2021 Subaru Crosstrek MT - Traction Control - Maybe/Maybe Not.

[BritKLR]

Ok, We've had our little Crosstrek for a year now and have approx 4800 miles on it and it's not really seen alot of heavy snow yet. We got a 12 inch snow last night and I decided to drive it from the house to the shop and back just to play with the all wheel drive system.......Got to the shop, turned around and got stuck trying to drive back up to the house. I mean stuck. The snow was light and fluffy. Car seemed to had adequate weight in the snow but, it simply would spin its tires like a front wheel drive car on bald tires.
Now, it has brand new tires, manual trans and I turned the traction control off yet it seemed like as soon as I would get momentum the TC or some other traction system would kick on and slow down the wheel spin and it would come to a stop. Not too impressed I gotta say.
The research indicates that there maybe addition traction control/wheel spin reduction systems in the car but nothing specific but, it is clear the TC off button does not shut off all the systems. Any input would be very helpful, thanks!

Had to get the 50 year old plow truck out to clear the drive for the Subi!

 

[ITTOG]

I believe slowing down the wheels is what it is supposed to do. The slower the wheels spin the better traction. Thus, it felt you were giving it to much gas and decided to override what you were doing.

 

[BritKLR]

I believe slowing down the wheels is what it is supposed to do. The slower the wheels spin the better traction. Thus, it felt you were giving it to much gas and decided to override what you were doing.

Agreed.

But, it kinda defeats the point of having a traction control "off" button if it's still going to activate traction control. This becomes a real issue in a small, 2.0 liter, high reving, 4 cylinder with very little torq that immediately losses wheel spin when it activates resulting in loss of forward momentum. In other words, once the TC kicks on it slows the spinning wheel to the point it loses rotating mass, resulting in the engine bogging down, there simply isn't enough rotating mass in the engine/trans to slowly/low rev the car out (think granny gear in and old 6 cyl truck) I can now see how people have fried a CVT or clutch on these high reving engines or drive like rally drivers in the Walmart parking lot.

End of the day, it's still a fun, reliable, all-wheel drive car that I feel safe for my wife to drive around the mountains on snowy days. It's just not the deep snow car I was expecting.

Not bad, just different......I guess.
Thanks!

 

[(none)]

Next time you're in a situation like that, pull the ABS fuse and try again.

 

[Buddha.]

Does holding the traction control button down longer do anything differently?
I can confirm that my newer Ranger, my ‘11 chev, and newer Tacoma work truck all did a second level of traction control off if you held the button.

 

[BritKLR]

So, if all else fails and Google doesn't help.......read the darn Owners Manual!



So it's known as the Vehicle Dynamics Control System, not Traction Control System yet, it controls both then traction control function and skid suppression function........but, per the manual the brake control system is still active or in other words, ABS traction control!

So, while when de-activated it does reduce the amount of nanny control over traction and skid suppression it will still activate the brake control system if it thinks you have too much wheel spin/slip. It is what it is.

 

[BritKLR]

Does holding the traction control button down longer do anything differently?
I can confirm that my newer Ranger, my ‘11 chev, and newer Tacoma work truck all did a second level of traction control off if you held the button.

Thanks but, it appears holding the VDC button down for 30 seconds locks the button out so it can not be used. It doesn't appear to do a second level TC off feature.

Nice suggestion!

 

[JamesReddish]

Sounds similar to the traction control in my vehicle. You can turn it off with a button, but that only works up to around 20 mph, and then the system takes over again. Frustrating as you say when some vehicles seem to require momentum rather than crawling.

 

[JMacs]

It might be operating like the Toyota "electronic limited slip differential", or whatever they call it. Instead of a real limited slip, it applies the brakes to the spinning wheel. From a driver's perspective, it feels and sounds like the truck is trying to slow you down. You hear the ABS chirping away. And the "LSD" light flashes at you. (Take that where you want to on your own time! )

 

[calicamper]

My last Subaru manual 2001 was cabled throttle and none of the fancy stuff, my 2010 cvt had all the fancy crap. The old Legacy GT could plow snow higher than the hood never got stuck even on epic shut down Tahoe days.

My CVT outback was definitely safer on the snowed roads but was total garbage for multiple reasons when it came to pushing out of snowed in spots. Even traction control off Subaru adopted a very conservative self preservation nanny that stays in effect and yes it still cuts power which in return disables your ability to push through snow which the old car could plow through stuff that rode up over the hood and stacked on the windshield?. Did that many times in Tahoe. The stupid 2010 got stuck in the ski lodge parking lot multiple times, wouldn’t back over ice chunks that fell behind the tires, wouldn’t back out of nose In outside edge parking spots where a front tire sunk off the edge of the underlying pavement. Deep fresh stuff yep that secondary nanny kills its ability to push through the deep stuff.

After years of getting pushed, pulled 2ft to free trapped tires I decided no more Subarus. It didn’t matter if I had great tires the Subarus were so hampered by nannies and the stupidity cvt I quit the brand.

Went from 28yrs of Toyotas and Subarus to all Fords and not seeing anything that will bring me back to those brands. Especially if I can buy my next Fords directly from HQ and skip the dealer BS

 

[baipin]

Does holding the traction control button down longer do anything differently?
I can confirm that my newer Ranger, my ‘11 chev, and newer Tacoma work truck all did a second level of traction control off if you held the button.

On older Subarus Forester SJ XT, it did indeed. At least for that era of Forester, it was a well known "trick". Maybe still is.