Am I stupid for not getting VSC?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Dec 14 2006, 08:35 AM) [snapback]362101[/snapback]</div>

Tom - great tip, thanks - jay

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 14 2006, 01:15 PM) [snapback]362261[/snapback]</div>

Jon - don't even get me started. I might pop a vein - jay

 

I did not get traction control, it only comes standard in the touring model and that was a few thousand more. I am lucky to live in a warm weather climate so I do not need the traction control. I doubt it will ever see snow, although I do plan on doing many road trips now with this great toy!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(YodaddyAlex @ Dec 20 2006, 11:40 AM) [snapback]364620[/snapback]</div>

Can anyone confirm that VSC is not available in the standard (non-touring) model? Perhaps this was a matter of what that dealer had available?

I thought that VSC is part most of the option packages (#2 or higher?) for either the base or touring model and that it's not truly standard in any model. Perhaps the touring model is only produced with option package 2 or higher? I also thought the touring model only costs $270 more when comparing cars equipped with packages that include HID headlights.

For YodaddyAlex, actually your 2007 with package #5 does have VSC.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Dec 9 2006, 03:26 PM) [snapback]359813[/snapback]</div>

I agree. And what's with that huge tach...in a car with a CVT? The rest of the displays seem a bit immature to me, too...like a video game or something.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 20 2006, 12:27 PM) [snapback]364662[/snapback]</div>

Wishing that traction control was an option; I'd lose it for a rev limiter any day (which is really why it's there, to keep MG2 from overspeeding, right?)

But Traction Control sounds so much more...marketable...than a rev-limiter, doesn't it...? All computerish and "we'll do the thinking so you don't have to."

 

i love VSC it's saved my life and my prius on many occassions.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid @ Dec 20 2006, 06:37 PM) [snapback]364841[/snapback]</div>

I'm curious...would you care to elaborate?

And...how did you ever get along driving *without* VSC? Have all the cars you've owned had such enhancements?
[smile]

I've driven the wheels off of all sorts of cars, some without seatbelts, and I'm still here to tell the tale.

Perhaps you might consider driving within your capabilities?

 

im a very good driver and I just dont see how stability control is a necessity?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(YodaddyAlex @ Dec 20 2006, 07:31 PM) [snapback]364910[/snapback]</div>

I'm a fairly decent driver (never had an at fault accident, no wrecked cars, never received a moving violation, had a license since ~91) and wouldn't say it's absolutely required, but it's definitely helpful to have. Read the earlier posts in this thread and look at my reply and the videos at http://priuschat.com/index.php?s=&show...st&p=354141. There are going to be times that it could save your butt and help avoid an accident rather be out of control.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid @ Dec 20 2006, 05:37 PM) [snapback]364841[/snapback]</div>

Many? Are you sure? I mean even if you're talking about traction control and not VSC, I've still only had mine engage twice so far, and there have been some slick icy roads this car has champed through. And on those two occasions I was already beating my car to the punch by lowering my acceleration when I felt the slip before it did and was ready to steer into the skid if it came to that. Thus even the rare times when my traction control engages, it's hardly saving my life because I'm well over a step ahead of it. So if it's saved your life on many occassions, I'd love to know more about your driving habits. I bet there are some interesting stories there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 21 2006, 04:06 PM) [snapback]365339[/snapback]</div>

This makes sense to me; be the best driver you can be and then have emergency systems for those times when you can't do it all or make an error in judgement.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Dec 21 2006, 01:38 PM) [snapback]365367[/snapback]</div>

The setting: Two weeks ago, Highway 16 - Two lanes (one each direction) posted limit is 55mph. Businesses and whatnot to either side. One of these businesses is a church.

I'm driving to the store at about 9am. There is thick fog almost every night when it starts getting cold and this leaves the road wet in the morning so I usually go the limit or a bit under. I'm going down this dead straight highway at 50mph on cruise control - no real traffic at all. One guy way up ahead of me and no one behind me. I begin to pass the church which is on my right side and borders the highway with a 6 or 7 foot high brick wall and a rolling gate that people enter and leave from. I can normally see people as they nose out of the gate to take a peek but not today - today a person comes flying out of this gate just as I approach it and turns left into the opposing lane maybe 50 feet in front of me and I know I'm gonna hit this car square in the side. I remember hitting my brakes and turning hard to the right and catching a view of its tail lights off to my left and then turning fairly hard back into my lane to avoid going into the drainage ditches that line both sides of the road. The dash lit up and my heart was going pretty fast but no wreck.

