Traction Control

Do you have any punctuation on your keyboard? It would help a lot with the readability of your post. Removing the ironic capitalization would help too.

Are you saying that traction control activates from time to time on a smooth dry road surface, or that traction control gets set off from a slippery section?

Tom

 

No.

 

Do you mean smooth *flat* roads? Only when going uphill? Only downhill? Does it happen always at the same location(s) or randomly?

Occasionally, I'll feel a small surge or slip when running over expansion joints on a concrete highway, especially when accelerating uphill. Have never seen a Traction Control Light however.

 

I'm more interested into knowing why you capitalize the first letter of each word and don't use punctuation.

 

This has happened to me twice, both times while accelerating from a dead stop. The first time was in the rain, so obviously I didn't think anything of it, but the second time was last week at a red light on a smooth, dry, surface and it took me a full minute to get Pablo to calm down and proceed normally...

Not sure what happened...

 

2 main reasons cause this.
#1 the Goodyear Integrities, I bet your Integrities have at least 20,000 miles on them, they turn into slick tires at about 15 - 20,000 and into ice skates at about 25 - 30,000
#2 overinflation (above 44 PSI)

 

Need to be able to disable traction control manually in an emergency. Last winter I was stopped on a slight upgrade. Road was slushy but not bad. When I started out the wheels started to slip. The traction control took over and all the car would do was make short lurches. Took forever to get through the intersection. If I could have disabled the traction control the wheels would have spun for just a second or two and then would have gripped and I would have been OK. Truck coming the other way stopped and laughed at me as I couldn't get going. First car with traction control and will be my last unless they put some kind of manual override on it.

 

[email protected],

Welcome to PriusChat. You've come to the right place to get info on your Prius.

FWIW, for a good discussion of how the traction control works -- and doesn't --
see Post #4 in this thread:

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

You might also use the search function -- in the blue bar at the top of the
page -- using "traction control" to turn up other threads of interest.

 

To avoid this start by just barely touching the gas pedal. It is impossible to stall the Prius engine, so you can start moving at arbitrarily low speed. Start moving slowly enough and you won't engage the traction control. If it does engage, just ease back.

If there were an easy obvious way to disengage the traction control some number of people would destroy their transmissions by stomping on the gas.

 

Traction Control only works while accelerating. If you feel this effect while braking, it is not traction control, it's ABS.

 

There are several effects of the traction control, ABS, and VSC systems that show themselves during "normal driving".

First, as stated above, the only time it's "Traction control" that is in effect is during acceleration. The car will suddenly stop accelerating, then, if you keep your foot on the accelerator, it will keep trying. It's not a failure of the system. The wheels -were- spinning up. Yes, the Prius traction control system is -very- sensitive. It was designed this way to protect the HSD (a motor generator from over spin in particular). It -can- be bypassed, as "requested" above, but you would be putting the car in extreme danger of destruction. You can't react nearly as fast as the traction control system to control MG RPM. Remember the MG has almost twice the peak torque of the ICE, and the MG torque peaks at 0 RPM, so it's very capable of over spinning the wheels.

In braking situations it's ABS that comes into effect. The Prius functions like any other ABS equipped car -EXCEPT- in one instance. If you hit a sharp bump or bumps while depressing the brake pedal the system can release the brake force for a fraction of a second. Yes, it's very disconcerting. No, it's not dangerous. Just keep the brake pedal depressed and it will recover in less than a second. If loss of braking for 1/2 second puts you in danger you are leaving your braking too late!!

If you see the light come on and hear a beep while in a cornering situation it's the VSC that's being tripped, and it can be tripped in conjunction with the ABS if you are braking in the corner. The two systems are connected and will act together to protect you. Note that not all Prius have VSC. VSC can actuate wheel brakes individually to control your trajectory, something NO driver could do.

All three systems can be made to work better by installing better tires. In most cases, better traction tires will lower your mileage. The exception is if they are LRR tires, such as the Nokian ones.
Note that "work better" means being triggered less, but if triggered working more effectively.

 

I would like to see a button on it to disable it for a little while. The reason is i don't get stuck on ice in a little dip. of about a inch deep.

 

The newer Prius are much better in this regard. Look up Jaymans traction control tests if you are interested.

Tom

 

Semantics. It's all related to the Prius control system, but I would argue that slippage control during regenerative braking is still traction control, while ABS controls wheel lockup during friction braking.

Tom

 

It's not semantics, it's a separate system controlling wheelspin under completely separate situations. Advice on how to cope with each will be completely different.

 

Right, and wheel spin during regenerative braking is controlled by the traction control system, not ABS. Which ECU makes the call is of little interest to the normal driver. It is interesting from an engineering standpoint.

Perhaps what you mean to differentiate is wheel spin during acceleration verses wheel spin during braking. That would affect advice on how to cope.

Tom

 

Hmmm, I think that's exactly what I said in my original post.

 

Happens all the time, turning right heavy gas and if you DONT feather the gas pedal you get jerk jerk.

Breaking over a bump, manhole, or uneven lanes triggers the jerk jerk.

The Prius has a aggressive traction control system. You can disable it but thats only for maintenance mode in this mode you could cause major damage but WAY over reving the electric engine so not recommended.

How did i solve this? Feather the pedal (I can do a burn out with out hitting trac control ohh ahhh takes practice ha) and in the winter on bad days I take my truck (havent had to do this yet)

EDIT: Damn many replies already, I must be a slow typer....