Nissan is advertising that 2005 Maximas beginning with November's production have traction control as a standard feature. How do I know if my Max has it or not? I just purchased it last week.

 

It should be printed on your car sticker.

 

right! it should be printed there

 

Well it was 10/04. No traction control for me. How much difference does traction control make?

 

I was wondering the same thing. I was disappointed that the dealer didn't have any with TCS in stock. I'm not sure that TCS is that big a deal in North Texas, though.

 

The primary purpose of traction control is to help avoid wheel slip when accelerating.

It can be useful, but, from my way of thinking, I feel ABS (antilocking braking system), which helps you control the car during emergency stops, or any stop on slick roads, is more important. ABS is standard on the Maxima.

In fact, I actually feel VDC (vehicle dynamic control), which helps maintain control of the car during cornering or other abrupt/emergency maneuvers, is more valuable than traction control. Unfortunately, the VDC option package is on only around ten percent of '04 Maximas and around fifteen percent of '05 Maximas.

 

For $250 I wish mine had it.

 

On my I35 the traction control is controled by a toggle switch on the dash and has an indicator light if it is disabled near the speedo. It is on all the time unless you switch it off once the car is started.

 

I do a lot of driving on hard packed snow, and the traction control is often kicking in. I have an auto, and it may react differently than with a manual, but it is fairly effective. I think the way this one works is it just throttles back when the sensors pick up too much wheelspin. Some cars actually use a combination of the brakes and throttle and upshifting to control the wheelspin, and the Max may actually upshift too, but most of my wheelspin happens when I'm driving slow so it's hard to tell. It does let the wheels spin longer and faster than I would like (perhaps a little more sensitivity would be nice) but this system is almost certainly optimized for wet/dry pavement rather than ice and hard snow.

I actually got some wheelspin at about 40mph today, on slippery pavement, and it seemed to throttle back gradually, and not too abruptly. I'm guessing that it upshifted too, but the shifts are so smooth it's sometimes hard to tell.

I think my father's BMW uses brakes and throttle, but his is a manual transmission and it seems very abrupt in the throttle control, and even a bit too sensitive. It would be interesting to hear how sensitive and obtrusive this is on a 6 speed Maxima.

On a sidenote, the ABS in the Max seems far less effective than on my '00 Jetta, and not because of the much bigger tires. It almost seems as though the pulses are too slow in the Max--probably much more effective in dry/wet pavement panic stops than on snow and ice.

 

So would VDC provide any benefit in snow/ice type conditions?

 

mm7759 - Not having any experience with VDC on snow and ice, I would hazard that its effectiveness might be reduced, possibly considerably, by the fact the tires would not truly be in contact with the ground. That would mean the microscopic bursts of releasing/applying the brakes would not necessarily result in the tires stopping their skid. Might help, but probably not a great deal.

If I lived where I would be driving on snow and ice fairly often, I would very much want traction control on my vehicle. That would be one of the three situations (rainy roads and muddy roads are the others) for which traction control was designed.

 

Traction control in Texas??? I have it on my 99 (which is almost sold) and I need to see if the new 05 has it. I activate it everyonce in a while in the 99. I think the rain would help to have it in it. Also, the 1 day we get sleet, could prove a nicety...

 

Traction control is available as an option. It's independent of the packages you buy and it' fairly cheap. I think it would be well worth the money.

Does anyone know if it helps with the torque steer?

 

Traction control is available as a standard feature on 2005 Maximas manufactured November 2004 and later. I believe that it raised the MSRP of the comparable pre-november vehicle by $100. When shopping, look at the info sticker in the door of the drivers side (bottom right hand side of door opening). One of the first lines will be the manufacture date. It will be in xx/04 format. This will let you know if it has traction control standard as the fact sheet on the window sticker may or may not have it. I know the fact sheet on the "build your Maxima" portion of the Nissan website does not.

 

So for those of us who don't have TCS or the other system which is supposedly better but I forget the name, is it too late to have it installed? If so, are there 3rd party options?

 

WetDry - Neither the Traction Control option nor Vehicle Dynamic Control option can be added aftermarket. The actual 'brains' of both processes are in the onboard computer. Additionally, there are 'mechanicals' involved that must be installed as the car is being assembled.

I am glad Nissan FINALLY made TC standard on the Maxima. I will be somewhat disappointed if VDC is not made standard on the 2006 Maxima, and very dismayed if it is not standard by gen 7 (2008 Maxima). The competition is passing Nissan by, as some form of dynamic stability control is becoming standard on many of the vehicles with which the Maxima competes.

 

That is true. Mine is an 05 SE with an 11/04 MFR date and it has the TCS on it and it was standard on the stiker. You can also tell as there will be an on off button for it on your dashboard just behind the left side of the sterring wheel. There is also a TCS light the will say of on the gauge when you press the button to turn it off.

As far as the function of it, I can not yet tell with only having my car a week or so now. However I did have this feature on a Mustang GT and it worked well a few times with that car. I am sure the Nissan system is much better than Ford's is, so t is a nice feature to be standard IMO.

 

Thats what I was thinking myself. Last fall I toyed with the thought of moving from my 2k2 to an 04, when they were running the yearend closeouts and low interest rates. In doing my homework (in my area anyway) I was seeing EITHER OR, but not both. That could also have been due to it being the end of the model year. I was just at a local dealer and strolled through the lot and noticed a couple with BOTH VDC & TCS. I guess you just have to shop early in the year. I think I'll wait again to see how things look towards the end of this model year. I've been hearing rumors of some "possible" Anniversary options. We'll have to wait and see. Thanks for the info.