So I did something stupid...

We live in the desert, but we do get rain this time of year. We call it the monsoon season, and in fact our geography may be similar in some regards to north-western India. Anyway, when it rains it pours, flash floods, frogs, thunder, hail.

So our un-paved driveway was more mud-bog than drive. To remedy this, I had a dump-truck deliver gravel. Lots of gravel.

After the dump truck got stuck in the mud, and after we dug it out, I spread some of the gravel with a small garden hoe.

In some places the gravel was quite deep.

My wife's Honda Element demonstrated that I had traded getting stuck in mud to getting stuck in a gravel pit. So I spread it around some more.

Yesterday I had to drive the Camry Hybrid through the gravel to go places. It got stuck in the gravel. And then a light on the dashboard lit up, indicating the VDIM system activation. The car seemed to stop spinning the wheels while it considered the matter. Then the front wheels spun a bit, not a whole revolution, the spun a bit more. Like it was pulsing the power. I put us in Reverse for a moment to um, rock us out. Then out of R and into D again. We got out with no more fuss than that.

It was a bit strange to me in that the power to the wheels seemed to reflect my intent rather than reflect the simple position of the accelerator pedal. We all know it does that in order to manage the Hybrid system. It is also taking care of vehicle dynamics where the power meets the road.

Very different from driving the Honda in the same situation.

The more I drive this car, the more impressed I become.

 

niiiice. Much better than the Prius' TRAC system.

 

I had my first opportunity to experience this outside of snow this last weekend. I was forced to park on a grassy, somewhat muddy hill. When leaving I needed to go up a few feet more on the hill. After applying light pedal pressure the wheels did not spin, but the car gently lurched back and forth. It reminded my of some stories I heard where people claim to have gotten stuck in a few inches of snow because the wheels would not spin. I stepped down further on the pedal and the lurches became wheel spin pulses. Got me up the hill. It seemed that the farther down I pressed the pedal the more the car is willing to let the wheels spin.

FYI: the light on the dash you saw was likely just the wheel slip indicator. When the VDIM activates you will also hear warning tones.

 

Interesting. I did not know that. Have you ever heard them? If so, what do they sound like?

 

I've only ever triggered the VDIM once. Last winter I took the turn to my driveway extra fast during a snowy day on purpose to see what would happen. I got a light and two warning tones. I don't know if it's a double tone on system activation or if the tones keep playing while the system is working and my "event" only lasted long enough for 2 tones.

In either case it is different then the wheel slip indicator, which quietly goes on and off quite often driving in low traction situations (ie snowy roads)

 

VDIM "plays" rapid beeps.

VSC "plays" slower beeps.

That's the only way I've figured out if the Toyota you're driving as VDIM or VSC... the rapidity of the beeps.

Here:
http://www.nihoncar.com/en/review-33...e%2C+HDTV.html

Watch the video and listen to the beeps

 

I swear that I have "felt" VDIM intervening when I intentionally try to accelerate around a corner when it is icy in my work parking lot, and I never heard a peep from the car, but the light on the dash was flashing.

When the car feels like it should plow forward in a straight line and not follow the intended curve, I can feel something happening (I assumed that it was selective application of the brakes). The car then tracks true around the corner.

I tried the same thing in my wife's car (05 Accord coupe) and almost hit a parked car when it plowed straight ahead instead of turning. I can't attribute this to better tires, since I think the stock tires on the TCH (Michelins) aren't anything to write home about. They hydroplane and pull in small amounts of standing water/slush.

 

If it blinks without beeping, it's TRAC (and usually ABS is also working at that time).

I did a emergency manoeuvre test at am empty parking lot. Drove it up to 60km/h and aligned myself with the parking spaces, then did a full ABS panic stop with both feet on the brake pedal then yank the steering wheel right then left to simulate a lane change. There's a split second time lag as the car understeered a bit then it turned right but I couldn't turn the wheel left fast enough to position the car in the "parking space" beside me so I ended up one spot over.

Another test was taking a corner too quickly. Again up to 60km/h. My right hand reached over to the 9 o' clock position, then I rotated the wheel until my hand was at the 7 o' clock position. The TCH did a very nice arc and it was rather undramatic, aside from the tyre squeal.

So yeah, VDIM does work. It's a much better system in keeping you safe than TRAC and VSC as stand-alone systems (I have VSC in my Prius).


Oh and the tyres were Michelin Energy MXV4 S8. These are Michelin's top-of-the-line tyres in the "Energy" range. They're LRR and have pretty good grip (at least compared to our 02 Camry's MXV4 Plus tyres which is the next level down from the S8s).

spiff, we had no problems in the slush and rain of the PNW with the S8's brother, the MXV4 Plus.

 

The one time I had it kick in while making a left turn on a snow covered road it beeped five times. So I would say that it will beep during the time that it is activated.

 

I continue to be impressed with what I find out about the TCH. I live in Minnesota and [I]almost[I] can't wait to see how it handles in the ice and snow. The first thing I plan to do is run over to an empty parking lot to experience the feel for myself.

I wonder how much VDIM is considered when computing insurance costs?