Similar to other vehicles, Mitsubishi Triton has an array of safety features. Traction control is one of the key features made compulsory for cars produced after 2012. Mitsubishi Triton’s Active Traction Control (ATC) system and other safety systems work to prevent your car from sliding in slippery conditions.
Traction control comes on automatically when you turn on your car. But if your car has stuck in mud or snow, you can switch it off using the traction control button. But before learning how to deactivate traction control, we have explained how it works in a Mitsubishi Triton, how to deactivate it, and the pros and cons of turning off traction control.
What is traction control?
The traction control system(TCS) is a background safety feature that detects the loss of traction on your car’s wheels and prevents wheel slippage when driving on slippery surfaces. In addition, the system maintains the vehicle’s grip by restricting the wheel spin rate, making it easier for your vehicle to stay in place.
Traction control goes back to the 1970s, but it became mandatory in all cars in 2012.
How does traction control work in a Mitsubishi Triton?
When your drive your Triton on snowy, icy, sandy, muddy, or wet roads, one or more tires may lose grip and start to spin, meaning the tire is not properly gripping the road surface. This could lead to oversteering (the back of the car goes off-course) or understeer (where the car doesn’t respond enough to your steering inputs), both of which are dangerous on the road.
Therefore, Triton’s Active Traction Control system uses the ABS sensors on each wheel to detect the over-spinning. Next, the vehicle’s computer will cut down the engine’s power to the slipping wheel, thus stopping or reducing the spin rate.
Simultaneously, traction control will work with the Active Stability Control (ASC) system to automatically apply brakes to the wheel spinning faster than others to keep your car stable in the direction you’re steering it.
If your car’s wheels lose their grip on the ground, it can cause the car to become unstable, resulting in an accident. In addition, the wheels are more likely to lose traction on snowy, icy, muddy, sandy, or wet roads.
Traction control has a yellow warning light on the dashboard. Here’s what the traction control light means:
- The traction control light illuminates when starting the car: The system is functional.
- Traction control light stays on after starting the engine: There is a fault with the system, and you need to take your car to a professional mechanic.
- Traction control light flashes when your car starts accelerating: It means you’re driving on slippery surfaces.
- The Traction control light blinks while your vehicle slows down and the road is not slippery: There is a defect with the anti-lock braking system (ABS) sensor. Check the error codes from the ABS control unit to see if the sensor is malfunctioning.
- The traction light remains on: The system is off. This could be you accidentally or intentionally turned it off or that there is a fault with the sensors.
What does traction control do?
To understand what traction control does, you’ll need to know the conditions that this feature comes in handy. They include:
- Accelerating on a slippery road
- Speeding on an uphill road where the surface feels loose or slippery because of gravel, snow, or mud.
- The wheels lose traction when they get into a muddy road or deep snow.
When to turn off the traction control
We do not recommend turning off your car’s traction control since it’s a crucial feature when driving. But there are situations when you may need to disable it.
For instance, you can turn the traction control off when you’re stuck in snow, sand, or mud. The traction control system doesn’t create traction; it helps stabilize your vehicle when your wheels spin; therefore, it restricts the amount of grip your tires have.
But if you’re stuck, your car needs to maintain enough wheel spin to dig through the mud, snow, or sand to find solid ground and gain traction to move forward.
If traction control is on when you’re stuck, the system will detect the wheel spin and reduce power, preventing the car from any momentum, and your car will remain stuck. Therefore, turning off traction control while rocking your car will help you drive out faster.
Your vehicle’s gas mileage improves when you keep the traction control off. You will also notice a slight increase in tire wear.
If you’re a thrill-seeker, keeping traction control off allows you to perform some stunts, such as drifting, especially if your Triton model is a rear-wheel drive. But ensure you take the necessary precautions, such as doing this in an abandoned landing strip or empty parking lot. Also, note that drifting will run down your tires.
How to turn off traction control on a Mitsubishi Triton
Here’s how to disable traction control on a Triton:
- Find the traction control button. You will see a button in the passenger compartment with the traction control symbol of a car with two winding lines and “OFF” underneath it.
- Press the traction control button until the orange/yellow traction control light comes on the instrument panel.
Once you become unstuck and reach normal driving conditions, it’s crucial to re-engage traction control. Failure to do so will compromise your ability to maintain control of your vehicle in slippery conditions.
Instead of relying on traction stability control, installing snow tires or chain tires is best to prevent getting stuck. Snow tires have special grooves that provide the grip that regular tires cannot. The chains on chain tires also cut through heavy snow and mud, giving you maximum traction to drive through such roads.
Conclusion
The traction control on a Mitsubishi Triton is a driver assistance system that gives your wheels traction when driving on slippery roads to ensure your safety. Therefore, we do not recommend deactivating it. But if you’re stuck in snow or mud, you may need to temporarily turn off traction control to get your car unstuck. This is because the tires need to spin to find traction below the snow or mud.