Vsc Gave Me A Scare Today

[landar]

Going to work this morning, I made my usual right turn on red from a side road onto a main 4-lane highway. Traffic was coming but seemed far enough away that there was no danger as long as I "stepped" on it a little (my usual style). There was a little bit of snow on the side road that the plows had missed. I pushed the pedal down to get me ahead of the oncoming pack and the rear end swung out a little as I hit a bit of snow. Well, the VSC kicked in and shut me down right on the spot! :o

No acceleration even though I was now through the snow. I stayed over to the right and watched as the lead cars came around on my left. Whew. I have to get used to this VSC! I mean it shut me down for a good long moment...throttled the engine back to an idle for what seemed like an eternity though it was probably only in the 2-3 second range.

Lesson learned is that I either turn off the VSC (which I do not want to do), or be more aware of what it may do to me as a result of slippery roads. Probably do the latter.

[1990LS400]

In your opinion, does the VSC on your 02 LS430 work differently than on your dearly departed 98 LS400?

I routinely drive my 00 LS400 on snow/ice (like the past few days) aggressively enough (when it is "safe") that I often hear the beep-beep-beep of the VSC alarm. I've never experienced more than a "moment" of engine power loss until VSC put the car back on course and restored the power.

At least with my 00 LS400, the key is to "keep my foot into it" and not to back off the accelerator pedal when the VSC alarm goes off. If I don't keep the gas pedal "planted", there won't be any power when the car straightens out. Doing this takes a certain degree of "Chutzpah".

By the way, after 2003, it is impossible to turn off the VSC on an LS430 - the switch was changed to "Trac off" (only traction control off) instead of "VSC off" (both VSC and traction control off).

[landar]

Yes, the VSC does seem different in the LS430 vs the LS400. The 430 seems to straighten me out more quickly than the 400 did and overall has a more "refined" feel. However, I don't think I ever encountered a situation quite like this in my LS400. But I did not like this shutdown one bit. I had my foot into it so that I could accelerate, not pedal to the metal, but aggressive. Under dry conditions, I would have easily pulled ahead as I listened to that sweet V8 wind up. I got to wondering this evening if maybe it was not the VSC but traction control that pulled the rug out from under me? Well, in any case, I need to "play" around with it some more and see how she behaves (in an empty parking lot). That may also help me to find some more Chutzpah.