Apparently TCS only works in forward gears?
Over Christmas, we received about 1' of snow here (while we were gone). There's a large hump of snow at the end of our driveway (from snowplow). I didn't shovel that part because I was driving 4wd Mariner, and didn't have any troubles. This AM, I took the ST for the first time since snow. I wasn't going fast enough, and got stuck (hung up) while backing out of driveway. My driveway has a slight incline. I couldn't go anywhere in R, but the Traction Control got me out going forward -- back UP the driveway. I thought that was odd, but very glad I didn't have to shovel at 6 am. I think some sandbags are in my near future. I'm now wishing I had spent the extra $2500 and had (2) 4x4s. :mad:

After the trip this past week, I will never be w/o (at least 1/family) 4x4 again. We went to NW IA, and they received over 24" while we were there. The little 4wd Mariner did real well. I went anywhere my brother's Lexus GX470 went, and went where my dad got stuck in his AWD Montego. They closed all the interstates the day after we arrived in IA. That was the most snow I had seen since the 70s in ND.

Heck, I have found on my two wheel drive, the traction control needs to be OFF in snow and mud if I want to go anywhere. It won't let the wheels spin, and you sure as heck can't rock it out.

I do know that when we took my wife's '05 Mountie to the beach, I had to take the TCS off to be able to drive on the sand. It was a pain when the power would disappear when it hit some deep sand. With it off, it drove through like a champ. :thumbsup:

I get some sand bangs and have some fun with it.

The TCS is more for "stability" control than using it to not get stuck at low driving speeds or play in sand, mud, snow.

mine kicked on this weekend while climbing up a driveway that some ice on it, it was nice to see that little emblem light up than hear my back tires starting to spin

It helps a lot. With engaged, you can't get the back end to swing sideways if you tried.