The rear electric motor develops 67 hp and 96 foot-lbs of torque. That 96 ft-lbs is available all the way down to 0 rpms because electric motors develop full torque at stall unlike a gas engine. This is enough torque to wildly spin the rear tires in a deep snow condition if not moderated by the traction control.

You don't need a lot of torque in snow conditions. You need traction and ground clearance for deep snow. Get some good chains and store them in the vehicle just in case and you will be fine unless you slide off-road into a ditch or unless the drifts are so high your front bumper becomes a snow plow.

Some argue that the traction control system on the Highlander Hybrid may be a bit overzealous in preventing wheel spin in low traction situations. This applies equally to the rear drive and the front drive (which has an over abundance of torque and power from both the engine and electric motor on call.

The Highlander will not let you madly spin the tires when stuck in a snow drift or on glare ice for that mater. You can press the gas pedal all the way to the floor under these conditions and the engine will ignore your input and remain idling while the wheels may very slowly rotate trying to gently capture traction. This is very disconcerting to some who like to power themselves out of being stuck by smoking all the tires while rocks snow and mud go flying everywhere.