Tested out TRAC, VSC, ABS tonight!

Ok so maybe I should've continued onto the other two threads (Cold Weather Performance and TRAC really works!) but I figured this warrants its own thread so that people will actually read it rather than thinking it's just people replying to the other thread.


So we got 1cm of snow on top of what is basically a thin layer of ice which I think is a decent combination to get a slippery surface onto which I can test out the various systems. Disclaimer: I'm running on Nokian R winter tyres.


hoho... and slippery it was. I tried two different parking lots. One was white with snow and the other was shiny... glare ice with snowy patches.


My impressions?? SUGOI!!! (really good)



I can now confirm that TRAC works exactly like how the other Toyota systems work. I punched it in PWR mode and I got some wheel spin but no jerkiness, no killing of all power, nothing. I moved forward while ABS and TRAC did their thing. Pretty good on what's basically ice and winter tyres. Blinking light, no beeps. Same as the old Prius.


VSC:

Now this one confuses me. This VSC beeps a lot faster which to me means that a Toyota/Lexus is equipped with VDIM. That's how Toyota distinguishes the two for the owner. If it beeps slower (like the Gen II), It's VSC. If it beeps rapidly, it's VDIM. However, I see no mention of VDIM in the Prius literature and yet the VSC was beeping rapidly.


No matter. Now it may be the winter tyres but I noticed that, unlike the Gen II, making a sudden turn doesn't induce understeer. The car actually turns. With the Gen II, the car would understeer very slightly then it'll go in the direction you're turning. With the Gen III, it turns right off the bat. I did try to induce oversteer and locking the rear wheels will spin the car all the way around. It's a little easier than in the Gen II to spin the car around. I couldn't do a 180° on the Gen II the first time around. I didn't try liftoff oversteer. Probably should've tried that.

All I can say is that I'm happy with the new systems and under normal driving, it should be able to handle any mistakes (within reason) that a driver makes in adverse weather conditions.


Straight line braking is good. I forgot to test a lane change maneouvre. Sorry! Again, it's mostly ice with a thin layer of fresh snow. Again, keep in mind that I have winter tyres on.

 

I'll see if I can get a chance tonight. I'm really close to a police station so I don't want to attract unwanted attention (police cruisers routinely patrol here cause the station's close by).

Or I can wait til Wed when we get another batch of fresh snow.

it'll go til it gets traction or the TRAC brakes that wheel.

I'll leave it to you to try deep snow. We don't get that much snow in one dump.

 

Actually, I had an encounter with PCS today and it was totally accidental (And no it didn't include a brick wall).

I was accelerating from a light and then cruising to the car ahead (Which was stopped at another light. We're kinda on that road that is between a boulevard). I don't know how close I was in actual numbers but I know it was plenty enough space to stop. The car started beeping rapidly and I was like.. huh? I looked at the screen and it said BRAKE! ... so I did lol but not abruptly because, like I said, I had plenty of space to stop. No idea why the BRAKE! message came on. I still haven't had the seatbelts tighten yet.


@David, Thanks!

 

As requested, here's the video. The first one is in-car and the second one is to show the front wheels. These were done with Nokian R winter tyres.

 

VSC demo. Excuse the commentary. Kinda hard to think about what you wanna say on the fly while making sure you don't crash into anything. These were done with Nokian R winter tyres.

 

I forgot to add. Those videos were taken with Nokian Hakkapeliita R winter tyres on.