I took delivery of my '04 Prius in November '03. Living in Boston I had a chance to drive it in snow and and ice and was sorely disappointed. Specifically, the traction control system prevents the car from digging itself out of snow because the brakes are automatically applied as soon as a wheel begins to spin. For example, if you are plowed in while parked and need power to spin your tires to pull youself out, forgrt it! Though you may press the accelerator to the floor, all you get is a brief elctrically driven spin of the wheel before traction control cuts in and brakes the spin. And there is no way to disable traction control. I consider this a severe design flaw that makes the Prius unreliable and even unsafe in winter driving. Though I love the car in most every other respect, I can't recommend it for driving in regions with snow and ice. Toyota needs to allow the driver to turn off traction control.
I'm curious about other Prius owner's experience in snow. Is Toyota aware of the problem and contemplating a fix?
I'm curious about other Prius owner's experience in snow. Is Toyota aware of the problem and contemplating a fix?