Seatbelt obstructs rear view

That second picture looks like it includes a place to tuck the buckle. That likely means the belt can be detached down below.

Looking at replacements for the household's AWD, I found that the center belts of our preferred choice are easily detached at the seat by sliding a key into a slot on the seat fixture. Have you looked close enough to see if your 'c' has a similar feature?

 

The instructions for stowing the rear center seatbelt are in the manual, but this thread covers how to do it.

 

Ahhhhh!

 

I recently did this to my C too.

 

Sorry, but it looks ugly without the headrest in place! I really can't figure out what the concern is with the head rests in place? The rear window is small and you can only see what the rear view mirror can see. I have no problem seeing with the headrests in place.

 

It is still a visibility issue when looking back during shoulder checks.

If you don't do these shoulder checks, then I must surmise that you have never taken the driving test in my state. I passed, but know plenty of fellow transplants who flunked their first test for this specific reason.

 

If you see an older sedan on the road, say at least a decade old, or more, check out the visibility: they are blinking green houses compared to todays cars. Guess it's tighter roll-over protection regulations?

 

depending on how old you're talking....cars didn't even have headrests when I grew up. And cars were the size of boats. Why couldn't Toyota have made all the back headrests low profile like the middle one (and like my husband's yaris already is? I am SO tempted to tear into one of those things and do some DIY reduction!

 

Maybe, but there is also a lot of 'style' involved. And a lot of people are now uncomfortable with big windows allowing outsiders to look in, leading designers to shrink the windows.

This also seems to be one of the forces leading dark window tints, as expressed by some readers here and as hinted in some of the tint advertising.

 

Back in the day, American cars did not have headrests, but almost all European cars did. Headrest are more then a headrest, they help reduce whiplash. Toyota installed these over size headrests for safety. Removing them puts your family and friends at risk! One should be able to use your mirrors to see what is behind you without the need to look over ones shoulder.

 

For those of us who rarely have anyone in the back seat, it is easy enough to remount the head restraints for such passengers, then dismount them again.

That is bad driving practice. Proper defensive driving is to use both methods.

As mentioned earlier, many of my fellow coworker transplants to this state flunked their first driving test because they failed to look over their shoulder before changing lanes. While I made some smaller errors, I did the shoulder check correctly and passed the test.

 

I'm guessing US regulations. The Australian rear headrests are all matching low-profile ones. As for rear view, I was interstate last weekend and rented a new Toyota Corolla hatch. I gather the US doesn't get the hatch version, though I believe it's much more popular in Australia than the sedan. Even without being obscured by headrests, the rear window was WAY smaller than the Prius c, and much higher up.

 

Since the height of headrests is adjustable, I would think a shorter headrest would do the same job if raised to the proper level when passengers are present. I guess Toyota cared about peoples' safety EXCEPT for whomever might be sitting in the middle of the back seat!!
When my husband and I did a 24 hour test drive, we were sad that these headrests were going to be a deal-breaker for us. My neck actually hurt by the time I got the car home from feeling like my atlas was being pushed off my neck. Adjusting the seat height and seat back made it acceptable in the drivers seat. Unfortunately, the passenger seat does not have the same adjustment - something that would be nice for Toyota to improve upon!!!

 

I don't think Toyota actually wants anyone to sit in that middle seat. But thanks to American product injury lawyers, they must either put a seat belt there, or put in a physical obstruction (e.g. as in the Volt) to keep most stupid teenagers from sitting there, or set aside a big reserve for the tort lawyers.

Three decades ago, I had a car (not Toyota) that was actually labeled for 4 passengers, not 5, and lacked that center belt (before any rear head restraints). But some drunk teen partiers with the same car model, crammed in there anyway, crashed at high speed, the girl in the middle was launched through the windshield, and the subsequent lawsuit put an end to the '4 passenger' label in the U.S.

So treat it as a 4 passenger car that also has an extra belt as lawyer repellant.

 

I think orenji is talking about rear passengers' shoulders.

 

Who would you torture to ride in the middle back seat? The middle seat is not really there, it's really a 4 seater. So what did you decide to buy instead of the C?

 

That middle seat is really only for giving people a lift around the corner back to their own cars. It really does not appear to be actually for transporting people to another location. It's not even comfortable if you just sit there on your own. You clearly feel like you are sitting on the hard bump between the two comfortable seats.

 

It doesn't bother me enough to mess with it. And on occasion I will have a rear seat passenger.