When one or more of your tires loses contact with the road, driving can be scary. You can feel a sensation of hydroplaning or that you can't properly control the direction in which your vehicle travels. Your vehicle is designed to drive with 4 tires on the road, and if only 3 are in contact with the road, your vehicle will not be safe to operate. Typically this only happens during certain weather conditions, such as heavy rain, when your tire isn't able to push through the water on the surface of the road to create traction.
Most modern vehicles are equipped with a traction control system which will help when you find yourself driving in wet weather. This system has a sensor that will alert you if one or more tires isn't making contact with the road. If this happens, the traction control system won't push any power to the tire that isn't creating traction and will instead shift that power to the other tires for maximum control capabilities.
Here are some of the main reasons that can cause your tire to lose contact with the road:
- Your tire in under inflated, which can make it difficult for your tire to have good traction
- There is a damaged or dirty wheel speed sensor, which can send incorrect information to the traction control system about a tire not getting contact with the road
- The engine control unit could be malfunctioning, which can render your traction control system useless
- Your tires are significantly worn down and don't have enough tread to make traction with the road during certain weather conditions, meaning you need new tires
We advise you not to continue driving if your traction control system is triggering often or you feel as if your vehicle's tires are getting good traction. The experts here at FloState Auto Diesel Repair can perform a full visual inspection of your tires and run tests on your actual tractiion control system to pinpoint the issue and restore your vehicle back to safe driving condition.