EPB U0416 VSA System
EPB U0416 VSA System
The VSA system depends a lot on the dynamics of the vehicle. The car designers know exactly the center of gravity and can adjust the brake distribution forces between front and rear to provide more grips to the car driver. Some important dynamics during a skid will depend on whether some or all of the tires are skidding, and whether the car was rotating or turning when the skid started to happen.
What is skidding? Skid is a common problem in cars, 4×4 and trucks. It happens when the tires lose their grip on the road and the driver starts to lose control on the car. The usual code in ECM is U0416 VSA. VSA was introduced just for the very same reason where an onboard computer tries to keep the car in a straight and controlled path. It is also called Vehicle stability assist.
A cyclical skid or commonly known as fishtailing is a combination of alternating oversteer (rear wheel skidding) with overcorrection, leading to oversteer/skidding in the opposite direction. Some rally drivers and drift motorsports actually use this oversteer to cut corners while in a skid.
Skidding during braking The most simple type of skid, where directional changes are not relevant. In this skid the vehicle just locks up the tires while moving in a straight path. If all four tires start to skid at almost the same time, then a vehicle will not start rotating due to the skid. The car can come to a stop with locked up tires at a longer distance than a car equipped with ABS, EBD or VSA.
What makes a car skid? Some of the common reasons for a vehicle skid are Overbraking: Braking too hard Slippery road: Skids can occur when the road is slippery from oil, snow or rain Oversteering: Turning the vehicle sharply at an angle not required. Acceleration: Launching the car with full power can cause wheels to spin.
How to avoid skidding? One of the best ways to avoid losing control or skidding is to drive smoothly. Always evaluate the road conditions and plan according to that.
If by any chance your vehicle starts skidding with no VSA, then take your feet off the pedals. Immediately stop braking or accelerating the car. If your car becomes stable or stops fishtailing then immediately turn the steering wheel in the direction you want to go.
What is Vehicle Stability Assist? Vehicle stability assists or commonly known as vehicle stability control are two names of a same safety feature. The acronym use as a car safety feature is VSA or VSC. The system was designed and made a standard around 2005 because a car skid can be extremely dangerous and led to many accidents and deaths. A lot of accidents were reported on icy roads.
How does VSA work? VSA is an artificial intelligent system that activates whenever you start taking a corner. The main purpose of vehicle stability is design in such a way by using multiple sensors. The main sensor is the Centre of gravity sensor or G-sensor. The G sensor is placed exactly where the front and rear of the car gets balanced. The G-sensor gets input from the wheel speed sensors and the steering angle sensor (tilt of car). The system consists of a series of algorithms that are continuously monitoring the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle. The system requires timely calibrations to keep it running at full safety potential. Some manufacturers also use the same VSA system to help with traction whenever you accelerate on poor road surfaces.
How to turn off VSA? This button is mostly on the driver side and near the diff lock on the 4×4 vehicles, SUV,s. By default, the VSA is turn on every time you start the engine. VSA indicator light also turned on if any issue comes in the TPMS i.e. Tire pressure monitoring system or the tire sizes vary.
Now that this feature has become widespread and in many manufacturers we can find it listed as Vehicle Stability Control or Electronic Stability Control.
Although the VSA or VSC behavior varies manufacturer to manufacturer, they each have the same goal in mind and that is to keep you safe by making sure your vehicle remains stable in the event of oversteering or understeering.
VSA is specially important for areas of snow and rain.
The newer VSA or VSC systems can take over your engine’s output in case someone accidentally steps on the gas in a slippery area. It is also important to note that some sensitive VSA systems can cause extreme trouble in snowy areas.
Because the VSA cannot fix every situation, some vehicles have a manual button to turn it off to get out of a slippery condition. The focus of VSA or VSC is mainly stability of the car during braking, not vice versa.
Whenever the Vehicle Stability Assist program is activated, a VSA System Indicator light will turn on. A lot of drivers get confused but it is not something to freak out on.
The RFP system of Honda is referred to as a reactive force pedal and it has vibrator installed in the accelerator pedal that indicates to the driver that it is no more active.
If the VSA indicator comes on permanently while driving, it is recommended to park the car and turn it off. Reset the system by restarting the engine, if this doesn’t help than take your car to the nearest dealer for recalibration or adjustment of brakes.
Always have your vehicle inspected by an equipped workshop like fixmycar.pk to have the system carefully calibrated and synced with the safety system. The technicians at fixmycar.pk will evaluate all the input signals in the skid control management system for all hybrid, 4×4 and regular vehicles. The ABS system and the EBD system is also replaced or repaired with original parts at our garage in Islamabad.
Many new cars with EPB U0416 VSA system malfunction is a common error. We service all new cars with EPB. We also have tools to perform VSC, Yaw rate and ABS calibrations on Toyota, Honda and Suzuki vehicles. Caliper,s, slider pins and new brake pads are also available in our service vans.
Another DTC with VSA is B2AA0-92 i.e Brake orders are issued too often. This can also cause cross traffic radar early warning triggers. The code B2AA0-92 can also clear itself once the U0416 VSA system malfunction is removed by taking necessary actions. We recommend complete learning of Yaw Rate and G sensors incase these errors come up.
The Vehicle Stability Assist system helps to stabilize the vehicle during cornering if the car turns more or less than desired. It also assists you in maintaining traction while accelerating on loose or slippery road surfaces. It does this by regulating the engine’s output, and by selectively applying braking. When VSA activates, you may notice that the engine does not respond to the accelerator in the same way it does at other times. You will also see the VSA Activation Indicator blink or code in EPB U0416 VSA .
Some Typical problems come up in the VSA system as well as the ABS system when people get the vehicles serviced from untrained technicians. Some problems also crop up due to sensitive regenerative system of Honda and Toyota Hybrid vehicles. If a triangle sign with an exclamation mark comes up in the display it means a severe issue has come up in VSA system.