I could not get up my driveway today. We had snow last night and as soon as the wheel spins there is the power shuts down. This is not the way you need to drive in lousy weather. We also have a Lexus and have to turn off the computer so that we can get up the driveway.
Is the a way to shut down the Prius computer? This is almost a necessity in sometimes in winter driving.
In some situations it works, in others it doesn't. I've experienced precisely what you describe but for some reason it crawls right up my driveway, and I can't do that in my Explorer without selecting 4WD. A few years back I had a Mercury Villager that couldn't even dream of climbing my driveway in winter. I wonder if it makes any difference how much pressure one applies to the accelerator pedal? I use a light pedal going up my driveway because I had the pedal to metal when I failed to climb my neighbor's driveway. In fact, I found myself at a standstill, ICE at an idle, and pedal on the floor.
You can do it, very slowly. Try 1 MPH. We all have an unconscious fear of stalling the engine, but that does not happen with a Prius. There is no way of shutting off that function; it is needed to prevent damage to one of the electric motors from too-high RPMs. Your non-hybrid Lexus has a different drive system.
I think that Toyota has a design fault here. There isn't any reason why you can't spin the wheels to get up the driveway. I disagree with the assessment that the car will be damaged by turning off the anti-skid function. I think that it is more realistic to think that the engineer who developed the car has never experienced this problem. This is far from a perfect car in bad weather. I am now thinking that it is only a warm weather car that needs a lot more design work. I wish that there was a way to contact a Toyota person who really understands the car. The dealers are not that well versed on how the car is expected to perform.
In my experience, spinning the wheels makes it worse, perhaps because it heats the tires, maybe because it turns compacted snow into ice. I crawled up my driveway (compacted snow) a litter while ago while paying attention to the traction control light. I went up at a slow, steady pace and saw the light flash 5 or 6 times. Trust me when I say I couldn't have done this in my Mercury Villager and I certainly can't do it in my Explorer without engaging the 4WD. Of course, you may have a steeper incline that is impossible to climb without 4WD, I don't know. Once the compacted snow has been turned into ice by spinning one's wheels or act of God, all is lost without a shovelful of sand or kitty litter. :-)
It snows in Japan, you know.
Seriously, try going up *very slowly*. I wasn't kidding about 1 MPH.
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