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AdvancTrac almost caused a major wreck

38K views 187 replies 39 participants last post by  FordService 
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#1 ·
It was 80F, on a clear, flat, smooth dry on ramp. I tried to get around an 18 wheeler hauling rocks. I had TC off, and went to 2/3 or 3/4 throttle, didn't even floor it, when I got along side the truck the TC Active light came on cutting the throttle and slaming on each brake individually in a clockwise order. I wasn't even coming close to breaking any traction, and this went on for a while. I pulled over, put it in park then pulled back out to get on the freeway. I very slowly and steadilly pulled up to about 50mph and the TC freaked out again!! Slamming each individual brake so hard I began swirving badly, and I'm in the middle lane with traffic passing me on both sides now. Even when I slowed way down it is still going nuts. The TC button would not work, I couldn't turn TC or advanctrac on, off or anything. Finally I made it to the shoulder, turned the car off for several minutes and babyed the car home.
I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow. I've been postponing the shifting TSB, and the squeaky belt TSB hoping they would happen more often making it easier to diagnose. Also my steering wheel buttons are looking bad, flaking off paint. Sure hope they can get me fixed up. Just don't want to hear that they drove around the block and it drove fine for them...

Anyone have a similar TC event?
 
#2 ·
What year is the car?
 
#4 ·
Wow! That's crazy! I wonder what the cause is?

As for the buttons on the steering wheel: I thought my paint was fading, as there was noticeable color discoloration, I ended up wiping them with my interior cleaner designed for hard vinyl plastic, and lo-and-behold the buttons cleaned up and looked as good as new.

Keep us updated on what happened...I'm interested to hear what the deal was.
 
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#5 ·
Well, you certainly have a serious issue with your TC. Let the dealership take care of you.

As far as the buttons on the steering wheel, this is a common problem, and the button covers are pretty easy to replace yourself. A search in this forum will get you some good info. But the problem is people using their finger-nails instead of their finger tips/pads.
 
#10 ·
I find it very common in cars driven by women that the buttons on the interior are missing paint. As stated, they use their nails instead of their pad and it just scrapes it off over time.

Anyway, I'm voting on possible wheel speed sensor or whatever monitors steering input. The car thinks you're doing something you're not, so it's one of these areas that are subject to being the likely cause.
 
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#13 ·
I find it very common in cars driven by women that the buttons on the interior are missing paint. As stated, they use their nails instead of their pad and it just scrapes it off over time.

Anyway, I'm voting on possible wheel speed sensor or whatever monitors steering input. The car thinks you're doing something you're not, so it's one of these areas that are subject to being the likely cause.
Giggle... Snort..., I'm a C-17A Flying Crew Chief. I have very short, and very dirty finger nails most of the time. Maybe some residual hydraulic fluid, or Jet-A fuel when I touched them... Much more likely. It's o.k. to stereotype with limited info, I do it all the time.:yup:
 
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#11 ·
Wheel speed sensor, good possibility to know about. I was just thinking dealership reflashing something in the PCM that controls advanctrac. It's scary, I'm driving slowly with 2 hands firmly on the wheel, just waiting for the car to freak out and start swirving out of control again.
 
#94 ·
Call the dealer,the will tow it in.
 
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#12 ·
Wow! I don't drive with advance Trac of traction control on unless the roads are slick. I drive with everything off. I like to be the one in control of my car, and the car moves faster with everything off. At least the butt dyno feels that way.
 
#14 ·
Wow, that sounds scary. Maybe contact Deysha to with your VIN and the issue for more help when you take it into the dealer.
 
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#27 ·
It was 80F, on a clear, flat, smooth dry on ramp. I tried to get around an 18 wheeler hauling rocks. I had TC off, and went to 2/3 or 3/4 throttle, didn't even floor it, when I got along side the truck the TC Active light came on cutting the throttle and slaming on each brake individually in a clockwise order. I wasn't even coming close to breaking any traction, and this went on for a while. I pulled over, put it in park then pulled back out to get on the freeway. I very slowly and steadilly pulled up to about 50mph and the TC freaked out again!! Slamming each individual brake so hard I began swirving badly, and I'm in the middle lane with traffic passing me on both sides now. Even when I slowed way down it is still going nuts.
Wow, that sounds scary. Maybe contact Deysha to with your VIN and the issue for more help when you take it into the dealer.
I wrote Deysha a private message. I don't know what help that will be if any. Fingers crossed. Maybe I'll I get a good service tech tomorrow.
Hi 11Red3.7,

I received your PM. Will you please send me your full name, dealer, and best daytime number as well?

