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traction control light

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by handlebar, Jun 30, 2012.

  1. handlebar

    handlebar Junior Member

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    my traction control light comes on sporadically when I am stopped at a light. Roads are dry and I have not hit anything. What is going on?
     
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Are you pressing too hard on the brake pedal and thus triggering hill start assist? HSA should be discussed in your manual.
     
    RikOtheNord and xpcman like this.
  3. Jonny Zero

    Jonny Zero Giggidy

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    When that happens, let go of the brake pedal. If the car does not move as if brakes ares till applied, you have activated HSA. Tapping the gas will cancel it.

    If that's the case you are ridding the brake pedal pretty hard, or something is broken on the pedal assembly.
     
  4. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Do you hear beeps? HSA will beep when activated & released. When released if you don't want to wait the couple seconds then press the accelerator.
     
  5. Nic Lechner

    Nic Lechner Junior Member

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    Anything ever come of this? My traction control flashed at me twice today while slowing to a light. It happened right as my engine turned off and my ev turned on. The breaks felt weird for a second which is what made me notice the light flash. I don't break hard and have only experienced this twice, both on the same trip.

    Additional info:
    My C was not warmed up fully
    I have 5600 miles on my C

    Anyone have any thoughts?
     
  6. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    ^^^
    If you ran over a disturbance in the road (e.g. bump, cruddy pavement, manhole cover, railroad track, etc.) it's can set off the traction control and produce a change in brake feeling.

    It's a known quirk w/HSD based hybrids. See Poll: Are Prius brakes a problem? | PriusChat for an example. You can see the Google Street View link. Bwilson4web has collected pictures of road anomalies that will trigger it on other Priuses. Some are at NHTSA Tracking Braking Loss on Prius Hybrids | Page 21 | PriusChat. I don't know where the more complete post w/all his pictures are.
     
  7. delrey

    delrey Member

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    I've had this problem a couple times. I'm not sure if I was pressing the brake too hard, I'll try to be observant. When I tried to drive it didn't start moving - I shifted into park and then drive and it disappeared.
    The first few times this happened it was raining so even though I was at a dead stop it was related to the road being wet. This morning the road was dry and I was at a complete stop at a red light.
    Now I have to read up on Hill Start Assist to see if the PIP has it.
     
  8. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    I can't see any reason why it wouldn't. Regular Gen 3 Prius liftbacks have it. Don't see why Toyota would remove it from the PiP.
     
  9. delrey

    delrey Member

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    Of course you are right. I verified that, as expected, this was my "problem". Cool! If I hadn't alarmed myself by accidentally activating it, who knows how long it would have taken me to read this part of the forums or that section of the manual. Maybe never. Saved a trip to the dealer and got a new feature. :) :) :)

    Many thanks!