Traction control in the New Leaf Plus

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user 24513

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We owned a 2015 Leaf which did admirably on our driveway and road in the snow- we liked it enough to buy a Leaf Plus S which has a traction control which can not be turned off and completely sucks as we try to get up some momentum for the hills. Is there going to be a way to over-ride this? I have asked Nissan and have not heard back.... thanks!
 
If the new Leaf Plus didn't have a way to disable the traction control, that would be a major flaw.
I leave traction control on 99% of the time but do occasionally need to turn it off when in snow and even once in heavy sand.
 
The older Gen III Prius had a wonderful system in which you had to get it into service mode and do a little dance on the brake pedal, IIRC. Maybe Nissan will copy that. ;)
 
Here's hoping folks! Thanks..... ad I may try to again interpret the Owners Manual, which is the same for all S, SV, and the other one, so it is hard to know where to look.....
 
jjeff said:
If the new Leaf Plus didn't have a way to disable the traction control, that would be a major flaw.
I leave traction control on 99% of the time but do occasionally need to turn it off when in snow and even once in heavy sand.
Click to expand...

In what way do you find it off helps? In other cars I have never turned it off but know the button is there for a reason.
 
GaleHawkins said:
jjeff said:
If the new Leaf Plus didn't have a way to disable the traction control, that would be a major flaw.
I leave traction control on 99% of the time but do occasionally need to turn it off when in snow and even once in heavy sand.
Click to expand...

In what way do you find it off helps? In other cars I have never turned it off but know the button is there for a reason.
Click to expand...
With traction control ON if the wheels start to spin it cuts the power off to the wheel/wheels spinning and you get nothing. If you allow the wheel to spin a little you might eventually get some traction, freeing yourself. I'm not saying you should leave TC off after getting unstuck and after turning the car off the next time you turn it on TC will be back on but being able to turn it off has its advantages at times.
 
jjeff said:
GaleHawkins said:
jjeff said:
If the new Leaf Plus didn't have a way to disable the traction control, that would be a major flaw.
I leave traction control on 99% of the time but do occasionally need to turn it off when in snow and even once in heavy sand.
Click to expand...

In what way do you find it off helps? In other cars I have never turned it off but know the button is there for a reason.
Click to expand...
With traction control ON if the wheels start to spin it cuts the power off to the wheel/wheels spinning and you get nothing. If you allow the wheel to spin a little you might eventually get some traction, freeing yourself. I'm not saying you should leave TC off after getting unstuck and after turning the car off the next time you turn it on TC will be back on but being able to turn it off has its advantages at times.
Click to expand...


Yes indeed. If you ever see a Prius parked on ice, watch what happens when they try to move it. The engine will rev a little, but the wheels won't turn unless they can turn off the traction control.
 
I have heard that there is a guy in North Carolina, or some such, who can mastermind this kind of change to the System? I have called the dealer that we bought from, twice, and they are not helpful at putting me through to the people at Nissan who could help. it may be a warrantee thing but I need traction on my driveway.... willing to make whatever changes are needed. Is it possible to simply remove the fuse for the TC? that would be an improvement....
 
VDC is different than Traction Control, and the S model does not have VDC at all much less any of the buttons to turn things on and off (I think...). Still looking for ANYTHING from either the owners manual (which, at 690 pages, SHOULD cover everything in detail) or from Nissan.....
 
Gerry you may be right, I am finally working thru the manual, VDC Off might partially disable the traction control. I stll miss a simple button on the dash instead of the menu options, which are ridiculous to try to navigate when the car is moving.....
 
Turns out that the VDC traction control is simple to turn off, thank you Gerry, although having to do this thru the dashboard menus while driving seems ridiculous. (Settings Menu, first item VDC Control, toggles on and off with the OK button). We will have to get in the habit of getting the dashboard set to toggle VDC when driving is slippery, because the VDC can be helpful but also completely stops the car under certain conditions, which is not helpful either..... Now I am hoping for a software fix that allows changing the parameters for VDC such that it can kick in and help without coming to a full stop. Is this type of thing possible?
 
dmacarthur said:
Turns out that the VDC traction control is simple to turn off, thank you Gerry, although having to do this thru the dashboard menus while driving seems ridiculous. (Settings Menu, first item VDC Control, toggles on and off with the OK button). We will have to get in the habit of getting the dashboard set to toggle VDC when driving is slippery, because the VDC can be helpful but also completely stops the car under certain conditions, which is not helpful either..... Now I am hoping for a software fix that allows changing the parameters for VDC such that it can kick in and help without coming to a full stop. Is this type of thing possible?
Click to expand...


I'm finding it hard to picture situations in which you need to turn off VDC/TC with the car moving...
 
Our car essentially stopped completely on the driveway in about an inch of icy snow- with studs it will blast right through this stuff except when the computer is doing the thinking. Inch forward, perhaps, but effectively stopped. Nothing at all like TC on the 2015, which slowed us down a bit perhaps but allowed us to keep momentum for the hills. Not acceptable- luckily this forum has helped me figure out how to turn it off because with it turned on we woud be walking up the driveway in any similar conditions.
 
It is possible, LB, that our new Leaf's TC is malfunctioning, I should take it to the dealer but I am not sure that they will be able to verify unless the conditions were similar- is there an electronic analysis of the TC system?
 
For all the nay-sayers, on loose surfaces, wheel spin allows the siping on the tire tread to wipe the surface grains away, often exposing a better surface or providing more contact area by somewhat burying the wheel.
Moving or not moving is irrelevant, it's about % slip relative to movement speed.

The poster child for this is snow tires, where aggressive siping will scrape the pavement clean getting you real traction.
 

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