Hello, I have a 2007 Prius, package 4. Starting to be winter in SE CT. We live at the top of a very short, but very steep drive. My wife has a 2005 Acura TL with Acura's form of vehicle stability control. When we get to the bottom of the drive, even if you floor the accelerator nothing happens because the computer knows the wheels will be slipping and thus will not deliver power. There is a button to disable the system, however, and we've used it in the past few years to get up the drive. If I understand correctly, the Prius has a similar system. (please let me know if I am wrong.) Rather than sit at the bottom of the drive with the accelerator on the floor and nothing happening, is there a way to disable it? Thanks! Daniel
It's traction control, actually, not VSC. It cannot be de-activated; it is there to prevent damage to the drive motors. You can try going up the hill at 1 MPH (the drive system design makes it impossible to stall the engine) but if that doesn't work then different tires will help considerably.
Just going to correct you a bit before answering. VSC (vehicle stability control) isn't going to prevent you from going up the hill. In fact, it may help you keep the car in a straight line. It applies individual wheel brakes to keep the car going straight or to keep it from sliding out in a corner. Traction control is the system on the Prius (and other cars) that will prevent the wheels from spinning on low friction surfaces. On the Prius it's necessary to prevent the system from over-spinning motor generator #1 when a wheel spins up faster than the engine can. It's set very sensitive for this reason. It's possible to disable it, but not with a button, and not for driving. So no, you can't disable it to help you get up the hill. Just keep the throttle about 1/2 way down and wait for the system to try, quit, try again, quit again, etc. It will eventually pull you up the hill unless it's just too slippery. You may have to get better tires to be successful.
If you need a bit more power on the uphill climb, don't be afraid of putting the gas all the way to the floor. The control system will not let you excessively spin the tires or over-rev the engine. Putting the gas all the way down just asks it to try a bit harder. Tom
THanks all - David, qbee42 and Richard. You're right, I realized my error and I understand it is the traction control, not VSC. I'll give it a try and yes, I'm already thinking about snow tires. I drive in NE, 100 miles a day to work and I have the original stock tires. (17600 miles in 6 months so far...) I've read that new tires make a big difference, and snow tires are good as well. Thanks again, Daniel
Acura's disabling system is "VSA OFF" and that's the stability control, not the traction control so I'm not sure how that would've helped in your situation. Toyotas have "TRAC OFF" which shuts off the traction control but not the stability control (so basically Honda takes one side of the coin and Toyota takes the other side of the coin). Unfortunately, that's not possible with the Prius because the traction control is there to stop the electric motors from overspinning. Toyota has eased the traction control mid-2005.
The OEM tires are not very good. If you anticipate slippery conditions, better tires make a world of difference.
