JBT, perhaps i was not clear, but you are not understanding me. Or perhaps are cars are different, incremental changes between model years are a common occurence.
JBT wrote:There is a "DSC OFF" warning light in the tacho and there is a DSC/TCS activation warning light (i.e the skidding car symbol) to the right of that.
That's right, same in my car. So, for clarity, we will say there are two warning lights: DSC warning light and TCS warning light (as described in the manual).
In my car (2008 build year)
Pressing DSC off:-
only The "DSC OFF" warning light illuminates. DSC is off, and you can press it again and it will rearm. Note that a couple of times when i spun the car with DSC off, the TCS light (i.e the skidding car symbol) flashed.
Holding the DSC off button in for 8 seconds:-
both The "DSC OFF" warning light
and the DSC/TCS light illuminates. Both stay illuminated even if you press the DSC off button again.
Read pages 5-22 to 5-39 of the Owner's Manual......or go and try it.
I think the above report and images show that i
have tried this
But don't take my word for it - hold the DSC Off button in in your car and see if you can get both lights to illuminate. The manual states that holding the button in for a second or more (in my car it's around 8 seconds) will cause both DSC and TCS lights to illuminate and the DSC/TCS system to be come inoperative.
...or your foot wasn't planted and/or your wheel alignment/tyre pressures need checking.
Standard alignment, all tires filled with nitrogen to 34psi. I can assure you, there's plenty of difference between 'DSC off' and EVERYTHING off! I'm no hero behind the wheel, far from it, but i think i have done enough track driving and skid pan/advanced driving days to have some idea about car handling at and beyond the limit.
I mean, how do you explain:
A. the fact that the car oversteered on command everytime after i had switched everything off
B. the fact that the instructor, from the UK, who worked for Prodrive was the one who leant over, held the button in for 8 seconds, and demonstrated what this does (both lights illuminated on dash). He has worked with the NC on Driver training and development days with Mazda (Mazda & Prodrive work together in the UK, which is why you can purchase Prodrive editions of some Mazda cars from Mazda dealerships in the UK).
It's not a well known or publicized fact, if the little info i can find on the web is any indication. Found
thisfairly uninformative link which seems to suggest the same applies for the RX8. It also suggests that it writes an error code to the ECU log. I'll be asking the dealership about this to see if shows up at my next service.
