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Toyota Camry Vehicle Stability Control
Toyota/Lexus/Scion offers VSC on almost every model. It is now standard on all Tundras and can be disabled on the trucks if needed.
VSC as Toyota/Lexus calls it, should be the next big thing in safety. So much so that the NIHS is reccomending that it be standard on all vehicles sold in America. It may end up saving more lives than seatbelts.
Having owned a Highlander AWD, Tundra D Cab 4WD, Scion xB, and now a Camry, all with VSC, I have personally experienced VSC in action. My '05 Tundra SR5 was ordered with it.
Someone mentioned the Subaru's fine performance in New England winters. Their AWD system led the way but Subaru has not kept pace in the VSC arena. It comes only on the top of the line models unlike Toyota which even made it standard on the Scion xB.
Consumer Reports also questioned the Subie system's performance. I expect Subaru to rapidly improve their system and make it available on all their vehicles soon,
Toyota's VSC system [which is always packaged with Traction Control], is the industry leader. The TC makes a front driver like the Camry even better in the snow.
I had to wait 3 weeks for an LE 4cyl with it to be built and shipped. I will never own another vehicle without it.
How does the Camry system work? It hasn't "gone off" yet.
VSC as Toyota/Lexus calls it, should be the next big thing in safety. So much so that the NIHS is reccomending that it be standard on all vehicles sold in America. It may end up saving more lives than seatbelts.
Having owned a Highlander AWD, Tundra D Cab 4WD, Scion xB, and now a Camry, all with VSC, I have personally experienced VSC in action. My '05 Tundra SR5 was ordered with it.
Someone mentioned the Subaru's fine performance in New England winters. Their AWD system led the way but Subaru has not kept pace in the VSC arena. It comes only on the top of the line models unlike Toyota which even made it standard on the Scion xB.
Consumer Reports also questioned the Subie system's performance. I expect Subaru to rapidly improve their system and make it available on all their vehicles soon,
Toyota's VSC system [which is always packaged with Traction Control], is the industry leader. The TC makes a front driver like the Camry even better in the snow.
I had to wait 3 weeks for an LE 4cyl with it to be built and shipped. I will never own another vehicle without it.
How does the Camry system work? It hasn't "gone off" yet.
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That takes a brave, Brave, BRAVE, driver.
Lucky the VSC was there to save you.
Thanks for your help..
Thanks in advance, Bob.
You don't indicate where you are located, and that option might not be ordered by a particular Toyota region.
If you can't find one in inventory, try www.fitzmall.com
Fitzmall is in the central region, and they typically have had a lot of VSC's
So...dealer lied to me... :-(
Actually I'm located on west coast.
Toyota will never use the slogan "Have it your way" in advertising.
Solution, unless you want to go out of zone, buy the hybrid Camry. VSC is standard.
Note that some dealers are not eager to work with other dealers out of their zone; you may need to deal directly with the source dealer.
VSC was available as a stand alone option on the SE and XLE models and as a package with side-curtain airbags on all models except the base version.
Thankd
Auto Zone or Pep Boys don't have the proper tools to scan for this code. The "check engine" lite should Not BE on.
Because Camry doesn't have option to turn off VSC, it'll cause more trouble in snow condition.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance. :confuse:
What you may want to turn off, just to get the car in motion from a stop on snow or ice, is the traction control, which I'm pretty sure can be done with a switch.
BTW, VSC (vehicle stability control) and traction control are bundled on the Camry.
:surprise:
There is a secret serious of steps which can be taken at startup, which turns the VSC off for that possible snow scenario. I have it printed and keep in the car, but we talked about it probably a year ago in these forums.
It's something like put the key in, put on the parking brake, turn the key once, turn off the brake,....yada yada yada. I don't remember exactly, but it's something that you just want to print and keep in the car. I've never had to do it. Turning off the engine and restarting, automatically resets the VSC back on.
I can get the instructions and re-type them later if a search doesn't yield the instructions.
So would you recomend VSC in Camry LE? I'll have to wait few weeks for LE w/ VSC.
To me it's a safety feature that I hope never gets invoked (and because I've paid for it probably won't), and it's a feature that will become standard and gov't mandated in the next couple years. I got it for safety, but resell certainly is a potential consideration as well.
:confuse:
Look at it this way, if you're in a situation wherein carefully "feathering" the throttle yourself, in order to maintain traction, would not get you moving then TC will be of no help, a hindrance really.
