What does Toyota say about their stupid traction control?

Boilerplate but they did forward it to the team, not much more I expect could be done.

FWIW I've heard that TC on the 2nd gen was a problem and it's much better now. My wife and I both have found, to be honest, TC to be a delight in this car. And it does appear to allow some amount of wheel spin, so unless you simply want it turned off (helpful in some, but definitely a tiny, minuscule minority of situations), then I don't see a real problem.

We are in NY and we're using the all seasons that came with the car. Our area is well plowed, though.

 

Chains might prevent that wheel spin...

 

Sell it.

 

Exactly what do you think is stupid? I understand that you would like it to behave differently but that does not necessarily mean that it is stupid.

It appears that Toyota have been working on this as we hear reports of steady improvement between 2004 and 2009 with a bigger improvement in 2010.

Do you know an easy way for Toyota to provide much more effective traction control with an HSD without risking serious damage to the car?

In my limited experience driving my 2010 on snow and ice, it has seemed to do better than the other cars on the road even though I just have the original tires. I see a lot of other reports that say the same thing.

One particular advantage it seems to have in snow is that the controllability of torque is so much better than it is in traditional cars, particularly when you are in ECO mode.

I would appreciate better performance in any respect but I certainly would not want marginal traction improvement on ice if it came at the price of transmission failures or giving up the benefits of the HSD.

 

A lot of people don't seem to understand that is is counter-productive (a bad idea) to spin your tires while driving on snow and ice. So when they try to spin and the car won't go, they think it is a problem.

Just yesterday, I drove up a steep hill in fresh snow where two other cars went off the road by trying to spin their way up the hill. I eased the Prius up the hill with no problems whatsoever. The car started to slip slightly once, the traction light came on and straighten the car out instantly.

 

Isn't this the second thread on the same topic (Toyota's response) from not long ago?

 

I thought Judgeless was the duplicate thread police?

 

The Prius' traction control only engages when one or both tires slip. We in agreement so far? Physics determines when the tires slip - not Toyota engineers. Still with me? Accelerating 3,000lbs of steel from a dead stop to 15mph requires a substantial amount of adhesive friction between the two drive tires and the road surface. This is substantially reduced with the introduction of a lubricant (i.e. water, snow or ice). How are we doing? So if you expect your Prius to defy the Laws of Physics then go find yourself a DeLorean and a flux capacitor. In the meantime, stop wasting Toyota's time with your foolish complaints or do something productive like purchase aftermarket tires which have better snow and ice performance. I personally live in Minnesota and face snow and ice on a daily basis and see no better traction control performance in my Honda Accord.

 

I am convinced that many people like the spinning wheels because it is feedback that something is actually happening. But like you point out, it isn't helping anything and likely making the situation worse.

 

Although I might think some of the complaints are off base and probably agree that w/the above about tires, I don't necessarily agree that it's a waste of Toyota's time.

The OP at least logged another complaint in Toyota's database, even if the response wasn't great. It might cause changes in the future (e.g. OEM tires w/better snow and ice performance). See http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-h...er-heard-problem-toyota-line.html#post1140153 and http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...ll-little-more-information-4.html#post1061546.

 

Hi Cossie...,


Several 2010 Prius owners have found that using ECO mode results in easier, spin free accelleration from a stop in icy conditions. Once the wheels spin, the TC will kick in. With the Prius, the goal is to avoid spin at all costs. The ECO mode de-sensitizes the accelerator pedal sufficiently, that its possible to get the car rolling, without kicking in the full torque of the motor.

Give it a try!

 

I just don't get all the complaints about the Gen III, I did not own an earlier model than my 2010. We've had two of the snowiest winters in decades in Green Bay and I find the Prius to be incredible in snow.
????????

 

I wonder if the TC complaints are from people not used to TC?

Has anybody found the TC in a 2010+ Prius to be bad compared to another FWD car with TC?

I can tell you our Prius accelerates a great deal better than my minivan, which lacks TC and will be simply inclined to spin wheels like crazy.

 

Tires ... Tires .... Tires ....

 

Good tires are important, etc, etc, however....

Why is the Prius different in this regard from other cars? If I put my truck in first gear, and spin the tires on snow, when I pass onto dry pavement, nothing explodes. The tire friction on dry pavement is only so much, so the max torque on the driveline is limited by this tire-breakaway torque. They design everything to handle that amount of torque. This is why people who put on larger wheels/tires tend to break driveline stuff.

The tires/road friction acts as a safety release to the whole system. Why is this not the case with the Prius?

Let's say the tires are spinning, and MG2 is spun up to some high speed (made worse by the MG2 reducing gears in the GenIII). Then when I reach dry pavement, the friction increases and the tires start to slow down. Granted, this rapidly decelerates MG2, but it can only do this to the limit of tire friction. Is the gearing not strong enough to take this torque limit? If that's what's happening, then it's a poor design.

What if I'm driving 40 MPH on sketchy pavement and have to make an emergency stop. If the wheels momentarily lock while the ABS is struggling, will the transmission grenade? Is this why the Prius ABS is so poor...they're protecting the transmission? If that's what's going on, then they should have put torque limiting slipper clutches on the motors so the tires/brakes/ABS can stop the car and the transmission will take care of itself.

 

cossie1600 How do you know the car with TC would have handled this situation better?

In general TC is giving you superior handling to non-TC

I don't think it is poor.

 

+1 I only use ECO model never anything else. What little bit of snow and ice I get has never been a problem. This winter, my NC area got an inch of ice and 4 inches of snow. Ruby Sue's TC never lit up, but then I use ECO mode and never, never accelerate too rapidly. I have lots of hills to climb up and down too. I guess you don't want to get caught behind this old man in traffic. FYI...during this winter's ice/snow, I average 52.6 at 40mph average.

Happy Motoring,

Tom