First time for everything - Traction Control let me down BIG TIME

That's when debating the capabilities of The Prius as an extreme weather or winter/snow vehicle I always have to say, I simply don't define it as being very good.

Good/Great snow tires I think are a must. And even then you are hoping you just break even with winter capabilities.

 

Second gen traction control came on sooner I think, too soon maybe? Still, OP: you describe everything but the tires you're running, and remaining tread depth.

 

That is funny.. we drove 135mi/7hr in Mid-Atlatic on Sat with all snow, sleet, rain, etc and the traction on "C" was a big help. Only got stuck ones on uphill, in Baltimore, b/c some yahoo decided to walk in the middle of the street. When was asked to step off the road she stood in the middle with middle finger above her blond head proclaiming street to be her property. Unfortunately hill was too steep to start no traction just wheel spin.

Otherwise there were alot of cars spinning as sliding around, but our Prius C was just fine. There was not enough clearance in some spots, but it did great for what it is. Now leaving chains and shovel home was completely stupid.

 

For what its worth; I have 195/65-15 Yokohama AVID Ascend tires on my 2010 Prius 11. I have about 5,000 miles in them. Last two days its been raining constantly. I can not make these tires lose traction on our wet roads. Last night we got 1/2 inch of sleet and freezing rain so I took it out to see how it did in those conditions. Had no trouble at all and was going the speed limit most of the time. No problem stoping or starting at all. The first 55 years of my life I lived in Erie, Pa so I'm used to driving in extreme conditions with all season tires.


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are the triple treads snow tyres? how many miles on them?

 

TripleTreds are all season tires, with treads that make them very good in the rain, based on past experience.

 

Studs work in the op's situation, night and day difference

 

"Long uphill" in Pittsburgh could translate as "mountain". Driving in western PA in the snow can be an adventure. I've had my share over the years and prefer to just not go.

Would you really prefer a spinning wheel and the possibility of burning out a motor?

 

Those are All-Season tires, not Winter tires. My experience with other AS tires is that they all became useless in winter (for my purposes at least), and had to be banished to 3-season use long before the tread appeared worn.

Again, how much tread depth is left? I didn't have a real tread gauge until recently, but am guessing that my past 'winter retirement' point was around 6/32nds. Now, I use real winter tires on the primary winter travel car.

 

Should've pulled off the road and disabled the TC!

 

I disagree.

Do really want to come to a complete stop partway up a slippery hill?

Tire spinning is overrated.

 

Unless you are Driving a rwd Charger rt (Like I did Last Winter) in a blizzard…


Then Tire spinning down to the Pavement is occasionally a must…

Still got home without issue…..

 

Gak27- I printed out these instructions, and left them in my glovebox, along with the directions on resetting the maintenance light & resetting the reverse beep, lol.

Disabling TC on the Prius:
These steps must be completed within 60 seconds.

Step 1: Set the ignition switch to ON, not READY. To do this press the power button two times, without pressing the brake pedal.

Step 2: While the transmission is still in park (P), fully press the gas pedal two times.

Step 3: Apply the parking brake to ensure that the vehicle will not move during this step. Put the transmission in neutral (N) and fully press the gas pedal two times.

Step 4: Put the transmission back in park (P) and fully press the gas pedal two times. The car will display “!Car!” in the upper left corner of the LCD screen.

Step 5: Press the brake pedal and turn the ignition switch to the start position, without going back to the ready position, to start the engine.

If these steps are followed correctly, the vehicle will start with the traction control system defeated.


CSS makes a good point, one that I didnt consider - about not stopping going UP the hill to turn off your traction control. My point I was trying to make was, if you are already almost stopped going up a grade because the TC is disabling forward movement of the Prius, then I dont see much hazard in pulling off the road and disabling TC. It is not something you can do while in a busy lane of traffic, however.

 

Hmm, I haven't run into that. I wonder if it was the snow that day. Snow can vary a lot in how much traction it provides. Some snow offers nice grip. Other snow is so greasy it makes it impossible to get anywhere.

I find the TC does permit a little wheel spin without activating. I noticed it recently when rolling too slow at our driveway exit, where it's a bit uphill and the sand is pretty soft. I gave it a little pedal and the front of the car started heaving up and down as it scooped sand backwards with the tires. It was moving slowly forward but I figured it was digging too much, so I reversed and got another run at it, but the TC never activated (no light, no power cut). I notice in the snow it'll let the tires squirm some without activating. I can get it to activate if I really try, but otherwise, it seldom does. I have a light foot though.

 

Interesting post, I wasn't aware it was possible to disable TC. Doesn't it need to be on, and is so sensitive, in order to protect the motors though? Could they be damaged with it off?

 

Traction control is mostly protecting drive chain and components after it. MG2 is huge flywheel that is directly connected to drive chain that is directly connected to wheels. Maybe you could break something if you would get wheels to spin very fast and then suddenly have good traction. But I don’t think that I have heard anybody having this short failure.

 

Here's the skinny on that....

For years I read on the site that disabling the traction control would cause Utter total prius devastation and e-cvt transmission self-destruction. Until I tried it. And read several other accounts on the website of people doing the same with no ill effect. I've now been doing it for years. And I think it's safe to say, that after selling my last Prius with 97,000 miles, it's not as dangerous as is said. My cvt fluid was clean when I drained and refilled it at 89,000 miles too!

If you do a simple search for disabling traction control on Prius chat, you'll see what I mean. Not one single person has ever experienced a failure while disabling traction control That you will find. The key to doing this safely and making sure you don't create a problem, is not letting the wheels spin at a very high speed and then suddenly gripping dry pavement – this could be the end to any transmission, but it has been theorized here that the Prius e-cvt is even less tolerable. Either way I am pretty much willing to bet my firstborn child that disabling traction control to get up a hill or get unstuck or prevent from getting stuck, will never cause a problem so as long as you don't abuse it. We just had 16" of snow in one day here and even with my Michelin x-ice snow tires, I couldn't get out of my driveway. Disabled traction control, and my Prius was better than a jeep four-wheel-drive in the snow!! (Well almost)

 

Here's my PSA:
Excess wheel spinning in any car can damage the differential or differential gears in a transaxle (particularly with an open differential).