Bizarre Traction Control Behavior?

If it was a yellow indicator, it was probably the traction control. Most likely it was doing what it does, which is keeping the wheels from spinning. There must have been something slippery or loose on the road surface.

Tom

 

The traction control is the only thing that I don't care for in the prius.
We took a trip down to the Ozarks last weekend and had a lot of hilly gravel roads with pot holes and motorgrader grooves etc... it took a while to get up the hills had to go very slow, a little faster and 1 wheel spins and t/c takes over.
But if that is what it takes to keep mg1 in good shape so be it.

 

Hi All,

Since I have never seen a wavy line car symbol, I bet that is the VSC symbol, not the TC symbol. And the action of your car tends to confirm that, in my opinion. My car only has the TC.

Get the alignment checked, and I would add a BT Tech plate, or other rear-end stiffening/dampening device. One test is find some open asphalt, and try to pull too tight a turn at say 15 mph. The car should understeer and the tires slide, and scrub off speed. If the car tends to get a mind of its own, and kinda wiggles to the right, in a left hand turn, and not scrub off speed, its probably alignment or rear end flex. Talking a little out of my expertiece here, but give it a try.

What I think happens in tight turns is the back end flexes, and steers the car in oposition to the front of the car. The VSC sensors detect this, and VSC kicks in to try to straighten out the manuever. Of course, your trying to turn. At slow speed, this has a dramatic lurching behavior, as individual friction brakes are being pulsed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Jun 26 2007, 01:14 PM) [snapback]468369[/snapback]</div>

They use the same symbol, plus the VSC chimes if pushed too far.

Tom

 

Oops,

That will teach me to try to post at lunch time from work. I apparently did not review everything before I posted.

I read your other post, about lurching along from 50 feet, after posting my reply. And said - oh oh, I am probably wrong.

The issue then, is that in a tight turn, one of the tires lost normal force, and the torque of the motor snapped it out static friction. The Prius is tall, and does roll somewhat. That rolling action will reduce weight on the inside wheels. The electric motor does have a whole bunch of low-end torque.

There have been other Prius owners that have had VSC kick in during turning situations, and they say its like the car had a mind of its own, trying to steer them the wrong way.