I went to a staff Christmas party tonight. The house is way up on top of a mountain, the road is narrow and steep It's been snowing heavily the past few days. The tc came on quite a bit. My concern was not so much that I'd lose traction, but that the car would go crooked and plow into a snowbank. None of that happened, the v performed like a champ!
Last February the snow here in the North East was horrendous, and I needed to visit friends who live at the top of a ½ mile private road - the only way for me to get to their house was to turn the car around at the bottom of the hill and go up in reverse.
Glad to hear your car performed well... If anything, your posts suggests that the traction control disable button that appears to be in newer Prius models (including mine) isn't likely to be used very often, if at all. Which is really the way it should be, you shouldn't need it unless the TC starts misbehaving (which it sometimes, but rarely, did in my old gen2).
If you were really stuck in the mud and could not move, disabling the TC might help. I keep the "secret" no button instructions in the car. Traction control procedure | PriusChat Some say it's not good for the transaxle for an extended time. Perhaps the new cars have enforced a time limit.
I wasn't stuck, I just mean the TC light was flashing a fair amt. on the dash. I've driven in NW Montana winters for 40 years, so I've had a chance to build up some snow driving techniques.
I 100% agree that it can be helpful from time to time.. just rarely. As for time limits, the manual implies they have a speed limit, it will auto-enable after you get moving again, but doesn't suggest a time limit. The speed limit bit actually makes good sense to me anyway. If you've managed to get up to 25mph or so, you shouldn't need the TC disabled anymore. Unless you're trying to rally race a Prius, in which case you might need your head examined
I was having a hell of a time getting moving today in a couple inches of fresh snow. Sliding around and TC light flashing all the time. Then I noticed that the parking brake was on. Released that and took off like a shot.
Much as second gen Traction Control can be over reactive, I'd be really catious about putting the car in Inspection Mode: it's NOT recommended for driving the car normally, and transmission damage can occur.
When the snow is deep enough the car compresses it, your gas mileage suffers. 35 MPG, worst tank ever.
Did it with my 2010 LB last blizzard and no problems. Would I go 70 mph...no, but I would not go that fast in 8" of snow anyway. It's only for when you are or likely to get stuck.
We don't get much snow here, so mostly from what I've read: traction control is pretty good on 3rd generation. The logic is there's no point in spinning a wheel, better to back off and re-apply, and the computers do it pretty good, better than you could do yourself. Whether that works in practice I do not know, but isn't TC designed to help? Think Smart » Blog Archive » Does the Prius do Snow? Interesting video down the page, someone navigating up a driveway slope, the TC constantly engaging. Seems to work.
I really don't understand the Prius v TC 'slam'. In my experience it works as expected, very well, from a stop in snow and ice, right on up to highway speeds.
When you loose all power to the wheels you understand why "bypassing" or "switching off" Traction Control is required. Snow tires and chains cover most situations (if you have them)...but not all.
It's about snow depth and density and whether the snow is on top of a layer of ice. Getting out of a snow or ice rut can require rocking a vehicle backward and forward and using wheel spin. Every other vehicle we have bought that had Traction Control (all were Toyota or Lexus) had an Off switch. We knew from experience about the importance of being able to turn traction control off but it never crossed our minds that the Prius v wouldn't have an Off button. I've occasionally forgotten to turn traction control off when trying to rock a vehicle out of a snow rut or drift. A couple of years ago I had several people pushing and pushing in the company parking lot trying to get me moving with zero success. When I finally (DUH!) remembered to turn traction control off, the car shot away like a rocket. On that memorable day, I must have had to turn traction control off and on 100+ times during my search for streets that weren't blocked by abandoned vehicles including city buses. It was just me and the snow plows and a few other vehicles that had "real" snow tires.
On slippery surfaces such as ice or polished compact (hard packed) snow, you will want traction control as it can minutely adjust the power vs. wheel slippage to give maximum traction to move forward or backwards. In loose snow, sometimes you want traction control off because you actually do want to spin the tires and move some of that loose snow around to get to the harder pack snow or just to get out of the rut. So it really depends on the situation. (Just like how ABS works better in most cases but in one specific case like braking on loose snow, it's actually better without ABS and to have the wheels lock up and let the snow pile up in front of your wheels to help slow you down).
I do know that when your driving on Texas ice you are going no where with traction control. Almost had a semi run up my -ss once on an up hill turning on-ramp because I (the Prius) had absolutely no power to the wheels and he was doing just fine.