Deysha
 
#34 ·
Red, hopefully it's still doing it, the intermittant ones are a bear to diagnose. Your's isn't the 1st to do something similar, mine did it once (very mild compared to yours) I didn't bring it in since I would expect to hear "unable to duplicate" I wonder if it gets a false signal you are loosing control, applies the brake, feels that yaw, applies the other brake etc etc etc. Good luck and keep us updated.
 
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#35 ·
Red, hopefully it's still doing it, the intermittant ones are a bear to diagnose. Your's isn't the 1st to do something similar, mine did it once (very mild compared to yours) I didn't bring it in since I would expect to hear "unable to duplicate" I wonder if it gets a false signal you are loosing control, applies the brake, feels that yaw, applies the other brake etc etc etc. Good luck and keep us updated.
"Could not duplicate" is what I'm afraid of, that's why I've let the funky shifting go on for so long, don't want to waste all the time and effort. The wheel speed sensor sounds more and more likely. Should hear something in a few...
 
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#36 ·
Well, the service advisor just said they are keeping it overnight. And Ryan their Mustang guy is still working it. He said he wanted to duplicate the engine belt squeal in the morning, I explained it was a cold damp thing, not in the forecast. Then I went ahead and passed on the 2 TSBs, engine belts, and transmission solenoids. I also told him to be careful telling the tech about those, because we Mx people don't like being told how to fix things. He said "he would".
More waiting...

edit: MX is maintenance, sorry
 
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#37 ·
A neat little trick I found for belt squeal is to rub a small amount of black RTV on the inner and outer edges of the belt, approx 1 inch worth. When you start the engine the RTV gets spread throughout and no more squeal. Damn near permanent as well, not one customer car has come back. It is actually a psedo-official Mercedes repair procedure(except they want us to use some specific stuff that doesn't work well at all).
 
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#39 ·
I figured out the multiquote button:p

Thanks, I'll remember that one. But right now I just hope Ford will do the TSB and replace the belts like it says to.

Somewhere there's a thread about how to pull fuse and hard wire, maybe not the right term. Anyway my bro in law says it can be turned off in the computer with a tuner.
Corrado and jeffoden did the fuse and then a relay to get rid of the adaptive shifting problem on the V6 side of the house. But I'm not quite sure what you speak of?
 
#38 ·
Somewhere there's a thread about how to pull fuse and hard wire, maybe not the right term. Anyway my bro in law says it can be turned off in the computer with a tuner.
 
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#41 ·
Get it to the dealer. Contact Deysha first.

Mine was so scary both times, because it slamed each brake individually, causing the car to swerve out of control in heavy freeway traffic.

Right now I'm pissed at the dealer. They said they were working on my car Saturday so they kept it. When I called they said they were still working on it, then Saturday night I called again and was informed nobody was working on my car at all. And that no one was going to work on it Sunday either(their open Sundays). If they hadn't constantly mislead me I would have made sure I got a rental from them. Of course I called right after their rental car area closed.
Now my Monday is screwed up, and I just hope they actually fix my problems after all the dealership hastle and run around...
 
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#43 ·
Update: Steering wheel buttons, and engine belts ordered to replace squealing ones.
Dealer is saying they can't reproduce the shifting, or the "Traction Control" problem. *SIGH* So I re re re reexplained that it is an AdvancTrac problem, I explained to them those systems are integrated but seperate, and went thru the scary scenarios of almost crashing again as each individual brake slammed hard causing almost uncontrolable swirving. Glad it happend at 45-50 and not at 70mph...
They are keeping the car a 5th day, partly because the buttons and belts won't be there till tomorrow. Don't know what if anything will be done for the shifting issues of the last 18 months and scary AdvancTrac stuff. :(
 
#47 ·
I am having a hard time figuring out when AdvanceTrac intercedes and when it doesn't. I have had my car for over a week now and have 800 miles on it. Once I got past 500, I have been driving it harder and harder. I have chirped 2nd, 3rd, and 4th several times. I have had the rear slide on me a few times as well. All of this was with AdvanceTrac on.

