"new Age" 4x4s And Traction Control

[Duncan]

A group of us decided to do a hill climb a few weekends ago.

There were 9 vehicles in total and some of them were "new age" machines.

The Vehicles were;

VW Tourag V8, VW Tourag V10, Subaru Outback, Nissan Patrol, LR Defender 3, Nissan Terrano 3, Toyota Hilux s/cab, Toyota Hilux d/cab, and LR Defender 110.

The climb consisted of a moderately steep gradient and then the last 30 or so meters towards the top it got quite steep. the track was mostly wet, loose stones. The entire climb was close to a kilometer.

The newer vehicles had traction control which came into play when the onboard computer sensed loss of traction. Well at least in theory that how it was supposed to work. As the drivers of these vehicles got closer to the top and the wheels lost traction, the traction control kicked in and brought the engine to idle. No power on tap.Considering how steep it was (especially the last 30m) and the lose stones, only adequate momentum would have got any vehicle through. But the computer thought otherwise and decided to stop sending power to the wheels. What the darn computer did not know was that lack of momentum on a surface like the one we were on would send the vehicle on a slide backwards.

This was one heck of a scary experience as the stricken vehicles would now start sliding back down. Braking was the last thing one could do.

So my question is, whether the designers of these fancy features really know what the real world is about.

[Elvis_Pil]

This was one heck of a scary experience as the stricken vehicles would now start sliding back down. Braking was the last thing one could do.

So my question is, whether the designers of these fancy features really know what the real world is about.

So what happened in the end man??? Can you disengage the traction control on these things??

[Duncan]

Well that was the problem. Could not disengage. So had to back up a long way, and then give it hell!! With enough momentum built up, we were able to clear the climb. But some of the older vehicles like the hilux, patrol and the defender was able to climb at a very slow and peaceful pace.

Giving it all is one thing, but then the safety and preservation of the environment goes to hell.