Traction control is a safety system that keeps your drive wheels from spinning on slippery surfaces. It shares hardware with the brakes and ABS. Here is what traction control is and how it works.
What it does
Traction control prevents wheelspin when accelerating on a low-grip surface. If a driven wheel starts to spin faster than the others, the system steps in - it can apply the brake to that one wheel and/or reduce engine power until grip returns, so power goes to the wheel that can use it.
How it uses the brakes
Traction control uses the same wheel-speed sensors and ABS hydraulic unit as the anti-lock brakes - see how ABS works. Where ABS prevents lock-up under braking, traction control prevents spin under acceleration, using that same ability to brake one wheel independently.
Traction vs stability control
Traction control manages straight-line wheelspin; the related stability control system corrects skids and slides by braking individual wheels during cornering. They are layers of the same electronic brake platform, which is why an ABS fault often disables them too; see ABS warning light.
Keep the brakes healthy
Because these systems rely on the friction brakes to act, healthy pads and rotors matter for them to work well; see when to replace pads. Fit quality pads and hardware.