Engine seems not to change gears, no power, flooring accelearator

LOL @ changing gears! What mileage are you at? We'll probably recommend some maintenance.

Do you see any warning lights on the dash?

Do you hear the battery fan come on in the trunk?

Pixel XL ?

 

you likely have a serious issue, i would rent a car for the road trip. don't risk your safety.

 

I second the contention that it sounds like your vehicle is in no shape to take on a "long road trip".

How long have you owned it?
The Prius has what Toyota calls an e-CVT transmission. So you really should never be feeling the classic "changing of gears". That doesn't mean you don't have a problem here, just that even with a perfectly working Prius you aren't going to feel the changing of the gears you would in a classic transmission vehicle.

The lack of power and flooring of the accelerator? -That could be a problem.

Which is again why I'm asking how long you have owned it.
With little real information to go on besides the symptoms of lack of power and having to floor the accelerator, with a the mechanical and technological marvel that is a Prius? It could be so many things.

If the symptoms are severe, I'm surprised it's not throwing a code.

But unfortunately, I think your best bet is just to make that service appointment, and tell them the symptoms you perceive.

 

I agree with the others; you do NOT want to take that car on a trip in that condition.

There are lots of possibilities, but without more information, there's no way to know. As @The Electric Me said, it's surprising it's not throwing codes.

 

I was giving the OP the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she just bought the car and getting used to the lower power in the Prius. Maybe OP came from a boat such as a Mustang or Blazer. Can't tell until we have more info.

BTW the electric part of the Prius that gives you "instant torque" is weak on the Prius. So you need electric and gas motors working normal for Prius power.

Something simple like having pets in the car or blocking the air intake of the battery with too many shoes and purses can eventually degrade performance...

Edit: nevermind she's been with PC since 2011 but still not enough info.

Pixel XL ?

 

that's what my 04 did with a bad traction battery.. top speed was 65mph and if you pushed the throttle to hard it wouldn't go anywhere...

PH-1 ?

 

Sounds like "limp mode" to me...

 

Alright your vehicle does not have gears. It has a split power device or commonly known as a type of Constant Velocity Transmission which power is split between the engine and the electric motors. Fuel miser is correct that if you need to floor it then you are in limp mode and there should be indicators that go along with that such as the Red Triangle, Check engine light, ABS Trac VSC lights or all above. Limp mode is to stop you from tearing up your vehicle emissions wise and possibly physically. The ECM sees an issue and only allows maybe 25-35 mph tops and reduced throttle response so you dont inadvertently kill your car or worse, hurt yourself and others.
These vehicles are also plagued with the inverter issue where it overheats, but again that should come with codes or no start or lack of power. The inverter issues is covered with no mileage restrictions right now but parts may be back ordered since this is still pretty new and alot of Prius and Prius V are experiencing this. But since you gave no more info than just symptoms you could also have a lot of issues but that is the most common one. Lack of power could be fuel related, motors could be shorted in the windings. Also throttle body obstruction/ dirty. So a lot of examples and that is barely the tip of the ice berg.
The car is unsafe to drive for sure if the vehicle cannot get out of its own way vice you cant safely operate the vehicle. Tow that sucker and that is the best advice I can give for now until you get back to us with more detail.

 

How many miles on it?

 

maybe they meant clean the egr. 'exhaust gas recirculation' valve.

it's unusual for a prius to behave badly without trouble codes, and will make the search for a culprit more difficult, time consuming and costly.

is there another dealer in the area?

 

More likely if its jerky then probably spark plugs being fouled and not able to properly spark or worse case shorted windings in transmission but you would get some kind of warning lights of some kind. And limp mode was explained in my lengthy thread a few posts up.