DSC saved my life today
 

Was driving down the freeway at about 75MPH when I went to change lanes. All of a sudden out of nowhere there was a patch of water like half an inch thick covering only the right hand lane, wheich I was moving out of. Car started sliding at the angle at which I was changing lanes, and then quickly moved more sideways from there. Medium-high traffic all approaching at 75MPH. DSC was firing like a machine gun, corrective steered and car started skidding out the other direction. All of a sudden after a total of two back-and-forth skids the car just shot off straight as if nothing happened. I was still going 65MPH, only lost 10MPH. It was crazy.

wow, glad it all worked out for you.

that was the ABS that was "firing like a machine gun" (I assume you mean the brake pedal) DSC brakes the back wheels to straighten you out


This was a welcome change of pace from the "I'll never turn off DSC again" threads. Maybe some more people will learn to appreciate it's greatness

welcome to the club :p

That traction control is pretty impressive. The purists always say they can do it better, but I don't buy it.

It takes great skill and practice to outdo the traction controls these new cars have. You can even say that you'd have to be born with the talent to out perform the latest technologies.

I'm a huge fan of the traction control. I know if you drive normally the car will be fine.. but shit happens


MrJynx

I think some of you are getting DSC and traction control confused.

DSC = Corrects loss of traction from steering by applying brakes to back wheels
traction control = Corrects wheelspin during acceleration

i love DSC! im glad ur okay...and so is the car... ;)

why were you going 75? isnt that kinda fast?

Umm…doesn’t he drive an Rx-8? That’s not fast enough! Plus he can handle the car, so why not? Just got to be smart and watch out for cops…

I agree with that. Formula 1 cars are faster with traction control and those are some of the best drivers on the planet. Kind of makes you wonder what the other drivers are thinking. Stay off the road when they are around!

I usually do 75 on the onramp, and level off about 80.

And yes, DSC / TC combo can surely save your butt. Same thing happened to me when Austin road crew decided to leave a large patch of gravel in a curve.

Well if u think about it, F1 cars are driving at speeds of over 200mph. now if ur taking a turn at a little less then 200mph…im sure you would want the traction control Now for people with the Rx-8, their not going 200 on a turn… :)

In F1, traction control is called "launch control" because it is supposed to be helping with the launch of the car. I don't think it is allowed to kick-in in the turns. And there are some regulations around how complex the launch control can be.

glad ur ok, and im glad to see its working!!!!!!!!!!

I used to work with a guy who had a BMW M5. Thought he could drive better than the traction control so left it off. One day he was at a set of lights... planted is foot and hit an oil patch.. car ended up on the other side of the road on a bus stop. Lucky no-one was waiting for the stop.

The thing about the DSC and the TCS... they are there when you get the unexpected... oil you can't see... water you can't see... I leave mine on all the time.

The other way around ...

Launch control is banned in F1, traction control isn't. Traction control helps them in corners so they don't have to feather the accelerator out of corners. Launch control was banned so they have to use their clutches when taking off. With launch control they used to floor it, and let the launch control do the job of making sure they didn't get any wheelspin.

most definately correct "rx8 or ?"

I know of someone who is very grateful for DCS and knows it works at 140mph

but.... nm.... i wont ask.... :rolleyes:

Had the 8 for a few days when I ran over a patch of wet leafs at 40mph in a downpour. Rear end started to wander to the curb......car snaped straight before I could react. I'm a believer!

Where are you getting this factual detail from?

Just curious since I could swear that I've felt braking from the front via the DSC system and not just the rear.

I'm curious if you're speculating based on some other non-specific knowledge or you have some detail specific to this particular application of DSC as implemented on the rx-8.

Wait... Is it that easy for the car to lose control, a patch of water or wet leaves? or is it driver's error as well (too hard on the throttle maybe)...

Don't mean to offend anyone

In this case it wasnt just a wet patch, but actual freestanding water. In that kind of situation the car actually was briefly not in contact with the pavement. In any case it is a rear wheel drive and that has to be constantly taken into account, but I consider myself somewhat skilled and do controlled drifts around corners all the time.

booooooooooooooooo hisssssssssssssssssssssssssss

:p

where is your smiley Mr. Frostee ;) :D










btw 75mph is the speed limit in parts of the US

HAHA. In Atlanta, the avg. highway speed is 80mph. I have friends who are cops who said they won't pull you over until you break 82mph. If people drove on the downtown connector at the posted speedlimit of 55, traffic would be even worse than it already is.

