Benefits of Traction Control

When it comes to driving safety, safety and regulatory devices like traction control are easy to take for granted. After all, if they work well, they typically operate so seamlessly that you may never even know that they're active. Plus, since traction control works when your car is accelerating, it's easy to see it as a less than useful system. Because really, if you're just accelerating and aren't already going fast, how much damage can you do? The answer is plenty.

Traction control is most evident when you're accelerating from a stop. And while you're likely to not be going very fast in those situations, having your wheels spin can still cause you to lose control of the car and potentially cause significant damage to those around you, too. Traction control is particularly beneficial when roads are wet, slick or icy. Rather than the driver having to feather the gas pedal and guess the correct amount of power to send to the wheels, traction control can step in. It seems like whenever there's a snow storm, there's plenty of local news footage of cars spinning their wheels as they leave stoplights. Traction control can help keep that from happening.

Traction control is also particularly helpful when you're driving a powerful car. Tromp on the gas of a powerful car, and you're likely to set the tires spinning and the car into a skid in a direction you didn't intend on. Traction control regulates the power to the tires, keeping the car on the path you set. While a truly bad (or reckless) driver can overcome traction control, for most drivers, it's a system that helps keep them on track and in control.

For more information about traction control as well as other safety and regulatory devices, follow the links on the next page.