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something's wrong with my car, and i'm not sure what's going on

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by busyrosy, Dec 9, 2006.

  1. busyrosy

    busyrosy New Member

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    This just happened today, and it happened three times on my 8 mile drive to campus.

    Whenever I was stopped, and then I hit the gas to turn left (for example, turning after stopping at a stop sign), the car sorta vibrated a bit (as if about to stall) but it didn't actually stall. The car would run fine after a short moment of.. what felt like losing control a bit. I also noticed that the orange light under the "ready" light was flashing (it has a pic of car on a curvy road). I'm a little weary of driving the car again - do I need to take the car to the shop? If the car is "skidding" I thought skidding happens when you are already driving pretty fast and driving on an icy road. None of those two applies to my situation (once again, it only happened when turning+hitting the gas after a fully stopped position). It has been raining and the road is a bit wet, but it didn't happen to me the previous times when it rained. Yesterday, for example, we had a particularly rainy weather, and the car was fine.

    Do you have any idea what's going on? Thanks!!!
     
    #1 busyrosy, Dec 9, 2006
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    That's the traction control. Probably on wet, icy, or gravely road. When the car senses the tires spinning a little the traction control cuts the power to the wheels momentarily.

    Try accelerating a little more slowly from the stops, esp. if there is ice, snow, water or gravel present.

    Finally, if your tires are old they may be getting worn and due for replacement.
     
    #2 efusco, Dec 9, 2006
  3. busyrosy

    busyrosy New Member

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    Thank you so much for your response. I'll try the slow acc thing... I do admit, I was in a bit of rush this morning, although I wasn't driving recklessly :) I have 12000 miles on my car (driving mostly on paved roads.. although with California's crappy roads, it doesn't mean much). None of my tires have been changed yet since I bought it in late April 2006. Would that be considered a lot of mileage on my tires?
     
    #3 busyrosy, Dec 9, 2006
  4. Clubford00

    Clubford00 New Member

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    Mine does the same thing, and its not only a pain in the ^&%# but its dangerous. It has to do with the traction control, if you turn the wheel too sharply and try to accelerate from a stand stilll or close, the T.C. takes over and it tries to work off of the loaded wheel. Threfore acting lke your on snow or ice. Hopefully Toyota will correct this on future cars. Many a time i have been at a stop and tried to pull out fast only to have the thing "stall' on me. Makes for some tense moments as you see other cars bearing down on you. Other than that your car is normal. Dont ake it in, they wont find anything wrong. Just give yourself plenty of room when pulling out. Hope this helps. Dean Ps i changed my original goodyear tires at 1 year 43k miles. They were wearing well and even, just plain worn out.
     
    #4 Clubford00, Dec 9, 2006
  5. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    sigh, here we go again...
    .
    _H*
     
    #5 hobbit, Dec 9, 2006
  6. auricchio

    auricchio Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Clubford00 @ Dec 9 2006, 03:16 PM) [snapback]359884[/snapback]</div>
    You've answered the question. Cars with traction control are not the ones with which to do jackrabbit starts, especially while turning.
     
    #6 auricchio, Dec 10, 2006
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