Would I have been safer in a Prius?

Well, there's a stability control icon that comes on that basically means "Dude, we're losing it and my comp is trying to stabilize us."

 

1) probably, since the Prius does have TRAC and VSC which monitors and controls wheel rotation and would have adjusted brakes or throttle to keep you from losing control

2) it gives a dash warning when VSC has been used (this happens if tire slippage is detected)

 

I think it depends on which year and trim Civic you are comparing against. Some have traction and stability control right now, and more are likely to have it when the redesigned version comes out next year.

The Civic has generally been ahead of the Prius in NHTSA star count, though this can be hard to interpret with the weight difference.

 

sure its possible. but i have been on roads where i could not feel or even sense slippage and still had the warning light up a few times.

i think the key thing is not to rely on the perceived abilities of the car. know the road conditions. there is a thermometer in the car that will tell you how cold it is.

on the advanced tech package, lane keep assist, radar CC is nice, but i would not bet my life on it. sure it will probably help, but...

 

Agreed. I'd think both driver and tires are much more important than any difference between Prius and Civic of similar vintage.

 

If you have ABS you have what you need to help you in this situation. You can brake as hard as you like and with ABS be able to steer the vehicle. It shouldn't spin because the ABS will modulate brake pressure to any wheel that is turning slower than the others preventing wheel lock up and lost control.

In this instance the driver did what was needed to avoid a collision, well done!!

 

First of all, I am glad you are OK and hope the oter people, involved in the accident, are well too.

If I may add my own experience - I know both 2008 Civic and 2008 Prius, because I have a Prius and my best friend has a Civic, and we sometimes swap our cars and let the other drive the other car, just for the fun .

First of all, the Civic is much lighter than a Prius, and naturally has significantly shorter braking distance. That's given by the basic laws of physics and you cannot do much about it.

Civic does not have the stability control, which Prius does have - on the other hand, the Civic is a great car and behaves very predictably under heavy braking. Overall, it is a much better handling car than a Prius. Laws of physics, again. And please let me mention that my Prius and my friend's Civic both have exactly the same tires and the same rim diameter - we both have Michelin Primacy Pilot on 16" rims.

The VSC in the Prius helps, but it is by far not allmighty.

So to answer your questions:

1) Oh yes you can . But it will slip, more or less, even with the VSC. I experienced exactly this situation in my Prius. You still have to couner the beginning spin, but the car is relatively well under control.

2) Yes, but the warning is based solely on the temperature. It will warn you if it's below 3°C outside.

Overall, you won't be better off in a Prius. In my opinion, Civic wins in this respect, even without the VSC. My reasons are mentioned above - lower weight, shorter braking distance, better handling. The Prius is a great car - I have one, and I considered buying a Civic very seriously - but it is not better in this particular situation.

On the other hand, The Prius is safer than Civic when it comes to a crash - it protects its crew somewhat better, according the crash tests.

I also think my arguments above hold for the gen III Prius as much as they do for the gen II.

 

As most have mentioned previously, the outcome of an accident is very hard to predict. In the case of the Civic and the Prius I believe the Prius weighs a bit more (not much though). Most Civics do not have stability control and even though you can't defy the laws of physics, stability control is one of the best features that have been introduced to cars in the last ten years (though initially available earlier). I think that the US government has mandated that stability control should be standard equipment within the next few years (please correct me if I am wrong). Truth be told, I'd rather be in my 2004 Prius than a Civic ONLY because it has stability control, EBD and side curtain air bags. However, the Civic is a very well made vehicle and its crash tests prove it. Not only the NHTSA but also the insurance institute tests give high marks to the Civic.

 

From your original post I would say your Civic kept you as safe as you needed to be, no injuries to people in your car or damage to the car. So it is hard to say if you could be safer than you needed to be. I do think you would have been just as safe, under those circumstances, in Prius.

ESC is assumed to work and keep us safe, the NHTSA has stated that it reduces accidents by 35% (67% in SUVs). But until we see more data on identical cars driven under the same conditions by average drivers no one can know for sure. Maybe that information exists, I haven't looked all that hard for it. I have had ESC on my last three vehicles and have tested it on two of them, but I have never seen it operate in an emergency situation. So I can say only that in my opinion it seems to work OK. I think we can safely say that the worse your car handles, and the worse you drive, the more likely you would be to benefit from it.

My Gen2 Prius had an orange snowflake thing that would light up on the dash when outside temperature was below 37 degrees F. I think it went out again at 39. It did tell you when the temperature of the sensor, located in the front fender well as I recall, was within 5 degrees of freezing. Of course it frequently came on when there was no danger of ice so a lot of us soon learned to ignore it. Some even covered it with black tape because it was rather obnoxious.

The Gen3 just has an outside thermometer that displays the temperature in the HVAC control panel window, a much bettter solution. But you need to remember to check it.

 

I used to drive a "work truck" (Govt. Suburban - 1997). I used to "torture" the anti-lock brakes exactly as you describe. Two wheels on ice on one side, the other side on bare pavement. It never had a problem with this. Ditto for the Prius. We see ice on the curb side of the lane here all the time due to shading (yup, the sun is that low this time of year). The vehicle does veer a bit, but it's perfectly controllable.

One thing to keep in mind, the topic is "would I have been safer in a Prius", presumably if you were unable to avoid the accident. The Prius, being a bit heavier, would actually fare better (once IN an accident, heavier vehicles protect the occupants better, though this isn't -always- the case). The Prius, being a bit bigger, would have a larger "crush area" before the body could come into the cabin. So it -might- be safer.

It's really hard to make the statement "yes, you would/wouldn't be safer". The smallest thing failing can cause a fatal injury.

Just be happy you were able to avoid finding out!!

 

Most modern ABS systems have a yaw sensor in them which detects a delta in deceleration from side to side like what would occur when stopping on a split-mu surface and will adjust braking force accordingly in order to avoid inducing a spin. However, once a spin begins, ABS alone will not actively steer you out of it. Stability control will engage to correct a spin once it's begun (ie: lateral forces exceed coefficient of friction between the tires and the prevailing surface). ABS will, however, allow the wheels to continue rotating so they can build up lateral forces to the limit of adhesion and let you retain steering.

 

I have 134,000 miles on my 04. I've been in a lot of climates. You can hit the brakes in any situation and not spin out. I test everything high speed...

With my larger tires... 225s in rear now... I never slide... Ever... I'll see if ice lets those 225s break loose.

Your civic performed well. The key being your good driving skills... If a prius makes you feel safer, go for it. I'm glad I did.

 

Trac keeps wheels from slipping. Vsc takes that data along with steering angle (package 5 uses radar too) to help keep you going in the same direction as your steering wheel. The new prius also does the rear wheel braking to help keep the car "balanced" in hard cornering/slippage.

It's a great system on ice. It keeps my car strait.