New Fit on slippery surface

We recently bought a 2015 Fit for our commutermobile. I'm very pleased with it so far overall. However, I was driving it through some of the nasty weather we had here in NE Ohio last week and noted some odd behavior. I was on the highway driving over some very icy sections. Traction was pretty low, but not zero. The car felt like it was oscillating between left and right oversteer, just very floaty, but not quite right. I grew up in Canada and have a lot of experience driving on ice. It was the kind of feeling I'd expect right before a spin, but the car never needed correction. I got to thinking that maybe this has something to do with feedback of some sort in the electric power steering. Anyone ever had this experience before?

Was stability control active?

It was but the indicator never illuminated. I'm assuming that unless it's illuminated it isn't doing anything with the brakes, but maybe I'm wrong.

Does it have low rolling resistance tires? Most LRRs and winter driving don't mix well.

My Mazda does similar stuff on ice. I've noticed that the stability control indicator doesn't light up until it gets really bad, even though the car is obviously slipping. It may have something to do with wheelspin and how the sensor detects it?

I'll bet its the low rolling resistance tires also, my mazda5 did similar last winter with them on. Switched to different tires it is now steady.

I'll check those tires. I usually use winter tires, but since these came with (supposedly) all-season, I haven't changed them yet.

I wonder if it could be an issue with the wheelbase of the car as well. I had the misfortune of test driving a Cooper S in the snow/ice a couple years ago and had exactly the same experience. I've been driving in the snow/ice for about 25 years now and the experience was enough for me to write off a Mini as a DD without further consideration. It just felt like it was constantly floating. Nothing serious, just never felt totally connected to the road.

FWIW - it also had tires wholly unsuitable for the conditions, but it felt like an issue with the dynamics of the car, not the tires.

Yeah, I thought I had the adjustable RSB to hard but it was the tires.

HappyAndy wrote: Does it have low rolling resistance tires? Most LRRs and winter driving don't mix well.

this x a billion.

Get an alignment guy with a brain to set the rear toe, and if its some weird Honda spec, to ignore the spec and set it about 1/16" toed in.

Rule out the short wheel base. At Least my Fiesta is steady.

Interesting thing with stability control.

If both rear wheels are sliding equally, stability control is not activated. Found this out playing on the ice.

I'll echo what others are saying. Tires and traction control. I hate my 2012 Mazda5's traction control. Even with good winter tires, it behaves weird in winter. It's fine in summer, which makes me think that it wasn't calibrated with winter conditions in mind. Yours might be similar.

Allow me to help- being a longtime fit owner of both generations of this AMAZING car, the fuel tank is under the front and rear seats, which moves a lot of weight off the back end. This is why the fit rotates easily under throttle lift (be careful with that!) when you have "boring mode" engaged the ecu will compensate and the fit will feel as if it is moving under its own thoughts. Put the fit into "autocross mode" and drive. (Again be careful with throttle lift.)

In reply to DLC:

Incorrect. The traction light only illuminates when the front tires have lost grip, not the rears.

My 2013 probably has the same craptastic all seasons on it. Most of the time the car felt okay in the snow last winter, but I definitely experienced what you're describing. It's not the wheelbase as I've had EK civics for years and they were really planted feeling in the snow. I think I might get this car a proper alignment like mentioned earlier since it understeers more than I would like.

About the stability control; On tight corners where I am pushing the crappy tires a bit I can feel the stability kick in just a tad to help straighten the car out and the light does not illuminate.

TL;DR I'm eager to see how the car handles on real snow tires this winter.

We had a 1st gen Fit for several years and it exhibited similar behavior. We had a set of LRRs on it too. The car never spun or came close to it, but it felt a bit wandering at times.

Besides the LRRs, I attributed some of it to narrow tires, light weight car driving on roads where the snow/ice pack creates ruts which go every which way. Those skinny tires wanted to follow the ruts.

Lots of good suggestions for things to check out--tires, alignment, ecu settings. It's interesting that people with all three Fit gens have seen similar behavior. I would have thought that the underseat tank would have made it more stable, but maybe that's not true.

Well it's simply a common stew of short wheelbase, easy throttle lift weight transfer, and skinny Eco tires.

When I swapped to 205/55-16's my fit is very well planted. I never run snow tires. Even in the three feet of snow we just got. It's called skill.

so a Honda Fit (with, what 6" of ground clearance ?) did ok on unplowed roads with 3' of snow on them … interesting … my F150 4x4 would have trouble in 3' of virgin snow

really don't think skill would help out with that scenario

In reply to wbjones:

It does when the roads are plowed. Never said they weren't. Simply stating the amount of accumulation that had to be put aside in order to drive ON TOP of the snow.

Misleading. You implied that you drove through 3 feet of snow.

And another: "I drove all winter without snow tires"

I drove my '96 Contour all winter on all-season tires. Never again.

Trackmouse wrote: Well it's simply a common stew of short wheelbase, easy throttle lift weight transfer, and skinny Eco tires. When I swapped to 205/55-16's my fit is very well planted. I never run snow tires. Even in the three feet of snow we just got. It's called skill.

I agree driving in snow does require skill. I've done it every year for the last sixteen years in vehicles with all seasons. Only in the last few years have I realized my mistake and been running performance rubber in the summer and snow tires in winter. Best of all worlds.

Trackmouse wrote: In reply to wbjones: It does when the roads are plowed. Never said they weren't. Simply stating the amount of accumulation that had to be put aside in order to drive ON TOP of the snow.

so claiming the Fit (by the use of your fantastic skills) could handle 3' of snow was just a tiny bit of hyperbole … got it ...

Streetwiseguy wrote: Get an alignment guy with a brain to set the rear toe, and if its some weird Honda spec, to ignore the spec and set it about 1/16" toed in.

Honda generally requires rear toe to be set a 0. Don't go messing with the rear toe because in my experience as a tech for the company, anything outside of +/-0.2 toe on a Honda is going to cause the tires to wear like crazy.

Like others have said it's most likely LRR tires and Honda's VSA system. The VSA is super wonky in the newer Honda's and my Civic Si felt the same way in the rain.