Might be a silly question, wondering if my TRACS & ABS lights come on sporadically, if it would make my winter mode not function properly?

 

If you mean starting out in third gear, I don't think it'll make any difference.

 

TRACS and ABS lights can be triggered by the ABS controller - they sometimes get "cold solder joints" (ie the solder cracks and can let the circuits open up triggering the warning lights). Read up at Volvo ABS Problems to see if any of the info sounds to fit what you see.