I got a 99 GS300 and intermittedly the VSC light comes on when driving. when this happens the car is sluggish taking off but if you turn the car off/on. it will drive fine. what could the problem be

 

Does it happen with normal driving or when you are driving aggresively?

 

got to ask since its actually my fathers. i'm guessing normal since the only time he drives agressive is when i let him get ahold of my celica.

 

The reason I ask is because under hard acceleration or hard cornering that is normal behaviour. It kills power before you get the car in to a situation whree it is loosing traction or about to be out of control

 

I also could be your tires are wearing low tread and any condensation on the roads will cause loss of grip to the road and your VCS will kick in.

 

when this happens you can't turn it off. he just got to car so he's going to take it back to the dealer.

 

You also posted in the electronics forum that the car is missing the CD magazine for the CD changer. Sounds fishy to me. Definitely take the car back, it most likely was in an accident or tampered. Who was the dealer?

 

There are three times when the light lights up.

1. Test .. when you trun ignition to on [most drivers .. not CL members .. never look at the indicators and simply twist the key to start ]
2. When the VSC kicks in [it senses variation in front/back wheel rpm] and cuts throttle and selective brakes are applied. Once things get back to normal the light goes off. As pointed out this condition happens during agressive driving/loss of traction .. ice/slick/mud/poor_tires etc.
3. When there is a system failure. Here the light remains lit. It can be intermittent on an off, as the system may cycle to "all good" and "problem".

Hope this helps.

salim