. One way to keep the TC running smoothly is to keep your tires in good condition, so make sure they are properly inflated and check their tread depth. Moreover, regular inspections of the traction system during routine maintenance checks are helpful to ensure its optimal performance. This includes regular sensor checks, but also software updates, which can improve performance and enhance the existing features. In addition, consult your owner's manual to keep yourself informed about how your car's system works.

Bottom Line

As a standard safety feature since 2012, the traction control has helped save many lives in challenging weather conditions. It's helpful in maintaining the tires' grip on slippery surfaces, since it adjusts the engine power and lowers the wheel spin with the brakes. In most cases, it should remain activated to ensure the safety of everyone in a vehicle, due to its ability to regain traction. Human life should be a priority whenever you're on the road. However, it's also good to know when you can benefit from the TC's deactivation in order to get the most out of your car for that particular instance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Is My Traction Control Light On?

The traction control light will appear briefly when the vehicle is turned on, showing the system is doing a self-check. If the light is on during acceleration, the system has detected the wheel slip and is working as intended. The light can also indicate that traction control is malfunctioning or is disabled.

How To Turn Off Traction Control?

You can turn off the traction control when you press a button with an image of a car with two squiggly lines and the word OFF underneath it. The button can be found in different places depending on the vehicle. The orange emblem or a pop-up message will inform you that you have turned traction control off.

How To Reset The Traction Control Light?

Reset this light by turning the engine off while parked. Wait for a few minutes, then turn the engine and the vehicle on. Observe the dashboard and drive the vehicle to test it. You can manually reset the traction control light by consulting your vehicle's owner's manual. Seek professional help if needed.

How To Turn On Traction Control?

Modern cars will typically turn on the traction control system automatically when you start your car. In case you have turned it off before and you want it activated again, the usual method is to just press or press and hold a button that has an image of a car followed by squiggly lines on it.

Do F1 Cars Have Traction Control?

F1 cars do not have traction control, though it has been reintroduced and banned a few times in the past 25 years. It was banned in 2008 to limit the impact of technology on driver skill, increasing the driving difficulty of F1 and making the race more exciting for drivers and fans.

When Was Traction Control Invented?

Traction control was invented in 1971 by Buick. They created a traction control system, called Max-Trac, which had an electronic computer that used speed sensors and some other elements to control rear wheel spin. This enabled the rear wheels to pick up traction on wet and slippery surfaces.