Driving in Snow -- Any Prius Gotcha's

Just normal caution for skids, black ice, etc..
I've had several "close calls" in winter weather here and I will give 100% credit to lack of accident to the Toyota VSC (Vehicle Stability Control). Hopefully you have a model that has this, it has pulled me out of several skids.

 

Have good snow tires on the car.

When the traction control kicks in the car will lose power (normal). However, the tendency is to let off on the gas. Don't. Keep it depressed and the car will gain traction.

 

Last winter I found my Prius with the stock Goodyears to be OK driving in the snow. It was no worse than any other car I've driven.

If it's raining you slow down a bit and increase your following distance because you have less traction. If you're driving in snow you need to increase following distances for the speed you're driving because you have even less traction.

The first snowfall we get each year I find an empty parking lot and slam on the brakes at about 30 MPH to get the feel for the car in the snow. Try a few sharp turns in the snow too. Learn the limits of your car and stay within those limits.

 

if you're a new snow driver, SLOW DOWN. yes us northerners may make fun of you, but if you don't have experience driving in the snow, slow it on down.

brake BEFORE turning, that way you can turn without using the brake and have full traction (ie youre turning pretty slow)

learn how to control and stop a skid... a lot of people crash in winter because they get in a skid and freeze up. a LOT of skids can be stopped.
oversteer skid (ie your car turns too much or too far)- release brake and use gas lightly- weight transfers to front wheels and powers you out of the skid.

understeer skid (car won't turn)- instead of cranking the wheel further into the turn (which lowers your grip and does nothing to stop the slide), turn the wheel back closer to straight, allowing you to re-establish grip, and then return to your... turn


theres a lot of practice, if at all possible when yo uget to the snow, find a empty parkinglot and practice making yourself lose control. then you'll know what it feels like and how to correct it

 

Santiago,

There is a very good discussion of what to expect the Traction Control,
TC, to act like in the snow in posts #4 - 9 in this thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-technical-discussion/42846-traction-control-worked-i-think.html

Hope this helps.

 

1. Brakes stop the wheels, not the car.
2. You will have an accident.
3. Be prepared (block heater, drive slow, space between you and other vehicles, good tires, carry chains).

 

The tires are a big gotcha. Avoid driving in the snow with the stock Integrity's unless you have some sadistic love for ditches and trees.

Traction control freaks people out, but it is largely a non-issue if you have decent tires. If it cuts power as you try to move away from a standstill, don't let off the gas and try again. Keep your foot on the pedal and let it grind its way to better traction. This is the precise opposite of what you learn to do in other cars so it takes some getting used to.

 

Get rid of the Goodyear Integrities before the first flake of snow. I wouldn't drive my Prius in the snow with the Goodyears my first winter. It felt like I was driving a sled. This winter I put on Bridgestones. They gotta be better!

 

I had no problem under normal road-driving conditions even in very bad ones with the stock Integrities last winter. I just kept speeds moderate and drove in some really nasty situations, blizzards, wind, icy highways where all sorts of vehicles were in the ditch, and it putzed along just fine. However, the TC is a problem if you find yourself needing to start from a dead stop on a hill if the surface is slick, even a fairly gentle incline. You'll not be going anywhere. I find that to be the only feature of the Prius that I consider to be a serious engineering flaw.

 

+1.

I may have my first snow driving experience with a Prius tomorrow. I'm not real optimistic. I have tons of experience, I have brand new high end snow tires. Still, I'm scared of this vehicle in the mountains in winter. We'll see.

 

Me too - no more stock Integritys in the snow! Buying Nokian Wr g2's on Friday.

 

My wife and I live in Vermont and picked up our Prius in February. It worked fine in the snow though the stock tires were not ideal. This year we upgraded to some Hankook iPike winter tires and expect it to be better.

The VSC did blip a few times last year on slick corners. All in all it was much better than we expected even with stock tires.

 

Good to hear. That was one heck of a snow year wasn't it?

 

It was our first year in Vermont and was quite the snowy welcome! My only complaint about the Prius v. our Vermont required Subaru is the lack of heated seats! The Subaru heats up a lot quicker and warmer too.

 

Last winter I tried to blast through the wall of snow that the town snowplows had built up at the end of the driveway. I was frozen pretty hard, and cracked the bottom of the front bumper.

Don't do that.

 

Several previous posts have mentioned VSC and how well it works. It does work well, which is both a blessing and a curse. The VSC does such a good job keeping the Prius heading down the road that I sometimes have to remind myself that the road is slippery. It's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security and over drive the conditions.

I've never driven a car that tracks as well in snow and ice. With VSC, the Prius goes straight down the road through uneven snow, patchy ice, and even drifts. It is the easiest winter driving car I've ever had, including a Jeep C-J5, a Subaru 4wd, and a Ford Aerostar 4wd.

The Prius is not a truck, so watch out for deep snow, and the traction control can be a problem, especially with the OEM tires.

Tom

 

If you have leather seats, or convert to them, Toyota will install seat heaters. With my purchase, they did this at cost which was about $300. Well worth it!

 

Hi All,

One of the issues with driving on slick surfaces in cold weather is ergonomics of the accellerator pedal. If one is wearing boots, one cannot feel the pedal till its well pushed. I did not feel confident driving the Prius in snowy condtions till I realized this, and figured out to hover my foot and get feed back not from pedal pressure but car action. Meaning, I did not feel the pedal through the boots, but knew I was pushing it slightly as the car was moving slowly, or accellerating.