The miracles of Traction control

I think where the Prius TCS tends to drop the ball is when the car stops moving. Of course it can be argued that the car would stop moving in the same situation without TSC too, it would just be busier while not moving.

 

Is there absolutely no way to turn off Traction Control on the Prius v? I tried the procedure that supposedly worked on the older Prius and that did not work.

I realize now that we were fortunate that our Prius v wasn't needed during periods last winter when we had multiple 12 inch snow storms. I certainly never thought about this "feature" on the warm August 2012 day we bought the car.

It seems odd that traction control can be turned off on some front wheel drive hybrids made by Toyota (e.g. Lexus ES300h) and not on others but maybe their drive systems are sturdier. We've had traction control on other vehicles from Toyota and all have had off buttons.

 

energy crisis over

 

I got it turned off using procedure from this thread: Disabling traction control | PriusChat

step 3 gave me the most problems.
Remember to press brake (and have parking brake on just in case) when you move gear switch lever to Neutral and hold it until an lights up on instrument panel for step 3.

Good luck.

 

to

Nope, the instructions at the link you provided did not work on our Prius v Five with ATP. I had already found similar and identical instructions outside the Priuschat forum and they didn't work either.

If you have been successful, would you please create instructions that are specifically for a Prius v which does not have an ignition switch to turn and which has a Park button instead of a Park position on the gear shift?

Thanks!

 

I tested it out to see if it could be done. I don't plan on using it (unless in the most dire of emergency situations) as I don't want any expensive transaxle repairs, so use at your own risk.

 

But why would spinning wheels create transaxle damage? Isn't the purpose of getting out of traction control to spin the wheels?​

As you can see, users are not supposed to defeat traction control, that is why it is not in the manual, and is ridiculously complicated, they hope you never use it to spin the wheels. The mode is there for mechanics, who may need to defeat Traction Control during repairs.

Do not expect warranty service if you defeat the Traction Control and break the $5000 transaxle. (I am guessing there is a 0% chance that it is not logged in memory)

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/disabling-traction-control.99926/#ixzz2oDBz1oKA
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Lots to inadvertently damage, too.

 

Won't defeating the traction control in this way store a fault code in memory that the dealer can read later ?
Possible void warranty ?

 

Just to clarify, there's no such thing as "voiding a warranty". The laws are very clear on that. In order to deny a warranty claim the dealer has to demonstrate that the failure resulted from the owner's actions. So in this case, if you destroy your drive train while having TC disabled, yes the dealer might balk at fixing it. (and rightly they should). But having TC disabled is not in and of itself a reason for a dealer to deny warranty coverage of any issue.

That said, I still don't think anyone has yet posted a scenario where disabling TC will necessarily be a good or even helpful thing to do.

 

Dealer try to put all they can as warranty claims. It's the manufacture (who really is the one paying for it) who balks and may deny the claim

 

We had major freezing rain storm last night. Kept one car in the garage but the Prius V was out all night. Decided to put a tarp over it that covered the windshield and the drivers door and window. Just used something to weigh it down an bit on the roof and the ice did the rest. Made one heck of a difference in the morning. Instead of chopping through a ton of ice had a nice clear windshield and door opened perfecty

 

Maybe that 30 minutes of work might convince you that just one tarp is not enough.

 

Thank you for the instructions! But they still do not work to turn traction control off on our U.S. spec Prius v Five/ATP.

I'm glad this issue came up. I verified that the 2014 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited we are buying has a button that can turn traction control off, let VSC continue to operate with TRAC off or turn both TRAC and VSC off.

I guess I will be shuttling my wife when there is heavy snow.

As I said before, it seems odd that there is no button for turning Traction Control off like there is on other Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles. Maybe it was a cost saving move or maybe the Prius drivetrain is more fragile than that on other Toyota/Lexus hybrids.