I'm Glad .

 

Amen!
I had it on my Acura CL-S and the only time VSA came on is when I punched it trying to pull out from an intersection on to a busy road and the tires would spin. Half the time I turned it off because it was so annoying and would actually distract me by cutting power to the wheels and almost cause an accident. The CL-S had torque to spin tires the Fit doesn't. I drove the Fit last January 3+ inches of packed snow and let me tell you the Fit without VSA handled a lot better than my CL-S with VSA. Not to say VSA is worthless but like JPGC said...its better on some vehicles. IMO not a necessity on the Fit for me.

 

my friend has a smart car that has vsa, completely useless. i had to push him out of his driveway with 2" of snow on the ground. VSA is just another gimmick to encourage poor driving habits.

 

You folks are getting traction control mixed up with stability control. Take a sharp exit ramp at 60mph and the vsa car goes right around the corner while the non-vsa slides off the road and flips. As for Honda's reputation, all they push in their ads is 5-star safety... vsa is safety. A guy cuts in front of you and you swerve... and survive.

 

No confusion here between traction control and VSA. I know what both are. At speeds in which VSA would do me any good, it's not really needed. To give an example...I was cruising down I-85 @ around 70-75 mph the other day when I was passing a slower car who as I was passing decided to cut in front of me causing me to swerve. Luckily it was a 3 lane and I had room to manuver. My fit got really loose and it wouldn't have taken much to have lost control. In that situation, no amount of stability control on the Fit would have helped. I can control how fast I go around an off-ramp. I don't need VSA then. My VSA now is slowing down, lol. As far as traction control...I do think in certain instances, that it is more dangerous than helpful, at least on mid to lower horsepower cars. Is is very frustrating to try to accelerate out of a driveway or medien to floor your car and for it to cut fuel/ timing.

 

"In that situation, no amount of stability control on the Fit would have helped."

Simply not true. Thats EXACTLY where VSA comes in. Its happened to me and saved my ass. And one of my "simple pleasures" is flying (within reason) around curves and I can tell you in both my MINI and Miata that with VSA off you can easily lose the tail... turn it on and with no obvious intrusion you're on rails.

 

Watch this. "It shouldn't add more than $100 to the cost of any new car".

YouTube - 12 News Investigates Electronic Stability Control

 

Trust, It would not have. I was going too fast for the situation. The car got real light and when the guy pulled into my lane I was probably traveling 20-25 mph faster than him with about 20-30 ft to swerve. I almost flipped the car and If I would have added and more angle to the steering wheel I would have gotten sideways and probably would have flipped. I will admit that VSA would have probably helped stabilize the car after the fact because I was swerving back and forth for a few seconds after the event. That would have helped, but would have been too late.

 

Actually no and yes... In my case the TCS and the VSA were integrated into one on Acura CL type S's There was one button to turn off TCS and VSA labeled (VSA) to the lower right of the steering wheel. Only on the standard CL's were there only TCS as VSA was not available on them. I only saw my VSA light flash when I was having wheel spin. I never seen vsa kick on any other time. I guess in that case it was TCS not VSA.


Here is a pic of VSA on the CL-S cluster.




I too had a recent experience where I took an on ramp a little to fast in the rain hit some pondage and the rear slide out and I actually turned sideways going about 50mph but I was able to control it and straighten it back out though. VSA could have possibly helped maybe ???? but due to my awesome driving skills I saved it and kept driving like nothing happened. First time I've ever drifted in a fwd car .
Now I know what my car can and cannot handle. We have officially bonded.

 

safety would be building a car that jams cellphone signals while its running, then you wouldn't need to swerve around the idiot on the cellphone/crackberry that just cut you off.

 

I think that any safety feature that has the potential to save your life is worth it.

How much is your life worth to you?

myke

 

Having seen the clip from Top Gear where they test VSA/ESP going 70MPH - thats SEVENTY - on the surface of a frozen lake, without losing control of the car or spinning out, I have to imagine that it's damn near impossible to be going too fast for VSA to be helpful. It probably would have eliminated the "looseness" you felt, and prevented you from overcorrecting and fishtailing.

