Completely deactivate Traction Control from 2015 F150: how?

[Ivan P]

Hello,

I have recently joined this club and and enjoying the learning process on how to handle my F150 2015 off road!

When I put the 4WD on, I keep the Traction control button pushed for abt 5 second and bam: message on dashboard saying my traction control is deactivated...

Happy I went on few sandy hills, where surprisingly while I needed more power, the engine completely loses power...

Doing a bit of research here and there, it seems that the F150 abs and traction control (even if deactivated) kick in if the wheel speed is more than 35miles... this seems annoying, because if your wheel spin while offroad, that is the moment where you need the power the most, no?

Question: anybody have a solution to this? I was reading that the best is to remove the fuse that control abs and traction control... is that it? In this case has anybody put a switch on that specific fuse??? which fuse are we talking about? (on the fuse booklet instructions there is no specific Traction Control fuse.. is it the ABS one?)

Thank you all

[Mario Cornejo]

Hi @Ivan Pironi, a usual approach is to install a "kill switch", but do some research about. I installed one in my Patrol Y61, works well.

@Watteau and @Shehab Alawadhi both drive F150s, I am sure they can provide a much better advice.

Best regards!

[Ivan P]

2 minutes ago, Mario Cornejo said:

Hi @Ivan Pironi, a usual approach is to install a "kill switch", but do some research about. I installed one in my Patrol Y61, works well.

Great! where did you go to install it???? any "spetial" workshop?

3 minutes ago, Mario Cornejo said:

@Watteau and @Shehab Alawadhi both drive F150s, I am sure they can provide a much better advice.

Best regards!

nice to meet you! have you installed a "kill switch"? have you played around with the fuse box? thank you! 

[Mario Cornejo]

4 minutes ago, Ivan Pironi said:

Great! where did you go to install it???? any "spetial" workshop?

Hi @Ivan Pironi this can be done by any garage, there are many to choose from, do an online search for offroad garage and you will get a list, give them a call to inquire.

Prior to installing the switch I used to remove fuses, but in the case of my car, when I removed the ABS fuse I was then not able to disable VDC, which I think Ford calls "ESC" (Electronic Stability Control).  This situation was resolved when the kill switch was installed.

All the best!

[Ivan P]

15 minutes ago, Mario Cornejo said:

This situation was resolved when the kill switch was installed.

great! do you know exactly what it "switch" off?

[Shehab Alawadhi]

Hey @Ivan Pironi so f150 has 3 types of traction control, I’ll post a chart explains the 3 types of traction control.

1 press the button and it turns off traction control. 
2 hold for 5 seconds turns off ESC 

3 hold for 5 seconds while in 4L turns off RSC 

Now for the engine cutting power is mostly because if you drive on D the car automatically upshifts so you don’t overhead your gearbox, then will again downshift if you are still pressing the gas pedal. (Now you have to make sure you actually pressed the traction control button until you get a message saying ESC disabled. If it says traction control disabled it means it’s not fully disabled)

To over come this simply drop your gear into 1st and stay there, since it’s a big car and the higher you want to climb the more difficult it is it will be on the car, unless you have enough momentum before the dune to glide upwards. Further more if you are in sport mode it helps keep the gears lowers if you aren’t bothered driving manual. 

The f150 owners manual doesn’t say anything about traction control or anything on how to remove it. You can install a kill switch in your car but your warranty will void. However I've never had the problem of losing power (only when I’m in D and doing long climbs or long side slopes. I use my tiptronic when I want to do long climbs and long slopes.) I thought about wanting to add a kill switch but after doing some research I found that I don’t need to. Loss of power isn’t a problem of mine anymore. (Unless I mess up and get lazy and not use my tiptronic 😂) 

Hope that helped. If we meet up one day on a drive I’ll explain face to face! 
Have a great day!

P.S. 

If you turn off your car and turn it back on check that traction control is off. Your problem might have also been that your car was off and you switched it off and forgot to check if traction control was off, happened to me 😂

Edited June 1, 2021 by Shehab Alawadhi

[Ivan P]

1 hour ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

Hope that helped

This helped me a lot! it actually make sense

On clarification though: when you say that you go on 1st gear, do you mean M and then with the tiptronic you select 1st or that on the gear stick you select the "position" 1?

thank you

[Shehab Alawadhi]

26 minutes ago, Ivan Pironi said:

This helped me a lot! it actually make sense

On clarification though: when you say that you go on 1st gear, do you mean M and then with the tiptronic you select 1st or that on the gear stick you select the "position" 1?

thank you

You can do either one it doesn’t matter. Whatever you prefer. I don’t use the M button because it means I have to constantly be shifting gears. I use the 1 and 2 so I stay in D most of the time, (D and on sports mode, try it next you you drive and it’s much different.) I only use the 1st and 2nd gear when I really need to. 

With the f150 it’s a very powerful car so power isn’t an issue it’s just knowing from where to start giving gas so you can gain momentum.

[Ivan P]

46 minutes ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

You can do either one it doesn’t matter. Whatever you prefer. I don’t use the M button because it means I have to constantly be shifting gears. I use the 1 and 2 so I stay in D most of the time, (D and on sports mode, try it next you you drive and it’s much different.) I only use the 1st and 2nd gear when I really need to. 

With the f150 it’s a very powerful car so power isn’t an issue it’s just knowing from where to start giving gas so you can gain momentum.

Got it now.

D for cruising,

1 or 2 for climbing...

 

M forget it... 😀

Thank you

Cheers 

[Shehab Alawadhi]

17 minutes ago, Ivan Pironi said:

Got it now.

D for cruising,

1 or 2 for climbing...

 

M forget it... 😀

Thank you

Cheers 

Basically. But it’s what you’re more comfortable with. Doesn’t make a difference if it’s M or 1 and 2