I was exiting the highway and had to get over two lanes to get off to my exit. The only standing between me and home was a little honda who followed my every move and it seemed like he didn't want to let me over. Well we are coming up on the corner right before my get off and it is my last chance to get over, so I give it a little gas and my car starts to drift (keep in mind in was had just rained and was just a mist at the time, but I had brand new winter tires), no big deal right? It had done it a thousand times and the computers kick in and it straightens up, well, not this time. I turned the wheel slightly to the right to compensate for the drift and my car went hog wild. It spun the the left fo violently that I did a full 360 in the middle of the highway. After a few seconds(hours it seemed like),I was back drifting on my side for about 100-150 yds and I finally landed in the middle of the road. Cars were swerving to miss me and damn near crashing themselves. At this time a car puls up and asks me if I am OK at which point I realize I am in the middle of the road and give it a little gas to get over to the shoulder, nothing. I try to start the car, nothing. I ask the kid in the car to hop out and give me a push, keep in mind I was shaking so hard I could barely keep my foot on the pedal (im only 16 and just got the car). He gets me over to the shoulder and he asks if Im OK, I say "yea, Im fine, just a little shaken up" and he replies "yea I would bet" he pulls off after we make sure that we didn't make contact. I look at my car and realize I didn't hit a damn thing, not a guardrail or another car, I got off pretty lucky, but I was concerned about the engine/ trans. I get back in my car during break in traffic and try and start it, it starts right up but there were a few warning lights that came on but they went off after about 10 seconds. I had called my dad to meet me because I thought the engine or trans was broken. He meets me and I ask to drive his car home and have him take mine and tell me if there is anything wrong. When we arrive home, he parks it and says the only thing he noticed was that a warning light came on when he would brake hard. I still don't know why this light comes on or why my engine shut off when I needed power brakes and various other things. Could any body help me find out why this happened?

 

I'll ask one of the techs at work on Monday for you if no one has an answer by then man. Sounds like you've only got 8 lives left!

 

don't rely on computer to save u, next time u might not be so lucky, go get some driver training in the mean time

 

Contact your Lexus tech.
Thank God no one crashed, becareful next time.

 

Sounds to me like you were "drifting" hard enough to compress the suspension on one side. When you "compensated", you unloaded that side too fast and the decompression of the springs sent you the other way. Keep in mind this is just a guess; it's hard to know for sure without being there.

I strongly recommend a driving school that has skid pad training such as Skip Barber. Depending which class you select, you can get one or more sessions of driving a pickup truck in skinny, bald tires around a big wet circle and practicing all sorts of slides and recoveries. It's a great experience, and lots of fun! Well, unless you are prone to motion sickness. :-)

 

I wasn't relying, i was hopeing...as for the driver training, I am taking a defensive driving class this summer, but a couple more years experience wouldn't hurt either...

 

Same here, I am taking defensive driving and racing school this summer.

 

James, this is in no way directed only at you, but posts like yours are the reason 16 year olds shouldn't have cars with 300+ hp. I'm sure you're a very responsible young man, and I'm sure you deserve the car, but 16 year olds need slow, safe, reliable cars. Hell, I had a slow car when I was 16 (less than 100 hp), and still managed to get into trouble.

I'm glad you're ok. Please be safe out there.

 

Yep, not so much of a "are you responsible" issue, but more an issue of expierence.

Glad you and your ride made it out ok... Chalk it up as a good learning lesson on driving on wet roadways.

 

Congratulations on not injuring yourself or others. Sounds like you learned a good lesson.

Defensive driving isn't generally car control. You really need a high performance driving school. It's the best mod you can possibly do. Practicing the wrong stuff only makes you proficient at doing the wrong thing. Better to get someone in the car who can tell you where you are making mistakes and have you focus on learning how to do it right. Perfect practice makes perfect. Then the next time you are faced with a situation like this, you'll realise it's smarter to either slow down and fall in behind, or take the next exit.

 

Rooster, is rightabout not relying on stability control to save the day. It is possible to get the car to "drift" a little bit even with VDIM enabled. I can deliberatly induce gradual rotation of the vehicle sometimes without VDIM taking over. I noticed I can do it easier with my snowtires on as well.

 

i think the better question here would be, why didnt the computer save you. why did the winter tires feel like they were oiled down.

p.s. not all teenagers are "bad drivers". I started driving at age 15 with a permit. Now im 18 and i believe i drive better than all members in my family

 

"brand new winter tires" - maybe they're not scuffed in yet and still sporting the release compound on the tread.

 

Yeah, VDIM is defintly not infalable, especially on wet road ways. I can get my IS to drift at will when it's wet outside and it definatly takes a bit of driver input to straighten her out. VDIM is good in that it helps to keep you from over-correcting. That's been my expierence anyway.

 

Sometimes it's just that attitude that's the problem. I'm not questioning weather you are or not, but believe me when I say there are more than a handful of youngsters who think that, and it's far from the truth more often than not.