Basically that's all TC is, an artificial method of preventing the engine from developing so much torque that wheelspin results.
If a driven wheel slips due to low roadbed surface traction TC will apply braking while simultaneously dethrottling the engine.
But my advice is still to get VSC (and the traction control) that goes with it. You're not likely to get stuck in a front-wheel drive car in the first place. Plus you can disable the VSC/TC if you must using the "magic formula" Kiawah mentions.
Much more importantly, VSC can save your bacon. Read this for more details.
To disable the VSC on the 07 Camry.......
1.) Start the car with parking brake on.
2.) all within 30 seconds, depress and release the brake pedal twice.
3.) immediately, de-activate and re-engage the parking brake twice.
4.) the VSC/trac light on the dash will light, the VSC/trac is now deactivated until you restart the car.
I've driven in ice storms with the car with no problem, but never large snow drifts where you would actually "want" to spin the tires (for some unknown reason). I've never had to ever turn the VSC off.
Don't remember who the original poster was, to give proper credit. Just print these instructions out and keep them in your owners manual.
Thanks for all the input ~
I have a 1998 XLE V6 Toyota Camry with 103K miles, and the following dashboard lights went off today:
ABS
Trac OFF
Is there any connection to BOTH of these lights going on at the same time? How much am I looking at it getting fixed? I read on another posting that disconnecting the negative battery cable might help reset it, is this worth a try?
Thanks,
Justin
Check your brake pads and wheel sensors.
Whenever there is a CEL the VSC/trac system is automatically disabled by default. Fix the CEL, in this case the gas cap, and both the CEL and VSC/Trac lights will go off.
Pep Boys could not pull any codes. They to said that they did not have the correct type of scanner .
When I changed all the disc pads, I noticed the the right rear inner pad was was all "chewed up".I too was told to disconnect the battery, check the gas cap, check the brake fluid level, wheel speed sensors, fuses,relays, etc...Found a person on CRAIGSLIST who had a SNAP ON scanner for testing of that had the correct chips to use for a Toyota. I had 13 codes present! after he reset it, the VSC and TRAC OFF lites have never returned. Who know :confuse: s..
Sorry but, I don't remember the model number of the scanner. You might pull the rims
off and look at the discs and rotors. One of my disc pads, the right rear was "chewed up" as if a stone or small piece of metal had gotten in between the pad and rotor. Check Craigs List under "Service... Automotive." Better yet, place an ad searching for some one who can check for VSC and TRAC OFF
Thanks for some tips. Glad i found this site, to exchange ideas on how to fix problems on our own car. Service centers sometimes lets you pay for something they say they did on your car when in fact they did nothing at all. :mad: Anyway, thanks again.
The computer is sensing inappropriate wheel slippage. It fires up the anti-lock braking system pump, and puts on the brake to the wheel that is slipping. This causes power to then transfer over to the other wheel, which is the one with the better traction (at that point).
At some point in a secluded dry parking lot, go slam on the brakes hard at like 40 mph trying to cause it to skid. You'll hear quite a racket going on. See if it's similar to what you heard.
I had each of my girls do this when learning to drive on both wet and dry pavement, to know what to expect if it ever had to happen while driving.
The way VSC works, is that if it detects wheel slipping on ice, it will apply the brake to the wheel that is slipping, which thens puts more power to the wheel that is grabbing on dry surface.
If there is no slippage on regular pavement, VSC does nothing.
You may be confused on VSC usage.
When it is slippery, you want VSC "On", not "Off". Actually, you can just leave it On all of the time. VSC will put the engine power to the tire that has good traction, as opposed to spinning the tire.
The instructions given to turn VSC off, are in the very rare situation like where you are on complete solid ice. In that case with VSC ON, the VSC would detect wheel slippage and put on the brakes on that wheel. It would also detect slippage on the other wheel, and put those brakes on as well. Therefore, the vehicle wouldn't be able to move at all. So in that situation, you would turn the VSC OFF, and with the driver trying to moderate the wheel spin, try to get the vehicle to move.
But in all normal driving situations even with some ice and snow, you want VSC On....that's what it is for!
You are describing the functionality of TC, Traction Control, not VSC, Vehicle Stability Control. TC functionality, basically, is a virtual substitute for an LSD, Limited Slip Differential. The only real different between an actual LSD and this "virtual" one is the fact that the engine is also dethrottled instantly to prevent the brakes from overheating.
Sorry for confusion, wwest is correct....I was describing traction control.