Problem backing up a hill

[greybeard]

I found myself in trouble today when I pulled into a neighbors driveway and then tried to back out. Is their a problem backing up a hill? I put it in reverse, and it didn't move for a couple of seconds and then barely backed up his hilly driveway. I thought I was going to have to be towed or pushed out. Is this normal for the hybrid?

[V8Cobrakid]

I'm sure you will eventualy look for the answer you are looking for. I have notices this too. The reverse on the car is electric only. It starts off slow no matter what. I've been able to back up my driveway but i was rolling beforhand. my driveway is probably about a 25-30 degree angle. i think i have the angle about right. hehe. anyways, the car will start out slow. It does this. Once going it gets quick. If it's on an incline it may stop itself from going "all out" because it doesn't want the electric motor to get damaged. The motor has almost 300 ft/lbs of torque. The same torque my HO 5.0L V8 had. It's capable of burning the tires but the system stops it. I learned this when driving on a gravel road.. hehe

glad to hear you made it out of his driveway though. i don't think a driveway would stop it. I heard that it wont' back over a curb though. *shrug*

I'm sure more will reply

:mrgreen:

[peart75]

if i am correct, only the electric engine can be in gear when in reverse. i was wondering if this would ever become a problem if the battery was low, the grade was too steep, etc...

certainly something to keep in mind.

-drew

[htmlspinnr]

They say to crank the wheel and zig-zag up the hill if going straight up won't work.

[DaveG]

Also, don't be afraid to floor the pedal in reverse if you need the power - I noticed that the classic had problems reversing up the incline (fairly steep) to my parking lot. It took much firmer pressure on the pedal than it did going forward to go up the hill.

Once I pushed harder on the pedal, it moved OK (though I wouldn't wanna try it with a car full of passengers - probably best to park facing uphill then).

Dave.

[TCD]

Hi Folks,

I actually had just the opposite problem in that I became stuck going forward up a steep gravel hill. I found that the traction control simply shuts down the power rather than driving the wheel with the most traction; this caused a real problem for me.

The Prius came to a stop in the middle of the hill and I had a very tricky job of backing down! Each time I tried to go forward, the wheels would slip a little and then the power shutdown.

I overcame this by driving from the bottom, up the hill much faster than I wanted (later I also backed up with no problem). I am concerned that this behavior of the traction control will prove to be a problem this winter. It certainly does not provide “traction control”! I wonder if there is a way to by-pass the traction control?

[V8Cobrakid]

Your experiance is the exact same as mine. As for winter, i test drove the prius a couple times. Dry weather test drives were fine. One time i test drove it in the rain. When getting onto the highway, i was wishing for actual traction control. You look speed when the car starts slipping. Again, this is because of the huge amount of torque when you first start to accelerate. I guess we have to just get a head start on anything slipery. Hey, doing high speeds on the dirt road was more than fun. The steering assist and traction control work better around 30mph. The car steers and moves like a charm. :mrgreen:

[V8Cobrakid]

I also found the car does not slip while in soft dirt. it climbs like a champ. So.. i guess it's just hard surfaces it shuts down.

[jamarimutt]

My previous car, a 2002 GTI, had a switch to turn off traction control. The owner's book recommended leaving the control on all the time, but acknowledged that under some slippery conditions it should be turned off. My brother-in-law's 2004 Chrysler 300 has a similar on/off switch.

[randalla]

My '99 GrandAm GT also had an on/off switch for the traction control. Has anyone found a way to switch the Prius's traction control on/off yet?