Dylan19

Brand new Blizzaks. Tires are good. And like I said the traction control goes crazy even when the car is in drive at an idle, just taking my foot off of the brakes, not pushing the gas pedal at all.

This is the worst traction control system ever!

I wonder if theres something I can do to turn it off permanently. I dont need it.

vapid2323

I had the same car and same tires, I don't have these issues.... Not sure what to tell you

Tarrant64

Just wanted to provide my input with the traction system (granted I do have an AWD IS350) - the TSC on the ISx50 can be a problem is the snow is deep enough. I've provided similar feedback in other threads as I recently have had snow a couple of times here in Omaha of several inches.

In light snow, I find TSC is actually fine, but I attribute that to the AWD getting things moving for me. However, in deep snow AWD did not help and the TSC killed power to the wheels making it so I couldn't move the car at all. In order to get around in some deep areas and not get stuck you need to be able to spin the tires a little bit, with TSC you cannot do this.

Fortunately, with the newer IS models you don't need to do the pedal dance. I forgot this the first time I got stuck however the 2nd time I ended up in deep snow I found that disabling TSC provided a much better (and frankly safer) driving experience in deep snow. Mind you, I have crappy all season tires on right now. I hear great things about dedicated snow tires like Blizzaks so I'm a little surprised you're having that bad of traction control problems.

Not trying to be a jerk, but do you have a lead foot on the gas? I do, that's why I ask. Snow Mode helps me tremendously with that but I hope you realize in any slick condition applying gas like you would on dry pavement would cause the issues you're seeing.

Although, I totally agree the TSC is over zealous and killing power to the wheels is NOT the solution. I used to have a 2010 Fusion with traction control and what it did was allow the tires to spin periodically with my foot on the gas (slips, kills power, immediately slow, fast, slips, kills power, slow, etc.) until the car started moving.

Tarrant64

Just re-read this part where you're saying TSC goes nuts when you're just taking your foot off the gas - that sounds more like something is wrong. Most times even when it's raining out I have to push the car fairly hard to get it to come on. Although I did find recently with the excess sand on the street it goes off everywhere now I turn. Rain, Snow - OK. Sand - almost lost it into a ditch yesterday.

Dylan19

Its snowing a lot here now. There's probably 4 inches on the ground now. I tried the pedal dance again, and I got it right. I felt so accomplished, because I felt like an idiot not being able to get it to work before.

I found that I like the car a ton more without the traction control. I dont like how the car just cuts off the power to the wheels if there is any slip at all. The pedal dance eliminated that problem. Now I like my car again and wont be worried when I have to drive it in the snow. Although the pedal dance will get old.I wish there was something to do that would turn it off permanently.

2GSKaizen

iTrader: (1)

I agree with Tarrant64. I'm another guy here in NE, and we have some pretty bad roads/weather. In light snow I leave VSC/trac on and use snow mode, and in the heavy stuff I leave snow mode engaged and take the traction off. I am wondering if you didn't get the pedal dance done correctly. You should be able to lay the pedal to the floor and rip those wheels loose if it's really off. I have Blizzaks on my GS 430 RWD and I get around pretty good in 6-8 inches of snow all day.

pmanliu

iTrader: (4)

Is there a fuse you can pull in the 06 models to disable traction control? On my previous ride, we were able to pull a fuse to disengage the 4wd which was pretty sweet...

UniSlayEX

Man i want to help you so bad but i literally waited for an '08 because i was told of "the pedal dance" Im glad you got it, im sure its just a matter of getting it down like a kid at a DDR machine.

Did you do the battery pull by chance?

p0lo8

I feel the same way.

cass

I have a 2007 Es350 FWD. I understand your complaint...the TCS on this car is downright life-threatening. I have owned a lot of cars, and I hate TCS to begin with - I know my tires are spinning, but I also know how to alleviate it myself thank you very much - I don't need the car nanny to help me. The issue is not just the TCS when it does slip, but the length of time the car takes to release its hold on your accelerator - it is WAAY too long. Rather than the normal 1-2s time frame of most cars, this takes what seems like 4-5 seconds. It may not seem like a big difference, but when you're merging onto a road that has high speeds, it makes your **** pucker pretty quick! I live in Edmonton and we get plenty of snow and icy roads here. This is by far the worst winter car I have ever owned, regardless of the Blizzaks I use on it.

Lexus need to re-think this system. Not only would a button help to turn the damn thing off (the pedal dance is what I have to do too), but they need to reduce the time the system consumes before relinquishing control back to the driver. The current setting has almost caused a few accidents for me too. Its almost like they built it for grandma who never drove in snow in her life before!

I haven't pulled the fuse yet, but if you don't do the pedal dance prior to engaging in drive, you have to put the car in N or P, turn the car off, then do the pedal dance before moving again.

The dumbest TCS system in the world by FAR - I agree! C'mon Lexus - REALLY?!

andper10

Traction control / VSC also become noticeably less intrusive in non-snowy conditions if you replace the steering ECU with a 2011+ ISF steering ECU.