A snowmobile, the Prius isn't.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Jackmannii

This is a stupid feature found on some other cars. One wonders what the mindset was of the engineers who decided that the solution to lack of traction in snow was cutting off power to the wheels.

I think the idea is that for nearly all driving situations, only one wheel is going to slip; as on hitting a puddle of water or perhaps a patch of ice. This makes the car safer. The [del]lawyers[/del] engineers probably figured that if the car needed to be driven in snow, the driver will have installed chains or snow tires. The added safety outweighs a benefit that few people will use.

There’s a ‘hack’ to turn off the traction control in the Prius, which is in a thread I started in 2010:

@Johnny_L.A

Thanks for the hint, davidm.

I found this (emphasis original):

WARNING: The shop manual apparently states in no uncertain terms that this procedure must NOT be used to drive the car as damage to the transmission could occur due to traction control being defeated.

Follow the sequence below (quickly - within 60 seconds)
[ul][li]Set Ign switch to ON, not READY (Power button twice, no brake)[/li][li]While still in “P” fully depress the gas pedal two times.[/li][li]Select “N” fully depress the gas pedal two times.[/li][li]Select “P” fully depress the gas pedal two times.[/li](LCD display will indicate a !Car! in upper left corner of screen)
[li]Turn key directly to “start” to start the engine (brake+start button)[/ul][/li]It forces the ICE to run continuously and defeats the traction control system. Normal operation returns after turn off and reboot. Unlike EV-Mode this is strictly a diagnostic function and should not be used under normal situations.