Traction on LW200

Hi,

I have a 2001 Saturn LW200. When I was jammed in the snow, I realised
that only one wheel (the right one) seem to give some traction. Is it
normal ?

Thank you !

Stephane B.

 

Does your car have the traction control? Not sure if that was standard or
option on the lw200.
I have an '01 lw300 so I don't know how similar the two models are but
here's what I find...

Last year I was on a hill on ice and was not getting the traction control to
work as I expected. Did find that it took a second or two of continuous
wheel slip before the traction control seemed to engage. When the traction
control is in control, you should get a 'Low Traction' indication on your
instrument cluster.

The way it works is by a speed sensor on each of the four wheels (all four
sensors are used for Braking/ABS control and the front two only are used for
traction control). When the traction control senses front wheel slip (loss
of traction), it applies a bit of brake on the slipping wheel in an attempt
to divert torque to the wheel that is not slipping. This is akin to the
'limited slip differential' of years ago.
If the wheels are still slipping, the throttle is automatically cut back
(easy to do with drive by wire as my engine has). Normal throttle control is
returned when the wheel slip condition has been corrected or when you ease
up on the pedal. The owner's manual has some information on this and
when/when not to use the traction control.

Hope that helped
Bob O.