Everybody keeps saying you have to hold down the button for at least five seconds to turn off the Dynamic Stability Control and Traction Control System both, BUT

the owner's manual says just pushing it normally will turn both off, and if you hold the button down, the system will think there is a problem with the button.

what's the real story? where did this five second business come from?

thanks

where in manual does it say that
I would stick with what the manual says

If you hold down the button for several seconds, the DSC/TCS will disable itself completely until the ignition is turned off and back on again.

I believe that the fact that Mazda officially calls this "detecting a problem" is simply CYA doublespeak so that if someone does disable it this way and has a major crash, they can't turn around and sue Mazda for allowing them to completely disable the system. Mazda would have the defense that the driver deliberately put the system into a fault condition, thus the responsibility is entirely his.

BTW, it has previously been suggested that a single press of the DSC Off button will disable the DSC until and unless the ABS is engaged. After playing with the DSC at a very wet practice autocross a couple of weekends ago, I believe that this is inaccurate. Rather, what I observed was that the DSC would engage even if I hadn't hit the ABS, but at much higher thresholds of instability. Furthermore, engaging the ABS did not automatically re-engage the default thresholds.

So I believe that turning the DSC "off" (with a single press of the button) simply raises the thresholds at which it will engage. To the average driver, it would for all intents and purposes be off, because he would never normally encounter the sort of maneuvers and conditions I was putting the car through.

page 5-21 says to turn the traction control off by pressing the DSC off button.

page 5-23 says: "If the DSC OFF switch is pressed and held for a second or more, the TCS/DSC system may become inoperative due to the system detecting switch trouble. If the TCS/DSC system becomes inoperative, the TCS/DSC and the DSC OFF indicator lights illuminate simultaneously. In this case, turn off the engine and restart it to restore the TCS/DSC."

page 5-44 talks about the DSC off and the TCS/DSC indicator lights

Originally posted by mikeb
where in manual does it say thatAt the bottom of the NOTE box on page 5-23

I see what you mean, so pressing the button once gives it a higher threshold, but holding it down really turns it off.

did you actually see the indicator light flash when you were driving it in the wet? (I realize you were quite busy autocrossing, I autocross myself)

so which is true

Originally posted by zojas
did you actually see the indicator light flash when you were driving it in the wet? (I realize you were quite busy autocrossing, I autocross myself) Sorry, wasn't watching the instruments! :D

Originally posted by mikeb
so which is true They're both true. Holding the button down for several seconds will completely disable the system. The fact that Mazda calls this an "error condition" doesn't change that fact; the two statements are not mutually exclusive.

If you hit the button once, it will disengage until ABS comes on. Hold it for 7 seconds or whatever, it totally disengages.

Frankly the former of those two is plenty for me to get my tail out on occasion an uncrowded area :)

Originally posted by Hercules
If you hit the button once, it will disengage until ABS comes on.That's what I had heard, but it's not what I experienced. With it turned "off", I hit the ABS several times, yet the DSC/TCS remained "off".

Yesterday afternoon I saw a post claiming that full DSC off was a cure for the mpg / hp problems; last night & this morning did not see it (but am new to list so could be missing the thread somehow). Was it yanked by administrator?

I read the same thread.. it said cure, but I believe that they came to the conclusion, that there was no appreciable improvment in mpg by using the fully disabled dcs.. there was a substantial increase in power, which I can personally confirm..

OverLOAD

let me elaborate, "there was a substantial increase in power" at high rpm's, most notably above 6000...

OverOAD

Thanks. Half a loaf still welcome. Is it still up?

turing it off is fun for driving but not better for gas

Oh yeah, it's a LOT more fun! ;)

turning off dsc/tcs adds horsepower?? can you please tell me how you came to this conclusion (dyno charts are the best proof). thanks.

Hmm, it doesn't necessarily add horsepower, however it does allow the wheels to spin a lot more freely..

And, in straight line accelleration, it definately seems to pull harder.

Personally I'm not interested in paying $50 for a dyno session, but I am working on getting a datalogging system put together.

OverLOAD

It is funny when Japanese try to explain things....

They have a few test on the car in different mode.

DSC ON
DSC off
DSC totally off (when you push the DSC button for 7 seconds) and they show a sign (slippy road sign) in the rev meter.

The car is quicker on the track without DSC. So I suppose it is good for the track. It is about a second faster in the track describe in the September Best Motoring Video.

The car is quicker on the track without DSC.

Is that with the "DSC off" or "DSC totally off (when you push the DSC button for 7 seconds)"?

Oh the second faster in DSC totally off ...

I will tell you this thursday when I go to track meet... it will be a few drizzle too - make it very interesting.

nice dude , keep us posted

I figured it was with the DSC totally off but wanted to make sure. Thanks

it will be a few drizzle too
Can't wait to hear how it responds under those conditions. Should be fun :)