I bought my 2010 Prius 2 years ago and recently started driving with UBER (PROMO CODE: JSX69T25). This car is perfect for the job and I do like almost everything about it. The 2 things I do not like are: no remote hatch release, and the back-up beeper. No remote hatch release was not an issue until I started driving for UBER. Unless they own a Prius, none of my passengers have been able to find the button to open the hatch. While this sounds like no big deal, it can be a problem when you are trying to get out of your car to help them at a busy airport. It can negatively affect your driver rating if a passenger does not have a smooth experience. Most passengers don't realize this but if they rate you at anything less than 5 stars out of 5, UBER considers it a failing grade and will drop you if your average falls below something like 4.5 stars. Doesn't really seem fair especially since the passengers don't know that. I don't know about you but it would seem to me that on a scale of 1-5, 3 should be average (being in the exact middle) and acceptable. They should at least let the passengers know what the effect of their ratings can be. Sorry, the no remote release issue. I can't believe Toyota left this out. Did they not know that people would be using Prius for "taxis"? Passengers have luggage and groceries. Back-up beeper; I get it. Prius is usually in ev mode while backing. But put it on the outside for pedestrians to hear. I don't need to hear it. I know it is reverse, I put it there. I would like to re-locate it to the outside rear of the car, or just disconnect it. What I do when backing is put on the four-way flashers. Whether that helps or not I don't know, but it can't hurt right? I mean the switch is right there by the shifter. Any fixes for these 2 design flaws?
welcome! no one has ever done this, to my recollection. doesn't mean it's impossible though. i think the issue might be that you have to lift while depressing the hatch button, or else it relocks. the reverse beep is to let the driver know they are in reverse, due to the nature of the non conforming shift mechanism. it can be changed to a single beep at the dealer, or with certain scanning devices. all the best!
Thank you, I'll check with my dealer about the beeper, and as far as the remote hatch release, "I know a guy" who might be able to make that happen. I'll let you know.
Waiting for information too. Would be nice to open the hatch from inside, just using a button. How about closure too?
I think the remote hatch release isn't available because of safety. They do call hatchbacks "5-door" cars. Wouldn't want to accidentally pop open that rear hatch while driving. Now that I think about it, I don't think any hatchback, wagon, or SUV I've been in has a remote open for the rear.
Seems like it'd pretty much be a slam dunk to add a pushbutton that grounds pin 46 of connector LR1 though, which joins the floor wire harness to the inst panel harness and is right behind the cowl kick panel next to your left foot, should be very little trouble to access ... nice short wire run up to where the panel switch blanks are. These guys seem to sell switches that ought to fit the Gen 3 switch blanks. They have a few dozen choices for the design on the switch, but it doesn't look like they'll engrave your own design the way rockerswitchpros will (I've already asked rockerswitchpros if they'd be interested in adding this switch size to their lineup, but they weren't). You might have to just go with a design they have, some of which are pretty goofy. They don't have anything that says rear hatch, but given your use as an Uber driver, maybe this one captures the basic idea. What you'd want for the hatch is a momentary button, for which there only seem to be three offered there, all the rest are push-on/push-off, and the designs you can get on the momentaries are pretty slim pickin's. But I've found if you buy a push-on/push-off, it's not very hard to open up and 'adjust' the latching mechanism so it ends up as a momentary switch. The connector locations and pinouts are in your Electrical Wiring Diagram (EWD) on techinfo.toyota.com. -Chap
I drive for Uber and whenever they ask me to release the trunk I just walk out and push the button, I also have the reverse beeps and those don't seem to affect my rating. My rating last week for 5 stars for 42 out of 44 trips. Having a prius will not affect your ratings at all. If you want some tips to raise your ratings just message me, I changed how I act around passengers and my ratings are almost all 5 now. I'm not bragging, just trying to help a fellow driver out!