I'm still amazed and still POed at the driver.

My '07 Touring Prius and VSC probably saved my butt.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't trust the VSC, and that's why I chose to avoid it.... Like the plauge. If Toyota actually had a button to activate or deactivate it like most manufactures, then I would have gotten it, simply to get a better package. As it stands, I'm very happy without.

Sorry, but there is no better safety measure then driving well. I've driven 12 years in Park City and bad winters and I've never slipped off a road, or been in an accident. I took my little Prius (with the stock Integrities) to Portland, Seattle, and back, (through a lot of snow in Snoqualme) with no problems at all. I even saw a 2006 Sonata had slipped off the road just over Snoqualme peak (the 2006 Sonata comes standard with VSC, I beleive they call ESC though), and was getting towed out.

Threads like this are part of the reason I don't trust the thing.

http://priuschat.com/Someone-help-me-under...rks-t27674.html

Now, if Toyota or anyone else starts making this thing standard I only ask they give a deactivate button.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sl7vk @ Dec 25 2006, 01:01 PM) [snapback]366516[/snapback]</div>

Huh. That thread made me glad I got VSC, but to each their own. I know people who never wear seatbelts, too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Locust43 @ Dec 26 2006, 06:37 PM) [snapback]366863[/snapback]</div>

I believe that you experienced traction control.

 

Well I intentionally shopped for a pkg. 3 because I didn't really want VSC. I probably would have bought a pkg. 4 if one had come along because there isn't a big price difference. Reading this thread, perhaps it would have been better to get it, but I don't regret not having it and it would be foolish IMHO to trade a perfectly fine 06 w/out it in for an 07. I can't believe you wouldn't take a major beating on that deal.

Just my opinion,
Doug


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Locust43 @ Nov 25 2006, 10:59 PM) [snapback]354102[/snapback]</div>

 

Don't worry about it. VSC cannot defy the laws of physics. It is not a substitute for a competent driver. I find VSC very intrusive when driving the car at its limit through a corner. VSC tries to prevent the car from oversteering ("fishtailing"), a condition which could end up in a spin. However, to do this, it brakes the front wheels. This causes the car to understeer ("push"), or steer wide of the intended line.

That said, having VSC is probably better for 98% of drivers out there. I am in the minority since I have a bit of racing experience. I love to drive at the limits of adhesion whenever conditions permit. I am sure this is atypical of most Prius drivers. Thus, I can understand why Toyota's VSC system intervenes when the car senses slip. I have actually driven a few laps on a race track in my Prius. Compared to the average economy car, it is surprisingly competent (until the VSC kicks in). Oh well.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Platypus @ Dec 25 2006, 08:52 AM) [snapback]366495[/snapback]</div>

You actually use cruise control? :blink: Just kidding... Seriously, I'm glad you (and your Pree) came out of that alive.

My traction control comes on often on DRY pavement. This is a Toyota thing. It's not a Prius thing. When I exit the Lifetime Fitness parking lot I take a hard right onto the FM 620 access road due to a construction barrier. 2/3 times the anti-slip control comes on and brakes. Why do I say that it's a Toyota thing? I tested a Lexus IS350 many months ago. I performed the same maneuver exiting the Lexus parking lot. In addition the thrill (*sarcasm*) of understeer, the lights on the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. It was rather amusing since the VDIM (Lexus' name for stability control) started sounding warnings like every bad Sci-Fi show I've ever seen.

I like having the VSC for one of the main reasons I bought the Pree (not THE main reason just one of them) -- resale value. I'm sure VSC will make a heck of a difference in a couple of years when it becomes mandatory. I wonder if disabling VSC on the Pree is the same convulated process as disabling it on a Lexus IS.