Traction Control

[kevin54]

Hello,

I'm waiting for my Prius w/ package #4 to tentatively arrive mid April here in PA.! My one concern is that from what I've read in these forums, there is no temporary manual override/disablement of the Traction Control. Is this really true? Every car I've seen with it has the disablement feature. I realize some have said Toyota left this out to protect the electric motor, but couldn't they have 'enabled' the gas engine if the 'disablement' of the traction control was selected?
This is the one thing bothering me, and I'm actually re-considering this purchase if this is really the case. Don't feel like being stranded on a slightly icy moderate incline. Also, others have suggested a second set of tires, although that seems rather absurd considering everything.
Is this REALLY true?
Regards,
Kevin

[Tideland Prius]

Well, unless you get snow for 3 days a year like I do, there's nothing wrong with a set of winter tyres. Do a search on traction control and winter tyres as there's a fairly recent thread on this from another person from PA.

[kevin54]

Hi,

Well we certainly get more than 3 days of snow here in PA. I also realize I COULD get snows for the car as a semi-acceptable work-around, but the absurdity I find in this is I haven't had separate snow tires for ANY car in the last 20 years, even in worse conditions than PA.
Why does Toyota put such cheap (lousy) tires on this great car? At least, that's the impression I'm getting from this and other forums.
Thanks,
Kevin

[bobc]

You can actually disable traction control.

Danman posted how to do this. It's called 'Inspection Mode.' I needed to try it out last month...

Addendum: I found that if the ICE was running, I couldn't get it to go into inspection mode.

-bob

[kevin54]

Thanks for the info. I'll try and do a 'search' for this when I get home. Was this complicated? Any idea when Danman posted this info? I think he's got a lot of postings out there.
Regards,
Kevin

[DanMan32]

I have discovered a simpler method to disable VSC by grounding a pin on the DLCIII. This may also disable TC.

[jayman]

I don't see anything "absurd" about running winter tires in winter conditions.

When I used to live in Utah I ran dedicated studded snow tires on steel rims. Indeed, if there was snow and you wanted to get to a mountainous area, the Highway Patrol would turn you around if you didn't have approved snow tires on.

Once you compare the traction difference between "all season" tires and dedicated winter tires, you'll never go back. IMHO the "all season" tire should be renamed the "three season" tire.

With just about every car and pickup truck I have ever owned, I have had dedicated winter tires for it. I refuse to put my life in danger driving on slippery road surfaces with skimpy all-season tires.

My Dunlop Graspic DS-2 tires have already saved my a** a few times this winter. In one case, I was able to accelerate out of the way when it became obvious that a 4x4 behind me would not be able to stop at the red light. He slid right through the intersection too, he would have flattened me if I hadn't accelerated out of the way.

Another time I was able to stand on the brakes and quickly stop when an a** hole in an SUV went through a red light. So I'd never go back to "all season" tires in winter.

Every car benefits from winter tires in winter road conditions. Due to the aggressive and sensitive Traction Control, the Prius more so. Once I put on the Dunlop Graspic DS-2 winter tires, I ceased to worry about the standard Traction Control.

However, even up here, winter doesn't last all year round. At the most 4-5 months. Then the rest of the year you run the all season tires and easily get twice the fuel economy of virtually every other car around you.

[DonDNH]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"79024)</div>

I don't see anything \"absurd\" about running winter tires in winter conditions. [/b]

I also have snow tires and on all four wheels. They make a world of difference in maintaining traction and increasing safety. Around here if you're in an accident while snow is on the roadway and and you're without snows, you're assigned a larger share of the blame and assessed more in damages.

[Frank Hudon]

Trac will also kick in with the ICE running.

[KTPhil]

Cool beans! An easy "pushbutton"-style VSC/TC disable would be handy. Let us know if that works! I imagine it will set a DTC, so the dealer may wonder if he scans it later...