Haven't posted here in awhile, but my buddy who owns a cobalt lt 2.2, just like i used to, called me the other day and had a question. I also had this same issue with my cobalt, and the dealer was of no help at all.

What happens is he'll be driving around town, 30 or 40mph and hit a little slush or a tiny patch or ice, the tires will loose grip for a second, and traction control will fully activate, cutting his throttle to nothing, he'll then hit dry pavement and all of a sudden the engine kicks back in.
From what I could tell there seems to be two modes of T/C, a passive that keeps you going straight that runs unless you put the car into L (automatic), and then a full on Active T/C that completely cuts your throttle and sends the car sliding in whatever direction it was heading. Normally if you start to slide, you steer to where you want to go and give it a little gas to get back on track, but when the TC fully activates, you get no power to the wheels at all.

With a little bit of light snow on the road, if you put the car into L to disable traction, the wheels spin, putting it back into Drive on the same patch of snow and the car moves fine without activating TC, clearly indicating there is some type of passive system that runs all the time in D or I 'gears' but L will completely disable both active and passive.

Dealer claims its normal, thats what GM intended and won't even look at it. My buddy called the other day because he almost hit the guy in the next lane when TC turned on and slid his car into the next lane, I had the same issues with my 07 cobalt lt 2.2, his is an 08 lt 2.2. Doesn't seem intended at all as it doesnt seem very safe to let the car continue to slide by cutting the throttle off as soon as the tires even begin slip a tiny amount.

Definetly think its only an automatic issue, did a search on this site and others, found people griping of the same issue but no real fix has been posted that I could see. With another 2months of winter, I'd like to see if there's anything I can do to help this guy out.

Note: It happened to him last winter also with tires with 1/4 tread life, he just replaced them with all seasons back in october so they're still fairly new, tread depth looks great (no burnouts or unusual tread wear).

 

He may need to just adapt his driving habits. Fact is, when the traction control closes the throttle, the only reason a car would change direction is if he was already steering in that direction...when the power is cut and the tires regain traction, the car becomes stable again, and will go wherever the front wheels are pointed.

How to adapt? I hate to say it, but...less aggressive driving that does not invite him to steer into front-wheel slides as much. In the winter, not getting in accidents on slick surfaces is akin to walking a tightrope, traction control or not. The traction control is doing the right thing, restoring the wheels to actual vehicle speed. It's what the driver is doing in the moments prior to that correction that can cause odd characteristics.

 

I see your point, except it seems that when the TC kicks in, the car kicks to the right/left side, I forget which. And just enough to where if you slide for a second or two, that little bit of sway is enough to start sliding you sideways a bit. Both of us have driving in New York for at least 20 years, we've seen our fair share of shitty winters. I never had this problem with any of my other vehicles and he's never seen it until he got his cobalt, he previously owned a cavalier, believe it was a 2000 2.2.
Before my cobalt, I owned an 05 equinox, that thing got such amazing traction you didn't even know it was winter out most days, unless there was thick ice, you drove like it was spring time lol

Thanks for the advice though, I pretty much chalked it up as a goofy traction control system and moved on

 

Well, you certainly would not be a stranger to winter driving then! Perhaps the original calibration for the traction control is just not well-suited to these winter scenarios. It would not surprise me, for it's only as smart as the data programmed into it, and they may have missed the bus on this aspect.

Automatics are funny animals in FWD...the instinct that is natural in a manual when things go awry, to push in the clutch and let the wheels hook back up again, just does not apply to automatics...and the extra inertia they add to the wheels when the throttle is suddenly released by the traction control may be the culprit here. A wheel that's going too slow is just as much a loss of traction on the slippery as a wheel that's going too fast, especially in a FWD!

I first discovered this many years ago with VW Rabbit diesels in the winter...the things had so much compression (20:1) that if you downshifted too aggressively, the wheels would slip and end up going slower than the road, which means you'd promptly lose steering! Not fun when trying to negotiate turns. It was a very unsettling feeling but again, all one had to do was push in the clutch to breathe a sigh of relef and regain control.

 

If hes kicking over one way or another when the traction contrl comes on it could be a brake issue.
Worn out or caliper siezing up.
The traction control I sure actually applies the brakes to the wheel thats spinning to transfer power to the other wheel.
Or like the other guys said he has to get use to it.
I personally would turn it off if there is aswitch.

 

True, and good point...but if one or more brake assemblies were not responding correctly to the traction/stability control inputs, would not the system set a trouble code?

 

and thats the thing, hes never thrown a code and cel has never came on since he bought it new off the lot.

and to the recommendation about turning TC off, is a bad idea because it turns off the passive control also, the car is not drivable at all without passive control in the winter.

 

I have an 09 lt without any of that traction/abs stuff and havent had a problem. i dont know how you can say youy cant drive it at all. i go driving for fun in the snow. the other week we got 1ft with 2ft drifts all over. so it was slower that normal off the line, never any problems at any speed. ok i got stuck once in 2ft that i stopped in, just putter in reverse n got out.

be aware of your surroundings and don't slam on the breaks

 

has nothing to do with braking or being aware of surroundings fyi. one tire (or multiple) slip, throttle cuts nearly 100%, you keep sliding until you hit something or dry pavement

 

Wrong.

If you start to slide, you let off the gas and simply steer your vehicle where you want to go. If you hit the gas, any grip used to accelerate cannot be used for steering. You want all available grip to be used to steer the vehicle to maximize your steering traction.

Hitting the gas is the wrong thing to do that will result in further sliding.

You can do a simple test to prove this on a snow covered closed track or a large empty parking lot with no cars or people. Accelerate in a straight line to 15 mph then make a 90 degree turn without using gas or brake pedals. Then run the same test but press the gas pedal as you turn the wheel. Your car will not go around a corner as well as the first test if at all. Your car may even plow straight ahead hardly turning at all. DO NOT ATTEMPT these maneuvers on public roadways, you may smash into other cars hurting yourself or others. You could even slide into a curb and flip your car. A safe speed to turn at is 5mph or less.

The traction control is not making your car slide. You are making your car slide by spinning your wheels. Your tires are spinning and that means you have a loss of traction which results in your car pulling and sliding. The TC kicks on to mitigate the wheel spin and thus the pulling/sliding should stop shortly after it starts.

 

Take it from a guy who grew up in Northern Ontario dealing with incessant snow and sub -35C (-31F) temperatures... Just turn off the traction control. I have yet to find ONE circumstance where it provides any benefit at all in the snow. On really snowy roads your tires are going to spin somewhat during acceleration, so let them slowly do their work instead of having the TCS kick in and shunt the driveline.

ESC, on the other hand... That's a fantastic feature on these cars. It makes them damn near impossible to spin.

 

I think it depends on your driving ability and style. If somebody is clueless about driving and they either have the brake or gas to the floor, then this person would need to have the TC turned on. Otherwise this person would take a turn too fast, hit the gas and plow right through an intersection causing a disaster. Some people make jackrabbit starts and TC would help them as well.

If you are a good driver and have very fine control of your car, then you might choose to turn TC off. Depending on how slippery the roads are, the wheels may have the slightest spin from a stop, even with finesse on the throttle. You may be better off without the TC if you drive slow and cautiously.

Don't mash the gas or spin your wheels, your car will like you and you will save lots of money by not having to buy as much gas and repairs for your car.