We need an Autoban in this country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the fact that we have a relatively light car with wide tires really contributes to any loss of control. Hit a patch of freestanding water at 60+mph with our tires and they might as well be water ski's. Not wet roads, but puddles.

I got a ticket for 78 on 85 inside the perimeter once :( So some cops will pull you over.
Good thing you do that in your BMW. Wouldn't want mazda to void your warranty on misunderstood information or anything :D

The DSC/TCS systems really are one in the same. Turning off the DSC only really just relaxes some of the parameters. The system works by comparing wheel speeds at all 4 wheels to engine rpm, and measures lateral acceleration front and rear. When it detects understeer or oversteer, it can selectively brake any wheel on the car and/or change throttle position.

Yes, you will be faster on the track without the systems, however once the car is out of shape, there is NO driver who will recover it faster than the DSC/TCS system, because no driver has control of each individual wheel's braking.

dsc uses the abs system to brake any tire it feels it needs to, not just the rears. The system is incredible.

There is another viewpoint of this event. The car hit a slick spot, DSC failed to prevent the skid. Then DSC failed to correct the hook slide (the post recovery skid the other direction) not once but twice. You could easily read this story as a failure of DSC. The car eventually corrected, was it the driver, was it DSC? Why assume DSC was responsible, because it was there? Only if the driver sat there like a deer in headlights, and made no steering inputs or throttle adjustments can we know that DSC drove the car to safety.

There is a danger to DSC. Since it does prevent most small skids, drivers may lose the reflex to correct skids, and prevent the hook slide during recovery. Then, when DSC is overwhelmed, as it was in this case, the driver doesn't have the skills to correct safely. Once the car is going sideways, no amount of single wheel fiddle braking will save the car without the correct steering wheel input.

--R.

The DSC monitors the steering inputs while its making corrections. It is very very hard to spin this car with the DSC on.

When i disable DSC/TCS... i'm a lot faster, but i also spin out alot more. On the track this is fine and not a big deal, but on the street this is stupidly dangerous.

POINT: DSC/TCS stays on when driving on public roads.

Well, I have the base model 8. I do not have either of these luxuries. I just deal with it. When it is raining badly outside, i just put my car in a higher gear so my tires wont spin much around turns or anyhting. The only thing i'm worried about is that i'm looking at the greddy turbo, and w/o traction control i'm afraid i'll spin everywhere!

keep it out of boost or retard the boost to a higher rpm...

Prior to the RX8 my jones for speed was satisfied in an 01 Cobra. That car had traction control which used the brakes and also adjusted the throttle/spark to compensate for wheel spin. Frankly.................the system was junk. When it kicked in, it just felt like the car was running out of gas, I'm talking DRASTIC engine bog. Obviously, kicking out the tail was easy, and fun, at most speeds in that car. I turned the system off every time I started it (even in the wet).

The DSC/TCS in the 8 is a whole different animal. The dry traction on the OE Bridgestones is so good I've only seen the yellow light come on a couple of times (on public roads) and i've never been able to really feeeeel the adjustments in street driving wet or dry. But that day in the rain(I called it a downpour in my prior post, it was in fact a Texas turd floater!), on the leafs, the DSC just fixed the slide almost before it started.

Having experience the hook slide you speak of, with and without DSC on, I can attest to the quality of the DSC system. I've take some courses that taught skid recovery, and I am a fairly experienced rwd driver (particulary when it comes to skids :o :p ), and once the ol' girl gets out of hand she can be difficult to recover safely. If your alone on the road, that's not too bad, assuming you stay on the road, but in traffic you endanger many lives. The DSC may not get it the first time, but it does limit the severity of that first slide, and thereby limits the severity of the hook. Thus allowing the car to come back under control.

I agree with the danger of relying on the DSC too much, but I still instinctively attempt to correct the slide myself regardless of traction control. But then I've driven rwd cars for 15 years without such a safety net, so I don't think I'll ever just let the traction control handle it.

My experience is difeernt. The RX8 is one of the easiest cars to control in oversteer I've ever driven, and that is without DSC.
--R.

Rex, true. Everyone needs to realize that there are limits to DSC same as there are limits to ABS. The poster described a hydroplane situation where the tires were not making any road contact. The DSC's programmed response might have been to brake, but, if there is no traction, it is going to back off and free-wheel and keep trying until it finds traction. If you hit the guard rail before the DSC gets things under control you would have hit the guard rail without DSC, maybe even quicker. No automated system is going to overcome the laws of physics.