Originally Posted by Shinobi-X

To be fair, disabling VDIM does not mean you may thereby drive wrecklessly. Many times, these stability systems are put in place to interfere well before the tires or chassis have exceeded their limits (for the most part grip)- it shouldn't be confused with the implications behind the suggested aggressive or even wreckless driving. In fact, the systems are very reactive, and cannot predict what lies ahead of the road, making the car unpredictable at times. You can experience greater lateral G's without crossing the threshold into unsafe territory, for the above reason, by disabling traction and stability programs. For a performance oriented sedan, Toyota still went a bit conservative on the performance end with the IS. Its apparent that their IS cannot compete with the likes of their competition in feel or handling, especially if they don't provide the consumer with the ability to actually 'drive' the car (another mistake was lack of a manual). By their own advertisement, the system isn't supposed to be very intrusive, while providing increased performance, but its obvious that it doesn't, and in fact offers just the contrary. BMW and other brands make equally safe, and great handling cars, without as much electronic assist; but as any driver should know, any assist program should not be adopted as a substitute for a drivers ability. Traction control isn't necessarily a safety item, as it can be hazardous in a few situations when power cut is initiated before grip is lost. With a VDIM disable feature (which can be toggled), it provides IS owners with the ability to explore the cars chassis and suspension, and drive in the fashion it was built for.

Originally Posted by 15951

I'm still not understanding what the big deal is with the VDIM switch. I paid a lot of money for this vehicle to have safety features like this, and wouldn't disable it if I could. There are a few people running quarter miles and carving canyons on the weekend, but for the other 99.9% of us Lexus buyers, the VDIM kill switch is absolutely useless. I can still drive the car aggressively...just not wrecklessly.

Maybe it's the demographics of this forum. I would say the posters in this forum aren't representative of the average Lexus buyer, though.

Originally Posted by Kamikaze2b

97% of the vehicles on the road today have absolutely no stability/VDIM computers, and yet the vast majority of those drivers do not drive recklessly. Along those same lines, I have had over a dozen vehicles in the past 15 years of driving, and this is the first one with VDIM, and I'm still alive!

Originally Posted by 15951

Kids didn't wear seatbelts in cars 30 years ago, and most of them lived. Gee, maybe we should regress based on that logic.

Originally Posted by Kamikaze2b

I've given this issue some thought and I agree. The federal government should mandate that every car on the road today regardless of age should be retrofitted with VDIM or stability control, air bags, and ABS. If the owners are unable to pay for these changes the vehicles should be confiscated and crushed. We absolutely cannot have all of these death traps on our highways!!!

Great post!

Originally Posted by 15951

Totally missed my point. If you bought the car and have the feature, it's of no use to disable it on public streets if it can be of assistance in keeping you (and others driving around you) safe. That's just my opinion - no reason to get your panties in a bunch about it.

Originally Posted by Kamikaze2b

And you missed mine. My point was that I have owned numerous cars (and 7 motorcycles) over the past 15 years. None of them had any sort of stability control, and yet I somehow lived. I paid $45k for MY car, and as a mature adult I should have the ability to easily disable this "safety feature" when I want to.

I love my car, by the plethora of electronic nannies Lexus has installed will make me think twice when it comes to buy another.

Originally Posted by HaveBlue

I've had to totally redesign my VSC defeat module because I can't get the microprocessor I wanted. It's still on the breadboard and I haven't had time to debug the new one. Pretty laborious job really. It'd be nice if Lexus would just fix the issue...

Originally Posted by PhilipMSPT

However, I think that the most important thing is not how you can control your car safely, but how well others can control their cars safely. You can be the best driver out on the road, but that doesn't mean that the eight cars that are boxing you in while driving on the road are as good.

How would you feel if you are the best driver out on the road and used the "VDIM Off" switch, and the teenager on a cell phone putting on makeup while going 90 mph also had the "VDIM Off" switch? Is that a risk you are willing to take? The VDIM Off switch will be a double-edged sword...