Prius Traction Control Complaints on the Rise

I also wanted to chime in just incase someone important is keeping a talley. I own a 2005 Prius and the first winter snow I almost got destroyed by a semi. I went to pull out of my office parking lot across slushy roads the car kept jerking with the TC kicking on and off (car was like 4 months old and had maybe 3k miles on it = new tires) it literally took me 45 seconds to limp it into my lane just barely missing a skidding semi trying to avoid me. That was the freakyest thing that ever happened to me.

I took it back to the dealer the next day and had them go thru it, they said it was the traction control and it was working as intended..... I will tell you what, this is the first car I have ever owned that I can safely say I know if I had to hit the gas and turn to avoid getting hit I would most like get hit.

It has been my experience in my history of driving that being able to accelorate away from danger is a + and your car loosing power with danger incomming to you is a BIG -....


I love my Prius but it scarry from time to time in the fall, winter and spring.

Just my 2 cents...

Viro

 

Two remedies: better tires, and a lighter foot on the gas.

 

If the traction control is working every day in the same place take it a bit easier in that place.

 

Should you have to worry about taking it easy or should your car be designed to drive in situations that everyone encounters everyday?

I have resolved the slush issues by adding a minute to those situations for safety however simple sand on the edge of the road or crossing an intersection still gives me the same results.

Just one of those things you have to balance if you want to drive a Prius i guess.

Viro

 

I had an issue with round man hole covers that spin as you power across them. I guess it wouldn't be a problem if the car was designed with less power or stickier less efficient tyres. All cars are a compromise, as part of the Prius compromise there is a pretty savage traction control to protect the driver from loss of control and the transmission from shock loading.

 

Better tires helped for quite a while, but dry roads again have limited grip when the car is supposed to start going faster.

If the TripleTreds are really about going bad after only 33,000 miles, I'm ticked that I'll have to get another set to take advantage of the early traction loss. It's not like I can do donuts with the car to leave tred behind, but I bet the GoodYear guy will say I've been doing it. The guy who also sells Michelins says TTs are early-death tires, but other folks disagree. Either way, I'm growing less fond of them every slip.

So I'm back to pre-planning each standing start, in case the car decides not to move. Darn...

 

Something I look at in tyres is balancing the amount of rubber and the need to pump water. If a tyre has wide grooves in the tread to dump lots of water then there is less rubber on the road which means it wears quicker all else being equal. I live in a dry climate so I look for tyres with narrow tread grooves.

 

When I asked my service dept. about tire alternatives he said it was important to stay with the factory tires & preasure, something about the hardness of the rubber compound and less friction or something.

So if he is semi true to that based on what I have been reading up here you would have to balance if you want MPG or Safety..? Seems kind of an odd choice to have to make.

Viro

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Virodeath @ Sep 18 2007, 05:33 AM) [snapback]514197[/snapback]</div>

Actually it's an easy choice for me, everytime: SAFETY. I've always been leery of the "all season" claim, as a compromise has to be made with tread wear, noise, fuel economy, and of course price. There are a few "all season" tires that are decent dry and wet road tires, such as the Michelin Hydroedge and Goodyear Assurance TripleTred.

However, most "all season" tires are average - at best - in snow, and really come up short on ice. Some folks here will just say "don't drive on icy roads" but up here, a road or especially an intersection can remain icy for a month or so. On the OEM Integrity tires, the winter tires backordered my first year with the car, I deeply regretted buying the Prius.

It's one thing if everybody around you is having trouble with traction, but when the light turns green and cars start honking because your Prius refuses to budge ... that's a different matter. Stopping is much more important, and once the OEM tires lost what little grip they had, the transistion from regenerative braking to normal braking also produced some scary moments.

I happily accept the MPG hit and the awful noise from my aggressive studded snow tires. Until the car actually high-centers in deep snow, it is quite capable. On an icy road I can easily blow the doors of a 4x4 with "all season" tires. The CBC consumer affairs show "Market Place" also agreed that quality studded snow tires are essential for "real" winter driving:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/c...s/tirestud.html

It's not just the Integrity that I dislike. My FJ Cruiser came with Dunlop Grandtrek tires, and although they were quiet and soft riding on the highway, my brief exposure this Spring to snow/ice I realized they were a joke. Fortunately I knew I was getting the FJ, so I was able to preorder Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus studless winter tires on steel rims.

I only had them on a couple of weeks before the weather turned nice again, but the Toyo tires really opened my eyes. The "microbit" embedded special winter compound works as advertised. You pay a bit more than a comparable Bridgestone winter tire, but the Toyo is a *much* better buy: the Toyo winter tire tread compound is full depth, unlike the Bridgestone winter tire in which only 50% of the tread has the special winter traction compound.

Driving on a rain soaked highway, I also noticed the Grandtrek tires *very* easily hydroplaned. Enough was enough, I put on Goodyear Fortera TripleTred tires. They're a bit noiser, and ride slightly stiffer, with no apparent fuel economy difference. I found it very reassuring this summer to be driving down our poorly built and maintained "highways" in a downpour, glancing in the rearview mirror, and noticing the two clearly evacuated paths behind me

As far as "traction control," now that I have another Toyota vehicle with the feature, I can readily compare the characteristics of both. The FJ traction control allows some wheelspin, and overall it works the way the Prius traction control *should* work.

 

I know what you were saying I was just trying to figure out why anyone should have to make the choice. This is the first car I have ever owned where it had to be concidered..

