How to Turn Off Smart Anti-Skid?
2 Answers
To deactivate the anti-skid function in a Mercedes Smart, press the anti-skid OFF button while the vehicle is running. Below is relevant information about the anti-skid system: 1. When the vehicle is stuck in mud or during off-road conditions, appropriate wheel slip is needed to help escape or climb. In such cases, the ESP's feature of preventing wheel slip can be counterproductive. Therefore, it's advisable to turn off the ESP first to ensure successful escape in extreme off-road or stuck situations. 2. During rainy or snowy weather when encountering uphill slippage, wheels tend to slip when starting on snow-covered or waterlogged roads, especially on slopes. The system may misinterpret this as wheel slip and limit engine output, making ESP intervention counterproductive. Hence, it's better to turn off the ESP before attempting. 3. When snow chains are installed on the vehicle tires, the chains can interfere with certain sensor data in the ESP system due to changes in wheel diameter, leading to inaccurate signals. This may cause the ESP to continuously intervene or trigger fault codes. In such cases, the ESP can be turned off.
Last time when I drove my friend's Smart car on icy roads and wanted to turn off the anti-skid function, I directly found the ESP OFF button on the left side of the dashboard near the steering wheel, held it for 5 seconds, and saw the skidding car icon on the instrument panel light up yellow. But it's best not to turn this off normally - last winter my neighbor disabled it and ended up skidding into a wall at the neighborhood entrance. For newer models nowadays, you apparently need to operate it through the central control screen, finding the dynamic driving options in vehicle settings to deactivate it. If you can't locate the button, checking the manual is most reliable since each car model has different designs. After turning it off, the car does become more responsive when accelerating through turns, but I sincerely advise against disabling it on slippery roads - safety first.
