This past week, I went up to a cabin in Big Bear Lake with a few friends, before getting to the drive way, there's an uphill road that was covered mostly with ice. the cars were: Prius (me), Highlander (older model), 3 Camerys and 1 Civic. I figured the ESP would do its job so I went ahead and marched on the icy hill. Sure enough, ESP kicked in, and I was up on the hill with little to no struggle. while none of the other cars were able to make it, they just started slipping and sliding backwards. they were like.. at my Prius. Pretty cool to see that ESP working in real life, I've read about it, know how it works but never got to test it. BTW.. we were all stock, with stock tires, no chains. if you don't know the power of ESP, check this 10 min video. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-hHWSQhKuc&feature=related[/ame]
What you experienced was actually the TRAC (traction control). The Toyota equivalent of ESP is called VSC (vehicle stability control), which is what the video is describing. VSC is great in the snow. I believe it's something that people need to try out in an open parking lot. I find that if I understeer, while negotiating a corner, I'll just floor the accelerator and keep the wheel turned and let VSC correct my yaw. It's like pulling an effortless low-speed powerslide
Funny i did not get up a ice driveway ( little % up ) with my prius this winter. and i have the traction control.. the car simple stopped and slided back. all traction controll lights came on but no grip. when you look at the video the first time the driver uses a lot off wheel turning the second video he is more easy on it! making it easyer for the ESP system to keep control.
yeah, i agree, try it out in an open parking lot with slippery conditions. The ESP/VSC really works well, and I can't imagine getting a car without it from now on. It's quite hard to throw your car out of control with it on
The early part of the video was describing traction control. (covered ice strips) Unfortunately the Prius traction control kills power to both drive wheels when one slips rather than apply the brake to the slipping wheel. I'd like to see a switch and 2 mode traction control on the new model where there is an economy version that cuts power to the wheels while a high performance driving mode which applies the brake to the slipping wheel while maintaining power to the front wheel with grip. This will solve the ice causing a no go situation.
yes that happend to me to the wheels simply stopped not even trying to spin a little to see if its getting traction again. noting and i was unable to go up a small% driveway with snow.
