1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

3rd Gen Prius Power Steering Brush vs Burshless Motor

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by PriusMechanic, Sep 11, 2017.

  1. PriusMechanic

    PriusMechanic Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2017
    12
    5
    0
    Location:
    CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Hello, new to Priuschat here! But I have been working on Priuses for about 5 years now, and I have done almost everything on these cars except for body work. Anyway, I noticed that there are 2 versions of power steering motors on the 3rd gen Prius a brush type and a brush less type. Does anyone know if there is any practical difference between the two? Thanks.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    welcome!

    no idea, but aren't brushless more efficient or longer lasting or something?
     
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    23,073
    14,982
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    One of the Toyota technical courses, "Course 071 Toyota Hybrid System", besides being a pretty great all-around introduction to the car, has some info about that on pages 166–169. The basic breakdown looks like the Gen 3 model trims with 16 15 inch wheels got the package with no rotation angle sensor and a brush DC motor operating on 12 volts. The trims with 17 inch wheels (or some of them, anyway?) got the package with a rotation angle sensor (resolver), a brushless motor operating on a higher voltage, three-phase supply, and a different steering ECU that includes the voltage boost and the three-phase drive using the information from the resolver. Clearly you'd never be able to switch any of those components without switching all of them.

    That PDF is, of course, on techinfo.toyota.com, where one $15 cover charge gets you two days of access to everything that's there, but it's also usually not hard to scare up a copy elsewhere.

    -Chap
     
    #3 ChapmanF, Sep 11, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2017
    PriusMechanic likes this.
  4. Tande

    Tande Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2006
    497
    299
    0
    Location:
    Mich.
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    II
    With the end result for the "Driver" being, what?.....just asking
     
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    23,073
    14,982
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Car with bigger tires gets more powerful steering assist, so it isn't harder to steer?

    -Chap
     
    PriusMechanic likes this.