Hi -

Total newbie here, contemplating my first Fit purchase, preferrably a late-model used.

Looked at one at a dealer today. He mentioned that starting in 2012 Honda added traction control, but didn't seem to know a lot about it.

My question to the group is how valuable/useful is this feature? When my wife heard about it, her immediate reaction was to rule out any models prior to 2012 since they don't have it. Our daughter will be one of the main drivers of the car, hence her concerns about safety.

I live in the northwest where (as you know) we get a lot of moisture (very rarely snow).

So does it extensively improve the performance in wet weather?

Thank you!

Daren

 

It's required on all cars now due to the reducing accidents and fatalities. It does what a skilled driver would do correcting for oversteer/understeer. It could save your life, but then we lived without it for a long time...

 

Its a "Stability Control" not traction control.

As long as you/your daughter/your wife are driving reasonably, you'll never need it. Having spent a fair amount of time in a '12, I've never even felt it kick in.

 

mine kicks in only under heavy throttle in 1st or 2nd over very bumpy roads.

its useless on these cars

 

If you look elsewhere in this forum you should be able to find my prior post about how, without stability control (in my prior car) I was very lucky not to lose control of the car when someone else came flying at me and I swerved to avoid being hit.

 

daren- better tires > traction control.

honestly speaking, i wish honda did not add this feature on my '12 MT. i hate it. i dont use dynamic stability control even while driving my RWD cars with much more power. it just gets into my way more than anything.

the only time i use this feature is while driving over icy bridges. for all season and some snow, i recommend Continental DWS tires. for deep snow, get snow tires like Bridgestone WS60. your car will drive like a AWD car with these tires even in deep snow. GL!

 

I don't have it on my 2010 base. I have to be easy on throttle when it's raining or i'll lose traction in 1st from a stop, but mine is an MT and I don't like to slip clutch much and my tires aren't the best in the rain.

Like kenchan said, if you get decent rain tires I think it'd be fine without it.

 

There are times when traction control can be handy and helpful, but I would not consider it in any way essential. It works to try to prevent wheel spinning; in snowy or icy conditions, this is often a little more effective than feathering the gas, as the traction control can individually affect the drive wheels via differential braking. Under rainy conditions, it can help prevent hydroplaning if you're going too fast.

There are also times when traction control is a bit of a nuisance. It occasionally likes to kick in when driving on washboarded dirt roads, as the wheel momentarily bounces off the road surface, despite there being no real loss of traction. It can also be counterproductive in some winter driving situations, like when trying to become unstuck. There is a button to disable it temporarily when needed.

Stability control is a separate but related system that cannot be disabled; it only kicks in when there's about to be a loss of control of the car, a kind of last-ditch effort to keep the front end pointing forwards.

Good tires, properly inflated, make a bigger difference in safety, as does driving sensibly. On the whole, they're good systems to have, but I wouldn't rule out a car without them.

 

I've had traction control on this car and my old mach1 mustang, never liked it. You try to quickly accelerate onto a busy intersection and you hit the slightest bump and the car bogs and suddely the dude behind you is mad because you "cut him off" and arent even moving. I do hate the dunlop tires on this car though, they seem to break loose at the slightest acceleration.