Issues driving in the snow

Hondafan1985

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Hi everyone, so I have a civic ex-t with a cvt transmission that I got about a year ago. Whenever I drive in the snow, traction control comes on and prevents the tires from moving when I actually need the tires to spin. For example , the other day there was maybe 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground, all the other cars on the road were driving normal, but traction control came on and wouldn’t let me do more that 8 miles an hour. This has actually put me in quite a few dangerous situations. The car does fine in the snow if I turn traction control totally off, but it doesn’t seem like I should have to turn off a safety feature to drive in the snow. Has anyone else had this issue ?
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Maroco

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Totally normal. If there is snow on the ground, turn off traction control. I grew up in Minnesota and thats what we do up there. Gotta keep the wheel speed up or you are bound to get stuck.
 

latole

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Totally normal. If there is snow on the ground, turn off traction control. I grew up in Minnesota and thats what we do up there. Gotta keep the wheel speed up or you are bound to get stuck.

:thumbsup:

Same in Canada on snow.
 

nizarz

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Hi everyone, so I have a civic ex-t with a cvt transmission that I got about a year ago. Whenever I drive in the snow, traction control comes on and prevents the tires from moving when I actually need the tires to spin. For example , the other day there was maybe 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground, all the other cars on the road were driving normal, but traction control came on and wouldn’t let me do more that 8 miles an hour. This has actually put me in quite a few dangerous situations. The car does fine in the snow if I turn traction control totally off, but it doesn’t seem like I should have to turn off a safety feature to drive in the snow. Has anyone else had this issue ?
Do you have winter tires on (not all seasons)?

I live in Ottawa which is considered the snowiest capital city in the world. If i don't floor the gas pedal I have no issues in the snow. I find putting it in Eco mode helps because it numbs the acceleration where it helps the car gradually accelerate without spinning the wheels.
 


latole

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Do you have winter tires on (not all seasons)?

I live in Ottawa which is considered the snowiest capital city in the world .
Where do you read that ? From a Canadian, there is not much snow in Ottawa
Ottawa is not in the snowest city lists

1- Syracuse
2- Quebec city

https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-worlds-top-snowiest-cities-4582630

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/top-10-snowiest-major-cities-a/23760437

https://www.niche.com/blog/top-25-snowiest-cities-in-america/
 

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As mentioned proper tires are key. Winter tires are designed for the conditions both in rubber compound (Stays soft) and tread style. My car behaves very predictably in the snow with my Continental winters on.
 

latole

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As mentioned proper tires are key. Winter tires are designed for the conditions both in rubber compound (Stays soft) and tread style. My car behaves very predictably in the snow with my Continental winters on.

I agree with winter tires, I use ice tires witch are very good in snow too, and better on icy road than snow tire.
In winter there are much icy hwy than snowy hwy in my country
 

Oddwayne

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Hi everyone, so I have a civic ex-t with a cvt transmission that I got about a year ago. Whenever I drive in the snow, traction control comes on and prevents the tires from moving when I actually need the tires to spin. For example , the other day there was maybe 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground, all the other cars on the road were driving normal, but traction control came on and wouldn’t let me do more that 8 miles an hour. This has actually put me in quite a few dangerous situations. The car does fine in the snow if I turn traction control totally off, but it doesn’t seem like I should have to turn off a safety feature to drive in the snow. Has anyone else had this issue ?
Learn to control your right foot more. It’s spinning for a reason.
 


baldheadracing

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Where do you read that ? From a Canadian, there is not much snow in Ottawa
Ottawa is not in the snowest city lists
There isn't much snow here in Ottawa compared to, say, Quebec City. He said "capital city." In North America, that's Ottawa, Washington, D.C., Mexico City, and a bunch in the Caribbean.

Ottawa is usually the capital city that gets the heaviest annual snowfall. It is usually is in the bottom half of the top 10 coldest capital cities, although IIRC it "won" in 2017.

I rarely disable traction control - in CivicX, traction control cannot be fully turned off except in the Type R in "+R" mode - unless one does the "pedal dance," which is a diagnostic mode that disables the entire computer. Pressing the VSA off switch only turns off traction control at very low speeds.
 

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Oddwayne

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Whats spinning? The problem is traction control wont let the tires spin.
Ease into the throttle or disable it so you can feather it out. You should have to compete let shut it off the get unstuck. And if you are that stuck you spun the tires too much
 

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Ease into the throttle or disable it so you can feather it out. You should have to compete let shut it off the get unstuck. And if you are that stuck you spun the tires too much
The point is you are 10x more likely to get stuck if you keep it on because it kills wheel speed at the slightest hint of spinning. But you do you this winter, hope it goes well for you.
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