bostonsnow

I ran across this in a review of the IS250 in Car and Driver:

"And for that occasional run through the woods, when you’d rather not have the electronics interfere with your tire-sliding ambitions, here’s how to shut down the stability system. Start the car with the hand brake engaged. Press the brake pedal twice and hold. Engage the hand brake twice and hold. Repeat until the “skid lights” appear on the dash. The ABS does not shut off. When the engine is subsequently turned off and then switched back on, the stability control is reactivated. (Presumably, this trick works on all new Toyota and Lexus models, and it’s easier than it sounds.)"

I wonder if it would work on the 05 ES330 or later models? I am not bold enough to challenge my car to try to find out. Has anyone tried this?

Boston Snowboarder

05 ES330 Silver/Blk
99 Honda Civic LXBlk
04 Subaru Outback LTD Blue

fju2112

what year is250 was that for, boston? are you sure it's not the traction control system you're trying to disengage or that car & driver is referring to; if so i'm sure you know where the button is for that..why would you want to disengage the VSC?

I'm still trying to find out on another post if my 2000 ES300 HAS VSC

whereabouts in boston are you, i'm from the area.

bostonsnow

I dont remember what year IS250 that Car and Driver review was for. maybe 06 I think. I think that they were talking about disengaging VSC in case you wanted to go off road and thrash around and slip and slide your tires on purpose. I guess it makes sense that you might want to do it in an IS250 or IS350. But now that I think about it, why would anyone want to do it in an ES of all cars??? esp me since I have a Subaru outback to do that stuff in! no need to mess my ES up! this was talking about disengaging VSC, not trac control, which has a simple switch.

As far as your question, I cant answer it for 2000. I know that for 2005, as far as a know, all cars that had VSC had trac and vice versa. So it was easy to tell which car has VSC/trac just by looking for the trac off button below the ignition.

I am pretty much right in BOston, in the city.

Boston Snowboarder

2005 ES330
2004 Subaru Outback
1999 Honda Civic