Vehicle control system and method

A vehicle control system comprising:

• a subsystem controller configured to initiate control of a first group of at least one vehicle subsystem in a selected one of a plurality of subsystem control modes, wherein each of which subsystem control modes corresponds to one or more different driving conditions for the vehicle, the control modes including at least one on-road driving mode and at least one off-road driving mode;
• an estimator module configured to evaluate at least one driving condition indicator to determine the extent to which each of the subsystem control modes is appropriate and configured to provide an output indicative of the subsystem control mode that is most appropriate, said at least one driving condition indicator including at least one terrain indicator indicative of the type of terrain over which the vehicle is travelling,
• wherein said at least one terrain indicator comprises a signal indicative of whether one or more subsystems of a second group of one or more sub-systems is operational, the estimator module being configured to increase the probability to which said at least one off-road driving mode is determined appropriate in dependence on the at least one terrain indicator;
• wherein the second group of one or more subsystems are associated with off-road driving;
• and wherein
• in an automatic response mode said subsystem controller selects the most appropriate one of the subsystem control modes for the or each subsystem of the first group in dependence on the output.