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Upgrade firmware ...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by 08touring_Don, Jan 16, 2013.

  1. 08touring_Don

    08touring_Don New Member

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    No I don't know anything about the firmware in my 2008 Prius V but it ought to be an option to fix the traction control, set for climate, temperature and elevation in terms of mileage and usability. Have had the stock tires, the silicon ones and now an expensive set of Yokohama Avid Invigo. I have trouble, or impossible time of it trying to get up snowy hills since the motor traction shuts down at a slight hint of slippage. Good point for that is it drives incredibly well on sheets of ice - can't hardly drive it in a ditch on ice even if I try! But it is terrible on snowy hills. I can't get the traction control deprograming to work as explained in some of the posts. All of the tires with the exception of the original tires the mileage is 40-45 mpg. We bought all very expensive tires recommended on Prius posts and by the Toyota dealer. I figure why don't the service/Toyota people come up with a fix in the computer for these problems? Like a Firmware upgrade. Plus, I would like to update the map for navigation. I am about ready to trade this one in. The newer Prius has better visibility out the windshield for taller people like me. I look through the top 1/6 of the windshield and the mirror is in the way. oh, yeah the othern problem is a mirror that won't dim or shade bright headlamps coming from behind. Either that or I can trade my 2008 for a low mileage 2007 that doesn't seem to have the problem with the traction control or the bad gas mileage. Anybody else pissed at the 2008 Prius V Touring model. Grrrr.
     
    #1 08touring_Don, Jan 16, 2013
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    #2 cwerdna, Jan 16, 2013
  3. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Did you mean Yokohama Avid Envigor? They're "all-season" tires. You need actual *snow* tires. Try that before blowing a lot of money on a trade-in.
     
    #3 richard schumacher, Jan 17, 2013
  4. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    Search the site for steps on how to temporarily disable the trac control so you can get up your slippery slopes, my friend.
     
    #4 PriusGuy32, Jan 17, 2013
  5. Ct. Ken V

    Ct. Ken V Active Member

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    Warning, 08touring_Don,

    Do NOT drive with the traction control disabled on your Prius or you can do some serious damage to your power split device (transmission). The traction control is NOT there to help you get up snowy hills, but to protect the electric motors in your transmission from over-spinning & causing damage. All season tires generally work fairly well, but they have their limitations. As Richard Schumacher suggested, you really need snow tires to better get you up your slippery hills. Your car or its' transmission is not at fault. What needs to be dealt with is the "traction" between your somewhat smooth all season tires (smoother to reduce the road noise you would hear with snow tire tread) and the slippery stuff on top of the road surface. The only way to improve that is to get the large openings in the tread (available on real snow tires) to bite through the slippery stuff & engage the real road surface below.

    Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
     
    #5 Ct. Ken V, Jan 17, 2013
    cwerdna likes this.
  6. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    Ken makes a good point, there is a chance if you are obnoxious with the trac control off, you can damage the PSD and the usual disclosure of internet knowledge of "this is at your own risk" applies. However, there have been many Priuschatters that have and do this regularly, and as long as you dont abuse it, youll be fine. Notable that nobody here has damaged their PSD by temporarily disabling the trac control to get up their driveway...

    For example, this thread:
    stuck in snow | PriusChat

    Or this one:
    Thinking about disconnecting traction control | PriusChat

    Or these ones:
    Traction Control | PriusChat
    Can traction control be disabled? | Page 3 | PriusChat

    A search for "transaxle failure after overriding traction control" turned up nothing. Ive temporarily disabled my traction control twice thanks to the helpful threads here on PC and I even have Michelin X-Ice tires.
     
    #6 PriusGuy32, Jan 17, 2013
  7. 08touring_Don

    08touring_Don New Member

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    #7 08touring_Don, Jan 17, 2013
  8. 08touring_Don

    08touring_Don New Member

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    Thanks so maybe the old days of actually changing tires to snow tires in the winter then. I used to do that until front wheel drive cars and not having having bad snowy winters anymore is the Midwest. Thanks for the post. Now I'll get onto the site thread for my model.
     
    #8 08touring_Don, Jan 17, 2013
  9. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    From can you disable the tration controll? | PriusChat

    Yes, OP should definitely get snow tires. Disabling traction control doesn't improve traction of the tires themselves.

    OP may also find watching All-Season vs. Winter / Snow Tires worthwhile. Buying snow tires is likely cheaper than getting into an accident.

    Also see Traction control procedure | PriusChat re: what could be damaged by disabling it.
     
    #9 cwerdna, Jan 17, 2013
    PriusGuy32 likes this.
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