I rented a car to use in an area with sandy roads. I asked for 4WD but got a Chevy Traverse with AWD, which I was assured would be fine for where I was driving.
However, the AWD keeps turning itself off. Yesterday someone who saw me stuck in the sand showed me how to turn the Traction Control system off, which he said would keep the AWD from disengaging. But today, even with the TCS off, the AWD turned itself off. Luckily I didn’t get stuck, but can anyone tell me what the heck is going on and how to keep the AWD from turning off? The owner’s manual is no help.
Are you sure it’s turning off and not just shuffling the power around? AWD systems are not like 4WD systems in that the amount of power sent to any given wheels can vary, depending on the system, some wheelspin may be necessay before the system starts transfering power from the wheels have no grip to the wheels that do.
When turning the traction control off, you disengage the throttle cut off which inhibits wheel spinn. Your car should be in awd all of the time. When you say sandy roads and then talk about getting stuck, you must be talking about really deep soft sand. Awd without a locking feature is not meant for these conditions. You need a truck based SUV with real part time off road system or an awd with center differential lock. Check the manual for this locking feature. My research indicates that as of 2010, it has one… Deep sand and mud really stresses awd and under these conditions, the awd may not work properly.if the look is not engaged.