Traction Control applies breaking to the spinning wheel and decreases the throttle body... When plowing through snow, especially climbing a snowy hill, you WANT to keep up your momentum, which Traction Control defeats.... I ALWAYS turn off TC on my 2003 XLE when climbing a snowy hill. On my model there is a TC OFF button by my left knee. This does not defeat the VSC which only kicks in if your skidding off center.