A few days ago I was in a tight turn and something caught my eye. It was the tc light blinking rapidly. As I exited the turn, it was off. I never felt the system compensate for loss of traction tough. It's not like the wheels were screeching. Maybe it was minimal input on the systems part.

Then 2 days ago, I was coming off a light on a clear road. I wanted to air it out, but on my shift from 1st to 2nd, the car completely bogged and the TC light was on. It was a fast an aggressive shift, but I have done it in the past and never had AvdavceTrac kick in like that. It was a bit disturbing. If someone was following me and trying to keep up, they would have ended up in my back seat.

Since that 2nd incident, I have been disabling TC by pressing the button once. After reading the manual last night, I see that you can enter Sport mode by pressing it twice while stopped and your foot on the brake. I am going to try that setting for a while and see if I get any intrusive inputs from the AdvanceTrac system. It's nice ti have a safeguard, but in regular mode it is too Jekyll and Hyde for me.

Does anyone else drive in Sport mode for the majority of their time? Has anyone else had the regular AdvanceTrac bog them on a redline shift from 1-2?

BTW, I have a GT with the track pack (3.73 gears).
 
#49 ·
i drive my v6 PP in sportmode or traction/advancetrac turned all the way off. I hate havin a computer intervene on my driving for exactly this reason, i wish there was a way to keep it off and not have to do it everytime i get in the car

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
 
#48 ·
Whenever I do any sort of 'sporty' driving, I disable AdvanceTrac altogether as the behavior really is unpredictable and it can retard acceleration while doing it with such finesse that at times you can't tell its on unless you see the light blinking.

Its designed for keeping 'normal' drivers from losing control. Trying to do sporty maneuvers with it may as well just cause you to have less control of your vehicle.
 
#50 ·
My last car (C6 Z06) had a "competition mode" that disabled traction control all together and reduced the amount of yaw control. It's what I used I when I went to the strip with it and it was the perfect mode for me and that car. Turning everything off was beyond my capability as that car gave little warning before the rear end snapped lose.

I was hoping that sport mode in the Mustang would be similar to that. If not, I'm turning everything off. Thanks for the replies.
 
#51 ·
Normally when I read something like "advancetrac almost killed me" etc. I think to myself what was this DB doing.... Yours sounds sincere, I hope you get it worked out... I'll chime in to set the record straight that advancetrac has "kept me alive"...:bigthumbsup. Best of Luck OP, hope they get your issues figure out.
 
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#52 ·
Normally when I read something like "advancetrac almost killed me" etc. I think to myself what was this DB doing.... Yours sounds sincere, I hope you get it worked out... I'll chime in to set the record straight that advancetrac has "kept me alive"...:bigthumbsup. Best of Luck OP, hope they get your issues figure out.
I am the same way. When I read about someone complaining about TC/ESC causing them to lose control it makes me wonder what the outcome would have been had there been no intervention. However in this case the malfunction did infact appear completely on it's own according to the OP's description.

I have not had a customer car behave quite like the OP's but have had plenty of similar issues. Usually what happens with something like a wheelspeed sensor fault is the ABS tries pulsing the brakes no matter how light you touch the pedal. This causes a severe reduction in the amount of pressure the driver can put into the brakes and indeed makes for a very dangerous driving experience.
 
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#62 ·
So far I'm the first one with this exact scary malfunction. Others have had some issues.


.

Electronic Stability Control monitors wheel spin sensors on the front tires. When oversteer or undesteer is detected the system will apply one or more brakes on the opposite side of the car to help keep the car from sliding out of control.

Hope that clears things up a bit.
Convert, here is my new hypothesis after playing this in my head over and over. I had just pulled over and got gas at a little Indian reservation gas station less than 3 miles prior to the first incedent of ESC freaking out. I switched lanes and accelerated to get around the rock truck, even though I never fill past the first click, could it have been so full that gas sloshed out, messing up the Left Rear sensor, the second time maybe just the residual gas with added 50mph wind in the wheel well? Both times the Right Front was the first brake I noticed slamming hard, the opposite corner.

Neither me or the dealer can duplicate the problem, and maybe putting this reason in my head just keeps me from being scared like a little kid everytime I accelerate on to the freeway. So maybe it's just a defense mechanism, but it's working. So, Possible or Defense Mechanism?
 
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