Here's the video: YouTube - Top Gear - Fifth Gear - Bosch ESP

The ESP bit starts around 5:00 but you can skip to around 6:00 to see the frozen lake test.

 

I got a 2009 Fit with navigation primarily for the VSA, though the other features that come with the navi are kind of cool (steering wheel controls, the navigation system itself).

After an incident I had a year ago, I swore I wouldn't buy a new car without stability control if I had a choice. I was driving late at night on I-81 at around 70 mph in my 97 Honda Odyssey (not the big minivan, it looks basically like a bigger fit). Anyway, dear jumps out on the highway, I swerve to avoid it, I miss the dear, but my rear end breaks loose. I overcorrect, my car goes into a spin (this is on a completely DRY highway), and when it stopped, I was in the left lane facing in the wrong direction. Luckily there weren't any other cars on the road.

(As an aside, if the Odyssey didn't flip, I doubt the Fit would flip.)

I'm convinced that VSA would have prevented that from occurring.

Of course it's not magic and it can't defy the laws of physics, but it could help a lot of drivers... and if you don't like it, you can turn it off .

It does make me feel a little better for not waiting for the 2010 models though .

 

there's no value i can place on my life, that's why i drive with common sense (something sadling lacking on roads now). looking back, the best driver's experience i had was that i didn't get my drivers license for a car until i was 20. all i drove from ages 16-20 was a motorcycle. nothing teaches you defensive driving like being on a motorcycle. it makes you assume everyone else can't see you. when i see another driver i assume that they're going to do the dumbest thing possible in that situation so i'm already prepared for it. a lot can be said for having your foot already off the gas and hovering over the brake pedal.

 

This is my thinking, too.

Make a trip across Illinois on I-80 on a wintery day and see the vehicles that are upside down in the ditch. They're not all idiots or bad drivers. They would probably have been helped by VSA, which is always ready for action.

When I was in high school, the so-called "good drivers" refused to wear seat belts. "What's the matter, do you think I'm going to have a wreck?"

Then it was ABS: "Good drivers don't need it."

Then it was airbags.

Now we have a cheap little car with ABS, traction control, VSA, airbags all over, seatbelt pretensioners, active headrests, and who knows what all else.

The "good drivers" still say they don't need it.

I'll take it all.

Cheers.

 

Hit the nail on the head with this statement!

 

Couldn't have said it better. Nobody is a perfect driver no matter how good they think they are. Not having common sense, no matter how much technology you car has, will eventually catch up with you as well as doing stupid stuff while driving...texting...etc.

 

a pair of studded snow tires will go a long way for traction and they're something i have on my car here from the first snow of the year until April or May if necessary. i look at a lot of the gadgets nowadays on cars as just something expensive to repair when it shits the bed. they do make the price of insurance cheaper. i was shocked when i got a quote for a 2009 Fit and it was less than what i'm currently paying for my 2004 Civic. ABS and VSA i can live without. airbags seem to be a good idea but i still wear a seatbelt. my neighbours wife has a small dog she keeps on her chest while she's driving, thats her airbag. if she ever hits anything that dog is toast.

 

Hold your horses bud. Where did I say I would RATHER buy a KIA? Does the mere mention of a vehicle other than Honda suggest that I would rather purchase mentioned vehicle? And to be honest, I drove the Soul and it was an equally fun if not more fun vehicle to drive. It may not have the reliability, but then again I said said I was buying one or that I was heavily considering one. Keep your assumptions to yourself. You know what they say...

And thank you for lecturing me about the vehicle I should purchase. I better get my priorities straight and purchase the vehicle you prefer. Give me a break. I was going to hand Honda $18000-$19000 for a Fit w/ VSA and Nav. But I am not paying for inferior Navigation, but they left me with no choice as I am unable to get VSA in anything but the Nav model.

So now, I have already put a deposit on a 2010 Golf MK6 TDI. And to be clear, my priorities were to have a fuel efficient hatch that offered me value for my dollar. The Fit doesn't do that. I apologize that my priorities don't align with your Fit fanboy agenda.

 

Wow..little defensive?

Good luck with the TDI they are sharp cars sucks they aren't real reliable based on recent reports though. Hopefully you have good luck with it.
My buddies dad had a 06 TDI. It was a maint. nightmare.