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I tried to get up a slight ramp incline covered in fresh snow to get into my drive this morning and the cars front wheels started spinning like mad which I've never experienced before in any other car The only way I was able to get in was by digging the snow out of the way. Now the abs warning light is showing. I guess all the spinning has burned out one of the sensors. Should traction control be turned off in weather like this?
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Yes. But wide tyres will conspire against progress.
If you've got an auto, put the high range gears on (snowflake in the Citroen C8, Comfort or Winter setting in the Mercedes), and rely on the torque to pull you through.
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ABS systems don't usually use physical contact to work, so you shouldn't have broken it that way. Maybe you've clouted a sensor with your shovel or something though? Presumably you need an auto electrician to read the fault codes.
yes as discussed elsewhere on the forum today TC is pretty useless in snow, as both wheels are usually spinning at the same rate, and the computer thinks there is no problem. Different kettle of fish if you've got full on stability protection or whatever.
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You'll also find that most traction control systems just sence that a wheel has lost traction and applies the brake on that side. I had a ford puma that did the same, they used to joke about the system on "pumapeople.com" as being as much use as a chocolate t-pot. and said you can tell how good (naff) it is by parking one front wheel on a muddy bank the other on the road and floor it....sod all happens apart from the brakes getting hot....
in the 90s hot hatches like the fiesta and Escort RS turbos used LSD a mechanical traction system that locked up both front wheels and off you go. but they that costs money and adds weight so its all done with the abs now...
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Paul.
Impreza owner.
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On FWD car TC should be off in snow. The only TC required is the drivers right foot. Sometimes you need to power the thing with spinning wheels, sometimes inching on tickover. Only the CPU on your shoulders and the feel through your bottom sensor will work in situations like that.
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Have you driven the car since the ABS light has come on? Mine came on when I went to a rolling road (front wheels spinning, rear wheels stationary)- I was told it was normal on VAG cars, and it would extinguish after a little drive (which it did)
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On other cars I have had ABS and TC warnings after prolonged use in adverse conditions, but these are cleared the by the next journey.
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I've had demos of TC on 'fake' ice bricks by both Mercedes and Porsche. On perfectly flat ground you can leave TC on and just put your foot down and the car will slowly creep away as the TC does its job. But of course in the real world there is camber on the road and so you would end up slightly sideways.
If manual, TC off is best and use a gentle sensitive throttle.
If auto, TC off, engage high ration gears and let the torque do the job with assistance from a gentle throttle.
Unless of course you find yourself on a perfectly flat road ;-), then leave TC on
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Had ABS lights coming on before after spinning wheels on snow. Stop, switch off ignition, wait 10 seconds and it should self reset.
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I had a similar problem with a BMW 3 series where sevaral warning lights came on when I had to move my car some way over an icy surface to park it safely - even though I had kept the revs as low as I could. Next morning the lights were all on again but after a journey of about a mile they all re-set. Hope the OP has the same result
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Thanks for the comments,very informative. Thanks VR6 and catsdad, yes the ABS light has now reset, it would just have been reassuring for Audi to have mentioned this possibility in the car manual. The other problem I've noticed, as my car has a DSG box, is that even if you slip the gearstick to the left to try and hold 2nd gear to get more traction this selection is overriden by the DSG computer when you slow to a crawl and so you are automatically shunted into 1st which is not what you want in these conditions.
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