Anyone know what these buttons do?

You get a complete set of hardcopy manuals that will take up much space in your glovebox. However, when I am away from the car (and even sometimes in the car), I find it nice to access and search the manuals via a PDF reader. Unfortunately, many of the page links in the PDF version are dead. So, going to a specific page from the Table of Contents is a hit-and-miss proposition. Keyword search works better in raising possible candidates for finding the information you want.

 

Glad to hear we still get hard copy. Thank you!

 

I see that your first question was answered, but the second one wasn't. The skid marks OFF is your traction control. This is not exclusive to Toyota, my previous Hondas all had this too. Traction control helps in very slippery conditions: the car's computer directs more power to the wheels that have grip, to get you going, and less or no power to the wheels that slip. This prevents any of the wheels from spinning needlessly. In most conceivable driving conditions you'd want the traction control ON, so they made it the default. Remember: traction control is always ON, unless you deliberately want to turn it off for a short period of time. I believe that it goes back ON automatically when you turn on your car, regardless if it was off when you last used the car.

When would you want the traction control off? If you're hopelessly stuck in deep muck or snow and you're not going anywhere, turning off traction control may give you a Hail Mary try. Another one that I've heard, but not experienced myself, is if you're trying to climb an icy hill with worn tires, the traction control may just stop you completely, regardless of how hard you push on the gas pedal. In this case again, turning off the traction control may give you another chance, however questionable (there may be safety issues with spinning your wheels hard).

 

It's also good to turn traction control off when you decide to add NOX to turn your Prius into a drag racer. Prevents you from adding extra inspection ports to your engine block.

If you watch Hoovie's Garage, you know what I'm talking about.

 

FWIW, I have a hard right turn, from a stop, onto a 45mph road when leaving my neighborhood. It is a somewhat-busy road, and often requires a good burst of acceleration from the dead stop (starting in a 90-deg turn, on a tiny bit of an uphill) to slot into traffic. My '08 Prius's traction control was a near-death-trap - the wheels would spin, then the power would be cut, then the wheels would spin again, the power would cut again, etc - all while the oncoming 45+ mph traffic was getting ever closer as I inch-wormed my way onto the road. (I never did find a way to disable traction control on the '08). In the wet, it was even more of a game of Russian Roulette - I would simply wait for a very rare wide-open slot before attempting to pull out onto the road in the rain - it wasn't worth risking my own or anyone else's welfare with the indecisive traction control.

With the '23 AWD, that road entrance is now a breeze - wet or dry! With traction control on, the wheels will still slip a tiny bit if I completely nail the throttle, but the traction control engages smoothly, and there is really not any noticeable hesitation. Just to see what'd happen, I tried it today w/ traction control disabled (dry road), and I'm pretty sure all 4 wheels were spinning. (It still scooted like a scared cat, but there was definitely more drama than with traction control on.)

The traction control seemed to automatically re-engage after I got up to 25 or 30 mph.

The traction control will remain on for normal driving henceforth!

 

Traction control was a new thing when the gen2 came out. It was included mostly to protect the drivetrain. That's why the Prius didn't have an off button for it then. I too ran into issues with hard left turns from a stop where it caused the car to 'stall' for moment in the 2005. Also meant I couldn't leave my driveway after ice and snow storms a couple times.