VSC Saved My Ass Last Night!

Firstly, I admit I wasn't thinking and was going too fast...

Last night I was coming home at 8:30PM after an 8hr shift plowing snow here in Northern VA. The roads had all been treated with chemical and everything was just wet. I was coming up Rt. 28 and took the off-ramp to Westfields Blvd. This ramp is a right-hand incline and dumps you onto an overpass that crosses over Rt 28. I came up the ramp at around 30-35mph like I usually do. Its marked 25mph.

As soon as I get to the top of the ramp where it meets the overpass it was iced up. The truck starts to slide out of the merge lane and into the right through lane. As it does that the truck also starts to rotate the nose end towards the right. I let off the gas and gave about 1/8 turn countersteer and the alarm for the VSC starts to buzz as the truck slides into the left through lane and rotates further. I was about 15 degrees nose right and the curb in the median was coming quick.

I said "Aw shit!" and thoughts of a severely off-camber front left wheel ran through my head. Magically, the ABS buzzed a little and VSC pulled the nose back straight and I had traction again. I realize that I'm lucky the overpass wasn't a complete sheet of ice or I would have hit that median anyway but the VSC definitely saved me!

 

GOOD to hear!

 

It's great to know that it does its job!!!

However, I hope I never find out from personal experience.

Cheers.

 

I bet that had your adrenaline going.....glad everythings ok. Go VSC!

 

whew... glad to hear that our VSC actually does it's JOB!

 

good deal. glad you and the truck are ok.

 

Glad to hear you're ok. Boy, that would've changed the whole dynamic of your claim against the dealer had you wrecked!

 

Wooo man thank goodness for VSC

 

glad u and your truck made it unscathed

 

OMG yes...that would have seriously put a big eff into everything.

 

WoW Glad you are safe. And good information for rest of us.

 

Glad that it was there to give you a mild wake up call instead of a brutal one. Drive safe man...

 

That sounded like a stressful moment., Glad to hear it was all good.

 

Nice!

 

Thanks guys, this was a wake-up moment. Real snow and ice is pretty infrequent here so its easy to forget the finer points of the cold season. Everyone laughs at us because 1/2" of snow will close schools. I learned that overpasses really do ice up.

 

It's stopped me from going sideways in the snow here more than once.

It won't help if you hit ice in a straight line. But no system can fix that.

The only thing I don't like about VSC, it won't let me slide when I truly want to

 

Good to hear you are okay. Drive safely.

 

Mine as only come on once (accidently)...and that was in a sharp right hand turn, going down hill. The roads were wet and I guess I left off the gas abrubtly has I hit the turn. The tail end stepped out. Then I heard the beeping and saw the indicator on the dash. Next thing I knew the truck was pointed perfectly straight and moving foward like nothing ever happened.

A few days later I decided to take it to an empty, wet parking lot to get a better feel for the traction control, VSC and ABS and how sensative they are. The only time they ever intervened was if I really got stupid with the truck. The system definately does not like any "sideways". Even the ABS wasn't overly aggressive. And the traction control even allowed some intial wheel spin before it shut the party down.

As long as the systems remain dormant most of the time and only engage when truely needed, I'm ok with them being there. You can defeat at least part of the VSC functions by holding down the VSC button for 3 seconds. It will reset once the truck is restarted or you press the button again. The traction control seems to be defeated, at certain speeds anyway, with the AUTO LSD turned on too. The ABS, though, is not defeatable....at least that I can tell.

BTW, this is on an '09 2wd auto.

 

Again as the others have said, I'm glad you and your truck are all good.
But, isn't it common for ice for form on tops of roads, ESPECIALLY OVERPASSES (because cold air is coming from the bottom and top). I admit, I don't live where it snows locally, but I would know to be aware of Overpasses/bridges should it snow.

 

I have a 2007 double cab sport 4X4. How can I tell if I have VSC if I don't have access to an owners manual at the moment?

Thanks.