Traction Control - Audible?

[iowabs]

Is traction control audible? When driving in lower gears and speeding up and turning (for example, a stop sign), on dry pavement, nothing too punchy (I am not a speed demon)an audible winding or springy noise is heard from the other side and/or rear of the car. It is not coming from the steering wheel. I can only hear it if the radio is off, so it is not a loud, just weird to me. Lasts just a couple seconds. The noise never occurs if traction control is turned off. I tried turning it off after reading another post and thinking maybe that could be it... but to be clear what I hear is not like other posts with constant grinding or whirring or anything like that. The manual does not really have a lot to say about traction control.

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[Mark S.]

The power transfer unit and rear differential in your car employ clutches to vector engine power. Describing noises using words is difficult at best, but it's possible that you are hearing the clutches in the PTU engaging. If the front wheels lose traction during acceleration the system will engage the clutches in the PTU to send power to the rear wheels. I heard the clutches working during the off-road driving portion of the Bronco Off-Rodeo I attended, and the noise might be described the words you are using.

I mention this as a distant possibility; unless the roads you frequent are covered with gravel or sand I would be surprised if you regularly accelerate hard enough to break the front wheels loose.

 

[magicbus]

I’m not sure traction control uses the power vectoring. Most vehicles do not have vectoring. Based on my experience, TC is controlled braking. I guess it could make some noise.

 

[iowabs]

Thank you both for your posts. I also doubt I drive aggressively enough to cause any slippage but who knows. I have been on dry pavement so far. I am going to try to record the sound and will post it if I can.

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