FYI, Please refer to following thread for TRC demo on Gen3. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...cussion/74322-2010-traction-control-demo.html The Gen2 demo is also available. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...2010-traction-control-demo-2.html#post1034370 Ken@Japan
OK Finally found the "official Toyota" response thread. So no fundamental changes from II to III, just software tweaks to allow a little wheel spin so the vehicle can make an attempt at forward progress and the driver doesn't feel completely stranded.
They still did a poor job on the traction control (I do like their stability control). I have snow tires, and I still had a tough time climbing small inclines that have ice on it as the traction control would just throw the brakes on for me
My car had another test late last night, with another Puget Sound snowfall. While the OEM A/S tires are sufficiently worn to have lost nearly all their winter capacity -- which Jayman can convincingly argue wasn't very good when they were new -- TC still got me home up a steep hill, albeit quite slowly on the steepest part after a sharp turn. A couple other vehicles already had towing assistance on scene. While my speed was mid-pack on the highway portion, I don't know why everyone else slowed down so much more than me on the surface street section. Traction was significantly reduced, but not awful. My travel was slower in this Prius than it would have been in my Suby with better tires, yet I stilled passed every other Suby out there.
This morning in New Hampshire I started out in about 8 inches of fresh snow. TC came on and I was able to drive about 300 yards to get to a plowed road. I had no problems. ... and yes, I have snow tires.
Prius traction control has no control over the brakes. Perhaps you are confusing the reduction of power with the application of brakes. Tom
I'm in the middle of the Great Atlanta Snowcopalypse, and I made it to work just fine. Most roads are still covered in ice, but the Prius did fine. The biggest hazard are idiots who insist on applying their brakes in the middile of a patch of ice rather than just taking their foot off the gas and using momentum to roll accross it safely to the other side. TC seems to work just fine...
I was out and about in Central Mass this morning during the Noreaster. The hill in front of my house was plowed earlier but had accumulated about 4 inches of snow when I went out. Backed out and went up the hill and out to the main road a quarter mile away. A neighbors Altima tried and failed to make it up this road immediately before I went. I had to turn left from a dead stop through snow plow residue and TC came on just briefly but no slow ups and I was on my way. On the way back I approached my street from below and there was a road grader that had just plowed two feet of of snow across the entrance. Oh well, here goes, BLAM! right through the drift. Windshield full of snow required immediate wiper attention. Then off I went up the hill, stopping dead at my driveway to open the garage doors (both still open from Homelink...and thought I had that solved) and then on into the driveway with nary a problem. I had to clean out snow from both grills but still my Prius served well as a snowplow through that drift. And all with OEM Toyo tires. The performance in snow so far this winter has been so much better than I ever expected. So if you are a New England driver considering a Prius but are concerned about its perfornance in snow, don't be. Buy one and get out there and drive in the white stuff!
The Prius' traction problems encountered by those in this thread and others occur mainly under low momentum conditions. "Plowing through a drift" is not one. No comment.
Encountered icy conditions today (don't remember much of it last year). I'm running Nokian R winter tyres and TRAC works quite well in the background today. I've tried both holding the accelerator steady and letting TRAC do its thing and letting go a bit to stop the wheel spinning and both methods helped me accelerate faster than the guy in the next lane (is everyone using AS?? I know they're not accelerating slowly cause their wheels are spinning rapidly).
Today I woke up to about 3 inches of snow and had to back the 2010 Prius out of the driveway. I went about a foot and it would not go anymore. What was weird is that it was like it was in neutral and I did not hear any spinning; just stayed right there? But I was able to go ahead about a foot and then I went quite fast backwards and out to the road. Just kind of a weird feeling that I never had with another car. TED
There were 2 references to low momentum conditions. One was backing out of my drive way and going forward up the hill actually passing through a 0 momentum state. The other was taking a left onto a main road after a full stop. In both cases the Traction control performed flawlessly. Plowing through a drift was just for fun. So while others seem to have issues with traction control on Gen III Prii, I do not. BTW, your "no comment" was a comment.
Oh and by the way, I said New England driver because I am one and I realize that driving in snow in other places in this country is different. I've driven in Tahoe and there are places where you need chains. We don't have those conditions here. I've driven I70 over the divide in a raging snowstorm in Colorado. We don't in general have those conditions here. You won't find very many runaway truck ramps here. And I have not driven in areas like Georgia and Texas where it appears that snow removal budgets are not large and snowstorms there cause very slippery roads because of warmer storms and perhaps less salting but I'm only guessing. I was commenting only on what I know and I know that for the vast majority of snow conditions here in New England and how vigilantly roads are treated, sanded and plowed, and how steep the hills are, the Gen III Prius will do fine. But clearly AWD, vehicles with more ground clearance, snow tires, etc. will do better. So if you live on a hill or up a large driveway where you have had problems in the past with a front wheel drive low clearance vehicle then the Prius will not be your cup of tea. I encouraged New Englanders who are on the fence about buying a Prius to not be concerned because I couldn't find any information to contradict what had been only negative comments about snow driving, but unbenownst to me, those were comments about Gen II but being a newbie , I didn't know the difference. So I figured I'd lay it out in black and white in case there are other New Englanders on the fence so they don't go buy something else because of this issue and miss out on all the great fun a Prius really is.
