My 2004 CTS navigation screen constantly shows a message stating "Stability Control Engaged"; yesterday I erroneously reported it as traction control. The dealer's service rep says he has talked to an engineer and are now blaming the problem on uneven tire ware (the car has about 35,000 miles on it with a bit more than one eighth of an inch of tread left, and the tires have been rotated regularly.

 

but there is no reason that a 204 should have uneven tire wear...unless the alignment is out...

do you have high mileage?

 

The mileage is 36,000 on original tires which have been rotated regularly. They have about 3/16ths of an inch left. The problem is not as as bad as it was, suggesting that some of the shop's actions might have been constructive (tightening connections, replacing a control module, etc.). Or it may be that the problem is temperature related; it seems to be worse in hot weather.

 

That's an interesting one. About 3 weeks ago my '03 CTS started giving me the "Stability System Engaged" message. The message comes on usually at high rates of speed(above 50) although it sometimes comes on at slower speeds and once it happened when the vehicle was almost completely stopped at a traffic light. The car sometimes feels as though there is some braking being applied to one or more wheels and the car tracks off of the straight line for a split second. Sometimes this will happen repeatedly for a few times and other times it won't happen at all for several days of driving. When the problem first appeared I knew the car needed tires and there was a difference in wear on one tire because I had to replace it due to a large nail about a year and a half ago. When they put the new tires on I noticed that it was time for a set of front brake pads, so I measured the thickness of the rotors and drivers side was already a mm under minimum thickness and passenger side was just a silly milimeter away from recycling so I ordered a set of rotors and pads from GM and slapped them on the next day. Neither the tires, nor the new brakes has caused the Stabilitrak system to stop misbehaving. The ride, handling and brakes feel better though. The car has 47,000 miles on it and on ocaision it has been driven quite like it begs to be driven, which brings me to another curious point. My wife drive's like a stock car driver and I am also known to drive in the so called "spirited" manner sometimes. We have never been able to force the stability system to engage under even very aggressive(but not stupid) driving situations. The car handles very well without the computer's assistance. I do know that the stability sytem works very effectively though, because about 2 months ago when when a tanker spilled diesel fuel on a rainy steep bridge approach I was able to drive the car almost normally and I could feel the system working. Most of the other cars on the road were sliding into each other and off the road into the ditch while I drove around the wrecks and made it to safety. I'm going to have to bring the car into the dealer to have it checked out, but I don't have a very comfortable feeling about them being able to"Duplicate" the problem, because it is so intermittent and unpredictable.

 

Your case sounds very much like mine. The dealer has fussed and fussed, and installed some sort of wiring harness, but ended up blaming the tires. A few weeks later I replaced them and the problem continues. The car is presently at another dealer, but I doubt that he will be able to do any better. My car is a 2004 with about 45,000 miles on it; the problem started when it had logged about 35,000.

 

You folks need to have your service dept check for a malfunction code in the abs module. Sounds like maybe the hand wheel speed sensor is going bad. This part is in the steering column. I have seen many of these go bad causeing the problem you are having. Sometime the steering column bearing goes bad which can cause all kinds of weird stuff.

Good Luck

 

i bought my CTS 2003 from a Lebanese dealer in Lebanon, the CTS is imported from the USA it s millage is 70 000 km, it shows on the screen (stability system engaged) and (traction engaged ) continuously, i m in Lebanon, we do not have such experience as americans especially with american cars. can somebody help please ?

 

If there is a shop that specializes in American cars/trucks or An Opel dealer maybe able to help. Scanner is required diagnose your car, fortunately GM started exporting CTS, STS, AND XLR overseas years ago.

 

I have told the same thing but where is the sensor. what it looked like and is there a way to trouble shoot it