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From what i've read about the Prius's powertrain, an override button for the traction control is not implemented for technical reasons.

The traction control is there to protect the electric drivetrain from undue stresses due to the driver spinning the wheels.

In my experience driving in the snow up steep slopes in my Prius, i have not seen the system completely stop and turn off the engine. I've seen it significantly reduce power to limit slippage though, and i have been able to climb these hills (albeit slowly). This is in contrast to other cars without traction control around me who i've seen spin their tires madly, and end up sliding DOWN the hill as a result.

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Using the slip control system to protect hardware certainly wouldn't be unprecedented. I can certainly understand why Toyota would want to limit undue stresses on the hybrid power-train, but even some vehicles that don't let you completely disable a system like stability control at least allow it to go to a mode with higher control thresholds. I haven't personally had a chance to try the Prius TCS, but it sounds like it would be worthwhile to have a mode that allowed more slip, in order to achieve better performance in these kinds of conditions.

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Wow Sam, This is a 20000$ car. You get a reliable, fuel efficient and safe car. It is not trying to be the best handling or performing car. It is comparable to a Cobalt and Elantra in handling. If you want a higher class Hybrid you will have to go with the Camry. It definitely does not compare to a 350Z.

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I have a 2006 Prius and it has a severe fault when driving on snow pack or ice. The Traction control will not let the wheels spin, literally stopping the vehicle on an incline. From personal experience you can get permanently stuck in a low spot. I have driven in snow for over 40 years and my old rear wheel drive Gremlin could pull small hills better than the Prius.

Also when trying to pull out into traffic the Prius can literally stop on ice and not even try to spin out into traffic. You can enter a busy lane and just plain stop which is very dangerous. Until Prius admits this is a safety problem and fixes it by allowing the wheels some ability to spin on ice, no one should consider purchasing a Prius where winter driving conditions are encountered. This poor design (hopefully corrected soon) is a terrible safety hazzard. Beware

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I dont have ANY problem with my wheels slipping That is why I bought a Subaru!

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Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage


By Chris Demorro
Staff Writer

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate 'green car' is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?

You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius's EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.

However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn't be writing this article. It gets much worse.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the 'dead zone' around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius' battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist's nightmare.

"The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside," said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn't end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce 'nickel foam.' From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven't even got to the best part yet.

When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius's arch nemesis.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called "Dust to Dust," the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

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Yet another re-posting of the same discredited and disreputable "Prius vs. Hummer" article. It doesn't matter how often you repost it, "redcars", it still won't magically become "true".

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Come check out a totally environmentally cool blog at www.skirebel.com

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We are having a similar problem with our Prius but instead of ice it is on loose gravel. We have a fairly steep driveway and the Prius is shutting down when it hits the loose gravel because of the traction control. The result is we are having to turn around and back up our driveway because the anti-skid doesn't work in reverse. Toyota engineers came from Houston to our house yesterday and tested another Prius. It reacted the same. They think this is "normal behavior" for the car and are refusing to pay the dealership anything for it. It seems if I buy a 30K car it should go up my driveway. My daughter's Honda comes up the driveway just fine, as well as the loaner car we had. Neither of which are 4 wheel drive. Shouldn't the Prius come with a warning label..."won't go up steep inclines with loose gravel or snow"?

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