Prius Traction Control Complaints on the Rise

I agree, I have driven many other cars with TC, and they do not stop the car, but rather prevent slippage, and get me going quicker than I could (in at least 95% of the cases).

 

Man, talk about resurrecting an OLD thread!

There is no "update" for the traction control in the GII cars. The modules made after late 2005 had different firmware in them. You can't update the old module but you could replace it - your cost.

The 2010 DOES have an update. It was apparently much worse than the GII.

The high sensitivity of the TC is to protect the HSD. You -could- damage it if you slipped the wheel and it caught. You can also over-rev. MG1 if the engine is stopped and you spin up the wheel(s). The HSD can't spin up the engine fast enough.

I've been using Nokian WR tires for the last three winters with no problems. Get -real- tires! The Nokians are also great in the wet and fine in summer. Now called WRGII (VERY strange tread on them!). The new ones are also quieter. Looking forward to getting them next year after these ones wear out (currently at 5/32" from 11/32" new). That's about 50,000 km of wear.

 

I remember when I had my Gen.II,
I was pulling out of a gas station and was in a situation where I had to floor it, so when I had to floor it to get out in time, VROOM! stop. VROOM! stop. VROOM! stop. VROOM! stop. I almost got hit in the side, but if the Prius would have just let it spin a little, there would have been no problem.

 

You know with halloween quickly approaching . . . and this zombie thread that can't seem to lay down peacfully and act dead, the way it should ...



Perhaps it's time for Danny to release the all new and improved, "PRIUS ZOMBIE COSTUME"

I can see the advertising now:
"Got a topic that really needs to be killed? ... buy a Prius zombie costume now! Take a picture of yourself wearing it ... post the picture onto your comment, and people will suddenly remember their 'important' topic DIED - way back in 2007" !! Your readers wil LOVE your all new Prius Zombie costume!"

I predict sales will be in the zillions ... yes ... zillions, as in 'Z' as in Zombie. No, people, TC complaints are not on the rise. Let's see, where'd I leave my zombie costume.

.

 

"..limited amount of wheelspin..."

Yes, but only if the vehicle is virtually at a dead stop...!

Giving these FWD and F/awd vehicles a highly aggressive TC system mostly absolves the manufaturer of potential liability from selling a known defective vehicle. Using a manual switch to disable the TC system puts the liability CLEARLY on the person taking that action.

 

If you were turning moderately or more and trying to accelerate into traffic you probably were encountering the "pre-emptive" TC mode that LIMITS drive torque in favor of traction for directional control.

Even my '01 F/awd RX300 will do that. When TC activates in a tiight accelerating turn, especially from a stop, I have to fully release the gas pedal and then reapply foot pressure gingerly in order to get going.

 

I sold my 06 primarily for this reason. The Gen III is much improved in this area. I made a point to try it out on my test drive.

 

Thanks for the info

 

I have a 2006 and have had trouble visiting friends with gravel driveways. MId summer no snow just no traction. Had to accellerate much too fast in order to make it. Wife in a a wheel chair and I'm 82 so don' tell me to walk or buy Nokians Bah Humbug Toyota is at fault here.

 

Gravel can be a problem. We take our 2006 on rock climbing trips, and some of the roads in eastern Kentucky are steep, twisty, and covered with gravel. A Jeep would be better, but then the nine hour highway drive each way wouldn't be as good.

Nokians helped a lot for us. Given that you don't want to hear that, your other options are to sell the Prius or stay home. Carping about it here won't help, except perhaps to make you feel better. This issue is well documented, and Toyota addressed it with the new Gen III Prius. Let's move on an beat some other dead horses.

Tom

 

Just a suggestion, and you might of already tried this (and with out seeing the driveways this might just be a waste), but since the Prius is a front wheel drive, something I've suggested before is drive up in reverse. Putting the weight to the front of the car while going in reverse should give the tires more traction.

Just an idea.

But from my own personal experience, the tires are more the problem then anything else.
I use HydroEdge in the summer and Gislaved in the winter and have never had a problem. My house is also up a 2 mile long hill, and in the winter we can get a TON of snow, but the Prius just pulls us up.

 

I have to agree here. Just had our 1st lake effect of the season and went 4 wheelin' on the front lawn to get around a truck. Have Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max. The Integrities scared the crap out of me until I got some Michelin X-ICE. Haven't been able to change to those yet. Garage is full of crap while big remodel is going on.

 

Personally I'm looking forward to the new Infiniti RWD hybrid introduction wherein TC intervention will not be so critical/URGENT. No DRIVE torque to the front nor any regen braking. Enough battery weight on/over the rear wheels and the traction bias might even be to the rear.

 

Yes, the tires really do make all the difference. With my '04 if I kept on the Michelin Harmony tires, it was helpless on a bit of snow and ice. With the studded Goodyear Nordic tires, I easily blew away other cars at a green light

Not sure if the TC on 2010's has changed in how it works. My FJ has "real" TC - normally in rear wheel drive, a brake is applied to a spinning tire, forcing power to the other tire.

When one wheel is on ice and the other on bare pavement, a common condition around here at intersections, the system works perfectly

 

If they did, I'm not sure why my Gen III 2010 Prius couldn't traverse a snowy incline today. I kept hitting the accelerator and saw the light on the dash and no power was going to the front wheels. I bought the car over the weekend and ordered snow tires that will hopefully be in tomorrow. Pretty frustrating but finally made it up that hill at ~ 5mph....

 

The traction control on my '06 was a terrible, terrible feature, and nearly resulted in two accidents when the tires slipped the tiniest bit, power went to idle, and I was nearly broadsided.

Feathering the throttle and then pressing gently when a truck is bearing down on you on a rainy day isn't terribly intuitive.

I heard that it was dialed back in '07, and the '08 Prius I rented was much better, the wheels could spin a bit—it even burned rubber—before the traction control kicked in.

I sure hope it's still not an issue with the current model. And I love how it can be turned off completely in the car I'm driving currently.

If you're having trouble getting up a gravel driveway, go up it in reverse.

 

Most likely it was lack of traction. Traction control, even excellent traction control, can't produce friction where there is none. This is an often overlooked fact that often bites four-wheel-drivers in the nice person, when they suddenly discover that four times zero is exactly the same as two times zero. PriusChatters too are often surprised that zero traction means you don't go, with or without traction control.

Better tires will help.

Tom

 

The point is, may be, that many of us grew up in the RWD era and are therefore fully aware of how rear wheel "spin", slip, can be managed, managed to your advantage, quite safely. Getting a RWD slightly "sideways" provides the rear tires with more surface "bite", wider track. That sometimes helps to get up and going initially or even unstuck.

Not so with FWD or F/awd so TC must be made more and more sensitive to prevent accidents due to loss of directional control.

 

You are right. Since getting Michelin X-Ice snow tires, I'm having no problems at all in snowy Ohio

 

What exactly is the change in Gen III which addresses this problem ?