DSC (from what I understand) corrects understeer. If you are making a turn at speed it gives more power to the outside wheel.
Traction control is a different system that keeps the wheels from spinning off. It limits throtle if the wheels are not gripping the road. This is the system that is active while under acceleration. Before you start the car hold down the DSC button around 5 seconds then turn the ignition. It is pretty easy to chirp these tires while trying to accelerate through a corner.
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Does this actually work?... has anyone else tried it? Not that I',m calling you a liar, but I would have expected something like that to be a bigger topic (a sticky even) on the forums. I mean, the only reason for turning off the traction control is to wear out some particularly expensive tires faster... but still.
Also, I just noticed you said DSC distributes more power to the outside tire to prevent understeer. This would actually not prevent understeer. Putting more power to the outside tire would only overload that tire more, causing the understeer to get worse. The outside tire is loaded alot more than the inside tire, and when the front tires "give up the ghost" and start understeering, the only way to stop it is to cut power from the outside tire and distribute more of it to the inside tire. BUT. The LSD is already doing just that. Since the inside tire has to spin slower than the outside tire, the amount of power distributed to the inside tire is more (while it's on the ground anyway) If the inside tire lifts, all the power goes to the outside tire because the LSD tightens up. That's how a clutch type or visccous LSD works, and that's one of the reasons why successful autocrossers try so hard to keep the inside tires from lifting. Back to how the DSC stops understeer. It uses the brakes and e-throttle. If you're understeering badly, it cuts power to bring you back inline. If you are understeering while on the brakes, it brakes the inside rear wheel to pivot the car back in the proper direction. Oversteer is a little more complex to correct for. It depends on why the car is oversteering. Any of the four wheels may need brake correction (either more or less pressure) and the throttle may need to be cut. I dont know if the system will ever actually apply more throttle, but for legal reasons, I doubt it. Even if it would help, I think it would be too much liability for the car to accelerate by itself without the driver telling it to. It might just make an unexperienced driver panic. The only reason I know how the DSC works is because there was a huge article about it in one of the free tech magazines that shows up to our shop every month. They specifically covered Ford and Mazda DSC systems.
Either way though. The DSC works awesome. Most people get better lap times using it than disabling it. Plus on the street it WILL save your A$$. On the TEST DRIVE of my car the sales guy said "go ahead and punch it", and I did, and right about then the car hit a dip and started to swap ends (oversteer). I hit the brakes and I could feel the DSC whip the car back into line. Awesome. Scared the $hit out of the sales guy though. Don't think he'll ever tell someone to punch it again.