Viro

 

I agree...the traction control is a problem in snow. I could NOT pull out of an intersection a few weeks ago and had to back up to a plowed business, then make a run to the street...and got stuck for the first time in my life. Luckily there was not much traffic. We just bought a Honda today and there is a switch to turn it off...that would be very helpful.

 

next gen Prius will certainly have better TC which works faster... latest of Toyotas have pretty quick acting TC which works a lot better than old ones... basically, i expect it to have 2 generations newer system than 2004 Prius.

Does TCH have the same issue? It should be certainly less evident there.

Nevertheless, if you get TC working at high speeds, you need to change your tires.

Only time i had issue with TC was over iced speed bump at small speed, on worn stock tires. But I live in area where we barely ever see snow.

 

This won't work in every situation but it has helped me get unstuck a few times this season, and get moving from intersections where I could not get moving: when the traction control will not allow power to wheels because they are slipping, using your left foot tap/feather the brake pedal lightly, while maintaining gentle throttle. This will fool the system into thinking it has traction now and will restore power (that's my theory at least). It takes a little practice but it does work, at least on my '06 it does.

You want apply just enough brake to simulate traction but not so much the engine can't overcome the brakes. And you have to do a little press-release-press with the brake.

I am running aggressive studded snow tires.

 

As I've posted in other threads, I've had only on bad traction control experience in snow. A chunk of Ice about the size of a large ice cube stopped all forward movement.

The far more dangerous experience is in making a right on red from a full stop. The roads on Long Island always have sand in the right lane. Invariably, when turning right the car will come to a complete stop as soon as one of the wheels slips. The feeling of being a sitting duck stuck halfway around the corner is very disconcerting.

It's probably just a matter of time until a major tragedy (followed by a major lawsuit) occurs.

 

2007 Prius here.

In the dry, never any "TC activation" (I define as the car momentarily cutting power to the drive wheels). I've not tried finding loose sand spread on smooth asphalt and flooring the throttle, or any peculiar situation like that.

In the rain, I can induce a TC activation with a heavy throttle foot in unusually slippery spots, like wet streetcar tracks. (In a car without TC, I'd be spinning the drive wheels or fishtailing if RWD, given the same behavior in the same spots.) But when accelerating smoothly, never a TC activation. I use the OEM Integrity tires most of the year.

In snow and ice, I can also induce TC activation by using too much throttle in particularly slick stuff. For example, in a iced-over parking lot, if I completely floor the throttle, the car will accelerate-stutter-accelerate-stutter until it has reached 10 mph, then it will accelerate with no more TC activation. Similarly in slick packed snow over ice. I've tested this many times. (In a car without TC, I'd simply be spinning the wheels and not getting any forward motion.) But if I depress the throttle gradually, I can accelerate on even slick ice with little or no TC activation. I can even creep up the steep driveway to my house when its iced over. I use Blizzak snow tires in winter.

So, I don't know how earlier model years behave, but I find the Prius G2's TC to be fine. In the slickest snow conditions, the Prius has been able to drive when our other vehicle cannot.

Perhaps some TC activation complaints could be reduced/resolved by using the throttle more smoothly. In any car, especially a 2WD car, when you're on a slick surface, you have to plan on gentle acceleration.

The comments above about TC activation on dry but bumpy roads are a bit strange. The only way the TC would activate is if your tires are losing contact with the pavement. If your tires are bouncing off the pavement, you're going too fast. If you drive over the same surface at low speed (10-15 mph), do you still get TC activation?

 

There's no shortage of opinions here but I thought I would weigh in. I have an 08 Prius Touring that I purchased spring 08. Absolutely loved it through the summer. Occassionally on a bump or wet road I would be aware of the TC but ultimately if felt like it was working to your advantage. Now it's winter in Vermont and I am beyond frustrated with the overactive TC. I'm running all season tires and I'm sure that snows would help but that's not the point. I've had plenty of 2wd vehicles that run fine in the snow and I expected the Prius to do the same. But it simply does not drive well in the snow. At any intersection or parking lot with the smallest amount of snow/ice/slush the Prius hiccups it's way around. If you need to accelerate, it does not seem to matter if you feather the gas or stomp on it, you're are the mercy of the TC. I know it's not good to hate, but I hate it. I am seriously considering trading this Prius for a nice traditional 4 cylinder that does not overly complicate things and out-smart itself. I may give up some MPG's but that brings me to my second major complaint. My average 45 mpg has dropped to 32 with the colder weather. So I guess the honeymoon is over, I used to love my Prius but now I'm not so sure.

 

I didn't get any solid information about the traction control on the 2010. Did any of you ask the Chief Engineer about it when we were pumping him for information?

Tom

 

Hi All,

This winter is the first I have driven the Prius on the really cold dry packed snow, which acts somewhat like sand. Michelin Hydroedges at 40 PSI at least, BT Tech Plate (I think the body flex can stall a wheel for a period long enough for the TC to detect) - NO PROBLEMS. Except Cockpit error (forgetting to take off parking brake!).

 

Get some real winter tires and your issues will be over. Seriously. Get some Nokians and your Prius will be unstoppable in the slippery stuff.

 

Your problem sounds like my 04. Which is odd as I testdrove an 08 when there was still some snow/ice on the ground, around 9 months ago. Overall, the 08 TC is *much* improved over my 04

I will agree Toyota could have done a much better job with the Prius TC. My FJ also has TC, but it will actually apply the brake to a slipping wheel, which transfers power to the wheel that has traction. This is "proper" TC, and it's clear that Toyota has learned from the Prius

I only solved my Prius TC issues by running aggressive studded tires