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I have owned the above car for1 year and am experiencing a handling issue that I cannot explain. I run 19”tyres on it and the back tyres are only 6 months old and the fronts are only 2 months old.. last experience happened on straight road leaving Matamata in the wet and windy conditions we just had last week. Cruising behind another car at 85 kmph the car suddenly twitched like the back end let go . My wife noticed I had not moved the steering wheel yet she grabbed the passengers arm rest thinking the car was about to step out so to speak. Butt clenching stuff. Traction control light did not flicker at all so I assume the front either tracked on the road conditions or the back just let go. Not a nice feeling. This happened twice more in the space of say 1 km . In the dry I do not have an issue with the car at all. I have spent $200 a corner on tyres and I do not suspect this is the issue. Ford told me 19” tyrescan pick up all sorts of road conditions more than 18s but my boss has a v8 and fitted 19” to his and has no issues in wet or dry. Cruising at 100 kmph on a easy bend it did it as well and 1/4 lock either way brought it back in line and that was hair raising in the wet. Would I be correct in saying the back end has stepped out for a millisecond and corrected itself before the warning light comes on . If I was pushing this girl I would say sure you are near the limits of the tyres and need to back off. I took the vehicle to Ford and they test drove it and could not fault it.Any help
Hi there,
It does sound like a strange type of problem.
The stability and traction control generally looks at wheel speed, steering angle, G sensor, and even accelerator position to determine of the vehicle is losing control. If the car sensed this the it should reduce power and momentarily activate a warning lamp.
These systems would usually react quicker than you or I could, so I find it a little strange that a safety system didn't try and activate.
I would be looking into small things like tyre pressures, rotation (front to back), tyre quality and how they are rated perform in wet weather conditions. Then work through wheel alignment and suspension checks. The consistencies I can see seem to be in wet, wind, or stormy conditions?