What Does the Honda Odyssey Traction Control Light Mean?

If your Honda Odyssey’s traction light stays on, you may need to see a mechanic—and it could be increasingly urgent if your check engine light is flashing.
Written by Melanie Krieps Mergen
Reviewed by Melanie Reiff
The Honda Odyssey’s traction control light can mean the system is engaged and working, the system has been turned off, or there’s a problem with the system that needs to be serviced. 
If the light turns on and stays on, you may need to see a mechanic for an inspection. The issue becomes especially urgent if your check engine light is also flashing.
When that mysterious traction control light turns on, can you keep driving, or should you cruise to the nearest
car repair
shop? Well, it depends. To find out, you’ll want to know how the Honda Odyssey’s traction control system works, why the light turns on, and common causes for traction control problems.
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Why your Honda Odyssey traction control light turns on

No matter what vehicle you drive, the
traction control (TCS) light
tends to be one of the more perplexing indicator lights that can show up on your dashboard. 
If the traction control light is on in your Honda Odyssey, it typically means one of several things:
  • The system is active and working as intended
  • A problem has been detected somewhere in the system
  • The traction control system has manually been turned off
The Honda Odyssey uses Honda’s Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) feature, also referred to as Electronic Stability Control (ESC), which helps you maintain control of your vehicle under slippery conditions.
The VSA works by managing the engine’s power output and applying the brakes to specific wheels as needed based on information from various sensors that help monitor driving conditions.
When the Odyssey’s traction control/VSA system is actively responding to road conditions, you’ll see the VSA indicator light blink on your dashboard. The VSA light looks like a vehicle with swerving tire trails behind it.
Whenever you turn on your Honda Odyssey, the traction control system remains on as a default, but you can partially turn off the feature by pressing and holding the “VSA OFF” button, which you should find to the left of the steering wheel until you hear a beep. In most cases, it’s ideal to leave the feature on, but it can be helpful to
turn it off
under certain circumstances, such as if you’re stuck in mud or snow.
When the traction control is partially turned off, you should notice a “VSA OFF” indicator light on your dashboard. To turn VSA back on, you can press and hold the button until you hear a beep again, and the indicator light should turn off.
If the VSA indicator stays on constantly, this indicates a problem has been detected by the system, so it may need to be serviced.
But what would cause a
traction control malfunction
? Well, a lot of things. We’ll break down some of the most common causes below.

Why is my Honda Odyssey’s check engine light flashing with the traction control light on?

There are a number of reasons why the
check engine light
can come on in your Honda Odyssey—and if this light is flashing, it can indicate an engine misfire. Since the VSA/traction control system also manages engine output, the two problems could be related if the VSA indicator light is constantly on without flashing. 
If your check engine light starts flashing while you’re driving, you should pull off the road as soon as it’s safe to do so and stop your vehicle, allowing the engine to cool off for at least ten minutes. If you continue driving your Odyssey amid engine misfiring problems, you could risk causing serious (and potentially irreversible) damage to your engine.
If the light continues flashing when you restart your engine, Honda Odyssey owner’s manuals often recommend driving the vehicle to the nearest service station at no more than 31 mph to minimize potential damage. If the problem is severe enough, you may want to consider having it towed to an auto shop (in which case roadside assistance coverage can come in handy).

Temporary loss of traction

If you’ve come across a slippery stretch of road, your Honda Odyssey’s VSA system may activate if it notices you’re losing traction. When this happens, you’ll see the VSA indicator light blinking on your dashboard—which just means the system is actively responding. 
However, if the light remains solid rather than blinking, or if other warning lights have also turned on, you may need to bring your Odyssey to your mechanic for further
inspection
.
MORE: Are Hondas expensive to maintain?

Faulty wheel speed sensors

The VSA system uses wheel speed sensors to monitor driving conditions for signs of traction loss. If it detects slippage in any of the wheels, it can strategically apply brakes to that wheel as needed.
But if a wheel speed sensor is overly dirty or stopped working, the VSA system can’t work properly, which could trigger the VSA light to turn on. If you have an OBD-II scanner, you could use it to check for error codes associated with this problem.

Anti-lock braking system (ABS) malfunction

The traction control system and
anti-lock brake system (ABS)
are closely related and can use some of the same components. On some vehicles, they even share the same control module. If there’s a problem with your Odyssey’s ABS, it’s possible that both the ABS and VSA indicator lights could turn on. 

Mismatched tires

If your Honda Odyssey is outfitted with mixed tire sizes or types, or if one or more of your tires has
low tire pressure
, these could lead to the wheel sensors misreading data, leading the VSA system to believe the vehicle is having traction issues when it really isn’t. As a result, the traction control light could turn on.

Traction control system turned off

The Honda Odyssey’s traction control system can’t be turned off completely, but you can partially turn it off with the VSA OFF button to the left of the steering wheel. Sometimes, it can get pressed on accident. The difference between this light and the standard VSA indicator light is that this one has the word “OFF” placed underneath it.
To potentially save yourself a trip to the auto shop, you can try turning the VSA system off and on again to see if the light clears on its own.

Can you drive with the traction control light on?

You can drive your Honda Odyssey with the traction control light on, but it might be more dangerous to do so in challenging conditions.
To recap, if your traction control light occasionally comes on and blinks, that simply means the system is working as intended. But if the light turns on and stays on, this usually means a problem has been detected somewhere in the system—and if the traction control system isn’t working properly, your vehicle might not respond the way you expect it to in slippery conditions.
For that reason, if you suspect there’s a problem with your traction control, it’s a good idea to have it inspected sooner than later.
MORE: 10 ways to get cheap car insurance that’s actually good
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