traction control button

[SSmedwin]

i have a 2013 1ss, when i press TC button, a emblem comes up, than when i press again, it says OFF and another emblem..
which one means Traction control is off, and what does the 2nd press of the button do?

also, when i accelerate quick like getting off a toll on the parkway, sometimes the TC emblem just comes up.. does that mean TC was used when i took off?

Thanks.

[ckaram]

Hey check your manual it will explain it best! 2 quick button presses should put you in Competitive Mode. When TC flashes, yes, traction control was engaged to keep you on the road.

[Leo_black]

Originally Posted by ckaram

Hey check your manual it will explain it best! 2 quick button presses should put you in Competitive Mode. When TC flashes, yes, traction control was engaged to keep you on the road.

I can vouch for that. Coming back from Vegas picking someone up at the airport I'm on the freeway around midnight local time. For anyone who doesn't know I15 North from Vegas is mostly straight, some hills up and down but very few turns until you get a ways from Vegas. At one part of the road where it goes up to create an overpass is a SUV or crossover, parked in the left hand lane, facing oncoming traffic, the lane I'm in, without headlights and a man standing mere feet from the dashed line in the middle of the road. I swerve last second, because of the hill and no lights I couldn't see him until maybe 30-40 feet away (no high beams due to oncoming traffic as well). About 30ish feet ahead, on the downhill part of the overpass there's a semi truck parked on the right hand shoulder, but extremely close the the yellow line, so I swerve back to the left hand lane narrowly avoiding sideswiping the semi truck and it's trailer.
During the incident I was driving at about 80mph and at the end, due to the turns and braking I was going about 60-65 (it all happened in maybe 3-5 seconds tops). After turning to avoid hitting the guy everything was fine, but turning to avoid the semi truck I must've hit some gravel on the road because, for a fraction of a second I felt my rear tires lose grip on the road, the TC light came on and I had full control of the car again.
Moral of my story, if you take anything from this, DO NOT TURN OF T/C OFF ON ANY PUBLIC ROAD. T/C most likely prevented my car from spinning out and, at those speeds, rolling several times. Stabilitrak is most likely what gave me the control to turn so precisely at those speeds and combined they saved me from either rolling, sideswipping a semi and/or a head on collision at 80mph and pinning a person between the 2 cars.

[Jamie Mac]

Owners manual has all kinds of good information about your purchase

[E.T.]

Traction control keeps the tires from spinning, like if you go WOT from a stop. Stabilitrak keeps the car from spinning out (or at least helps prevent it).

These are handy aids, but I think people are attributing God-like powers to them. On a dry road, you can turn off TC and actually control the car. Everyone seems to think that by pressing that magic button once and turning off TC, your car will instantly go off the road and crash and you'll die.

[Leo_black]

Originally Posted by E.T.

These are handy aids, but I think people are attributing God-like powers to them.

I hope you aren't referring to my comment, I've been in a rollover before (older car, not TC or stabilitrak) and I'm quite certain were it not for the Camaros safety features I wouldn't have been able to avoid that incident, at least not while going 80 and turning that sharply.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by SSmedwin

i have a 2013 1ss, when i press TC button, a emblem comes up, than when i press again, it says OFF and another emblem..
which one means Traction control is off, and what does the 2nd press of the button do?

also, when i accelerate quick like getting off a toll on the parkway, sometimes the TC emblem just comes up.. does that mean TC was used when i took off?

Thanks.

All great sources of information being published in this thread.

SSmedwin, in addition, the TCS warning light comes on when the TCS is off. Pressing and releasing the button again will turn the system back on. As for StabiliTrak, the system comes on automatically whenever the vehicle is started. If StabiliTrak needs to be turned off, you can press and hold the TCS/StabiliTrak button until the Traction Control Off light and the StabiliTrak Off light come on in the instrument cluster; TCS will also be turned off. Note that the system (StabiliTrak) should be left on to help assist with directional control of the vehicle. --- Page 9-39 of the Chevrolet Camaro manual (2013s).

William R.
Chevrolet Customer Care

[E.T.]

I was just saying that it's probably Stabilitrak that helped you and not TC. You probably would've fared just as well if you had TC off and Stabiltrak on. Either way, glad you made it through unscathed.

[Leo_black]

Originally Posted by E.T.

I was just saying that it's probably Stabilitrak that helped you and not TC. You probably would've fared just as well if you had TC off and Stabiltrak on. Either way, glad you made it through unscathed.

Most of it probably was Stabilitrak, but as soon as I hit that loose gravel and the wheels started to spin I have no doubt TC helped a bit there too.