Hello! I love most everything about my 8 year old Prius except for driving in the rain. I live in Seattle where there is plenty of rain, and it is very hilly. Often when stopped on a hill it takes my Prius tires several seconds to "catch" the road. I even had the tires replaced a few years ago (don't remember with what kind), but it hasn't made a difference. It's been a long dry summer and I am dreading how slick the roads will be when the rain starts up again. I'm not sure if the problem is the tires, or the lack of power or a combo of the two, or something else completely. Have others found a solution to this problem? Should I spring for expensive or specialty tires? Any ideas or advice welcome, thank you!!!
Unfortunately, the solution I would give is to upgrade to a Gen 3. I owned both generations and experienced what you described, less so in my Gen 3. Fatter tires? (195 vs 185) ECO mode option in Gen 3 decreases throttle response? (No ECO mode in Gen 2, it dulls to the accelerator makes it hard to do jack rabbit starts for better fuel economy). Whatever check out a Gen 3 and see if it does it.
If your wheels are spinning on a slick surface, then the problem is most definitely not a lack of power. More power will just increase the spinning and slippage. Your post doesn't provide enough detail to judge the various contributors to this problem -- glazed pavement segments, tires, sub-optimal traction control on Gen2 Prius, and driver style. (Yes, driver technique can be the problem too, with mash-the-pedal hard launches from traffic lights and stop signs.) While I no longer live in Seattle proper (but am still nearby), I've driven through many parts of it, mostly with older technology cars lacking any sort of traction control. I've experienced similar problems only when my tires became too worn for adequate wet traction, and a few patches that somehow managed to get over-glazed surfaces.
The one recommendation I would make might be to research some decent tyres! Sounds like the ones you have are garbage!
I was thinking of test driving a Gen 3 in the rain to see if it's better, thanks for that suggestion, mmmodem. If good tires will solve the problem I'd rather do that, but don't want to waste the money on fancy tires if it's not going to help and I'll need to buy a newer car anyway. Do you have any suggestions for a good rain tire, WilDavis?
Take a peek at TireRack.com They have lots of suggestions and their reviews are well-researched and fair! Good luck! ...also, bear in mind the tyre is the last thing between you and the road (when you think "fancy", do you really want to skimp???)
You are observing the a symptom of the problem, you need to solve the problem. When the Gen2 Prius loses traction, it cuts power to the wheels briefly. This is in contrast to most traction control systems that, you know... control the traction. The Prius just immediately gives up and says, "no power for you!". In regular driving this should really only happen on those slick temporary surfaces like most of the middle east loves to use as paving or for when the road is covered in loose gravel or ice. If this is happening during normal driving you have a problem elsewhere. It could be something simple and stupid like having 1 tire at 20psi and all the rest at 40psi. Or at some point replacing just 1 tire because it got a flat and now you have 2 different diameter tires. Keep in mind just because it says R15, as the tread wears, the diameter decreases. Always replace your tires all at the same time, or if you are super cheap, the front in pairs. Both of these will cause the wheel speed sensors to read different values at the different wheels. That shouldn't be possible unless one has no traction and is slipping, BAM, no power! Another obvious cause is just crappy tires to begin with. I run with X-ICE3 winter tires all season. They are excellent in the snow and ice, and also in the rain. On a hot, dry, clear day they are mushy and will make your mpg's suffer as well as eat the tire much faster than in the cool winter months. But for the awesome traction, totally worth it. If you run "All-season" tires you need to live someplace that only has 1 season, and that way it can be used "all season". If you actually get snow you should be doing a winter/summer tire rotation or if you can't be bothered, run on the winters and just pay for tires more often. The type of tire matters tremendously too. You can buy some truly terrible cheap tires. And you can buy some tires that are almost works of art in the way they are engineered. A good quick test would be if you cannot move without making this happen, it is most likely something like the 2nd paragraph. Even if you barely give it any gas for a nice 30-second 0-60mph time, and you still slip it is more a sensor type problem. If however if you idle it up slowly and no problem, then you have an actual traction problem. Either lighten up your foot and run with crap tires, or spend on the tires and become a pedal masher. I mash the pedal and run excellent tires. Even on gravel roads I don't lose traction. Uphill in the ice, I have on occasion lost traction but have been able to easily correct.
Hi . Someone please guide me . Bought 172k kilometres driven couple of weeks back . Since last 2 days i feel like transmission slips and even a noise like a worn wheel bearing. But when i lifted up the wheel there was no noise in bearing. It comes from transmission. Oil change can rectify this ?
Good luck finding the transmission on a Prius. Hint: There isn't one. There is nothing to slip. No clutch, no torque converter. It is a static single gearing made by a planetary gear system. Momentary loss of power can be from the traction control (you would see a light on the dash board) or a lack of available power. Either the HV battery is low (1-bar on MFD), is hot (is the HV battery fan running?), or the HV battery could just be dead.
Thanks for the response. Yes you're absolutely right there is no transmission. That planetary gear was humming. I found metal cutting in lube so i changed . I used Toyota ATF WS and now that humming is reduced like 90% car is much smooth now .
