Is there a way to defeat the traction control on a Prius c? I got stuck at the end of my own lane in 4” of snow. The traction control cut the power to the wheels every time I tried gunning it up the slight incline. I must say this car is the most hopeless cripple in more than an inch of snow. I ended up walking up to the shop, got the tractor, and towed it to the house.
There is a way with a little chicken dance, covered elsewhere. But meanwhile: Seriously, try not gunning it. You want to look like this: and not like this:
I tried easing it up the slope too, and it was too slick - the traction control cut the power every time. I guess I’ll have to get a set of studded snows.
My 2015 C level 2 has a button on the center console next to the gear shift which turns off traction control Z6201V ?
Sounds like you need better tires and not to "gun" it. I believe the center console switch David mentioned is only in 2015 and newer so you will have to do the chicken dance as Chapman called it. It's easy to find here.
Yes, mine is a 2015. If the transmission is put in B in this kind of condition, and slowly drive up the lane, would traction control kick in? Z6201V ?
Going uphill, B mode shouldn't change anything meaningful here. It isn't like downshifting a traditional car.
The Yokohama tires I have are low rolling resistance and have pretty mild tread. They’re not meant for snow at all, I think. I guess I should just drive my F150 whenever there is a threat of snow. I used to run a set of studded Nokians on my Acura RSX. It was a wintertime hero with those tires.
That isn't inherently any better. With a similar grade of worn tires, a 2WD F150 might be even worse than a Prius. Tires matter. Though even with poor tires, 4WLo will make it up some things the Prius won't. Those probably won't turn yours into a hero, but would certainly give it a great boost.
The F150 is 4WD with good all terrain tires; I just like the Prius’ fuel efficiency so much that I’ll make questionable decisions to drive it in weather i shouldn’t.
You could get an OBD2 adapter and the Dr Prius app - it has a special features menu that lets me disable T/C on my Gen2. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
You'd be shocked. With a set of Blizzak WS80s I've had my poor C buried to the frame. Still kept chugging along but I was a little worried about some of the bits underneath. The HV battery cable is fully exposed on the C unfortunately. Hoping I can have a local shop fab a skid plate for some of the more sensitive areas like that cable and the oil pan...
I'm fairly sure it won't keep chugging in the conditions where my old Subaru or my relatives' 4WD trucks have been high-centered. After just having served another farm work shift, I'm remembering to add a note to this -- In winter, beware of A/T tires made of hard rubber. No matter how deep the lugs and tread are, if the rubber is a hard form suitable for hot weather, they could still be seriously slippery and unsuitable for winter. Both the farm's wheeltractor and ATV, with much deeper lugs than any of our highway vehicles, are surprisingly poor on ice and snow, forcing me to use a tracked vehicle for certain winter tasks. Winter highway tires should be relatively soft. I do doubt that common A/T truck tires are as hard as those tractor tires.
Fair enough, I don't have any video for proof, but I do have pics of a high centered park job it pulled itself into and out of. I have a set of cable chains and have yet to ever have need of them. Have always run out of clearance before I ran out of traction. Since then I've put on a 30mm lift and some coil spacers to give it a bit more clearance.
Where I come from, 'high centered' does not mean light dry powder up to or even above the door sills. It means getting on top of enough heavy dense material that much of the vehicle weight transfers from the tires to the undercarriage, leaving insufficient weight on the tires to get enough grip. Even for the very best studded snow tires. On other vehicles, this also means axles and other projections getting embedded into that dense snow like bulldozer blades or anchors, greatly increasing the thrust needed to move the vehicle at the same time the reduced weight on the tires reduces their grip. The smooth underbody panels of the Prius help reduce this, but don't eliminate it. More dense there, but not deep ...
