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Gen 4 Prius, winter tyres, icy uphill road: strange behavior

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by Nico3d3, Jan 30, 2022.

  1. Nico3d3

    Nico3d3 Junior Member

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    2017 Prius
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    Knowing I was going uphill on a somewhat icy road, I disabled traction control before even trying to drive through it. I also have good winter tyres and nonetheless, I got stuck halfway up. I knew the only way to get up was with pedal to the metal to make sure I had enough momentum. So, that's what I did but, the car reacted as if it didn't want to give me more power. It wasn't cutting like what you see when traction control is enabled, it simply wasn't putting all the horsepower to the ground and RPM was staying low. What could be the cause of this? I was used to driving a manual Corolla where I had full control of throttle and engine RPM would go up to 5000 if that's what I was asking for. With the Prius, I was still getting power but not nearly enough to keep momentum while going uphill.

    On my second attempt, I tried to go up while only applying moderate pressure to the go pedal. I got the same result, It's as if nor MG2 or ICE wanted to give me power.

    Maybe it was refusing to give me more because it sensed it would be dangerous for the tranny / hybrid system to have anymore wheels spin? Anyway, I abandoned the project and started to wonder if I should've bought an AWDe...
     
    #1 Nico3d3, Jan 30, 2022
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2022
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Did you try without disabling traction control?
     
    #2 Mendel Leisk, Jan 30, 2022
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  3. Nico3d3

    Nico3d3 Junior Member

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    No I haven't but, after some research, I think my theory about preventing too much wheels spin to preserve the transmission is plausible. On third gen, there was no button to disable traction control. You could only do it by pressing a secret sequence of buttons. Toyota warned users that it could damage the transmission. If they added an option to disable it, on gen 4, they must have thought of a way to make sure it will never get to a point where damages can occur. Guess, I'll be shopping for studded tires next winter...
     
    #3 Nico3d3, Jan 30, 2022
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2022
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  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Real winter tires, not merely All-Seasons? Especially half-worn All-Seasons, which are really just 3-Season tires.

    My own personal experience with winter ice polishing in other cars has not been good, other approaches have worked better. Power has been best left to traditional 4WD digging through medium wind-blown drifts. Deeper drifts required tracked vehicles.
     
    #4 fuzzy1, Jan 31, 2022
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2022
  5. Nico3d3

    Nico3d3 Junior Member

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    Winter tires are mandatory in Quebec, so real winter tires it is. I got Toyo Observe GSI-5 and they are at 9/32". It's my first winter with this car. At first, I was impressed by its capacity, it can easily pull itself out of big snow bank. Going up an icy and steep incline is a bigger challenge, as I discovered today.
     
    #5 Nico3d3, Jan 31, 2022
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