I got this error driving home today and decided to drive straight to the local dealer and leave it for them to deal with. In the end I think is was the right decision as when I parked the car there was a distinct burning smell. The front passenger wheel was hot so I'm guessing the caliper siezed up. Everytime I came to a stop the car shook and made a distinct clacking noise. Hopefully they can deal with it and the recall at the same time.

 

Most "embedded" computer systems are specified, designed, and tested much more thoroughly than anything that has ever been placed on or under a desk. Safety-critical embedded systems, in particular, are developed very carefully.

Part of their advantage comes from relative simplicity -- a typical embedded computer is designed to do ONE thing, running a program from flash memory. Other factors include that they typically do not have hard drives or internet connection, and the users never load new applications, and there are no hackers trying to get in. So the software is not being modified after the engineers decide it finished.

Even so, there have been cases when an embedded computer program has had a safety-related bug, and some have even resulted in deaths. One famous case was the landing system on an airplane (an Airbus, IIRC) that flew the airplane into terrain (trees), and would not allow the pilot to "pull up".

It is possible that a brake-controller program in a VSC or ABS system could have a bug. And, it is possible that a bug could cause such a system could fail to slow the car when commanded by the driver. I expect they have done every engineering design review and verification they can think of to be sure that there are not any such issues, but it is always possible that the engineering teams have overlooked something.

I'm not going to worry about it in my own car. If it is an issue, it will almost certainly happen first to someone else, and they will figure it out and do a recall before my own car fails.

 

I had a caliper seize on me too. I kept hearing a squeal while driving and after one such ride, I touched each rotor with my finger. 3 were cool to the touch, and the one instantly burnt my finger it was so hot. Although I had no VSC warning, it would not surprise me if enough drag on one wheel would cause a VSC alert condition, after all that is how low tire pressure warning lights are triggered in some pre-TPMS vehicles.