A whole lot of noise to wake the neighbors just to step out and get my paper

what sound does it make?

 

Turn it off?

 

It’s the beep (Toyota calls it a buzzer) for opening the door in ready.
It’s a warning for a good purpose.
Just press the on/off button prior to exiting the car? No harm no foul.

 

I really don't understand what you are describing. Can't you pull up to the mail box, put the car in Park while the door is still closed and then open your door and get out without the car making a noise? Granted, if you close the door with the car in Ready taking the fob with you, it will beep to indicate you are leaving a car in Ready without a fob present. But leaving the door open, it should not make any sound assuming you have the car in Park. At least that's the way mine works. Maybe the new ones are different.

 

I'm a little unclear as to the situation where you would need to use your Prius to obtain your mail or newspaper. In other words why is it necessary to activate the lock/unlock function at all?
BUT...I think the heart of the question is...

" If I can set it to a quieter beep when it is locked can I reduce the volume on this programmed loud sound "

My answer is I know of no way to adjust that volume.
I wouldn't necessarily take this as a definitive answer, others may, but to my knowledge there is no "easy" or direct way to control that volume.

 

Mine will NOT "alarm" if you leave the drivers door OPEN while it is running and the FOB moves away.
But mine is a C so others might work differently.

But......like others have said, if what you are doing really IS a significant problem........STOP doing that.

 

Some housing developments have multi mailbox units instead of individual ones. Big ones are like a wall of the boxes at the post office, but weather proof.

For the OP, the solution is to turn off the car, as mentioned. If you don't want the engine coming on, hit the EV button after starting the car. This is literally the type of situation Toyota envisioned for giving the first Prius an EV mode.

 

Leave the key fob or the extra key fob in the car while you get out of the car. Mine does that if I leave without shutting off the car. But it’s for a good reason since some people will just leave and never shut off the car. Next thing you know the battery is drained and the car starts up while parked in the garage.


iPad ? Pro

 

I guess what I missed is the OP's declaration " when I step out while it is still turned on ". Since I'm assuming it's not necessary to have the vehicle ON to obtain your mail or paper, the easiest solution is to just turn off the Prius. I'm also assuming you can't drive or need to have your Prius on while getting your mail or paper.

Since I know of no way to adjust the volume...I think the answer is to simply turn your vehicle off, which I always think is a good idea if you are not in it.

 

there might be a way to adjust the volume on a 2020 model

when i start my gen 3, open the door and get out with the key in my pocket, it doesn't beep. if i close the door, it beeps 3 times.
i wouldn't call it a whole lot of awful noise

 

There is no adjustment. It's there as a safety feature.

If you happened to have it in "D" or "R", it would firstly beep to alert you as you open the door - for obvious reasons that the car will drive away (if the handbrake wasn't on - which a lot of PRIUS drivers never use). Though - I could be wrong, but I think if you open a door, it drops it into "P" if the vehicle is stationary.

Then, if the car is running, it alerts you that it is running, probably a valid thing - I remember reading before I bought mine 3½ yrs ago about someone sat in his PRIUS in the airport carpark checking his mail etc, got out of the car, left it in PARK, mustn't have locked it either and flew away for 4 or 6 days. Came back and it was still running, nice and cool inside, but the fuel tank had reduced considerably.

All because the legislative nannies (and grandads) don't trust us.

 

what sounds does it make?

 

I don't believe this solution will even work if the ICE is still in it's warmup mode: 1) it won't go into EV mode until after warmup AND 2) you run the risk of developing the SHAKING syndrome if you power down with the engine still running in warm-up mode.

 

...and they shouldn't! Your story is a perfect example of how easy it is to forget to turn off a vehicle when the ICE is off. Even the OCD gear-head driver, who hears everything, would (casually) think it's already turned off.

 

Pretty much asked and answered.
I'm thinking that your alternatives are slim.....like turning the car off before you get your mail or going for a nice, refreshing, morning walk before going to work.
This is presuming that one of the "features" of your G4 is the fact that it will howl in protest if you leave it on while exiting the car with the fob still in the car.....

I drive an old-school wireless G3.
It will wait patiently and quietly for me if I leave it running while going inside an office...which I NEVER, EVER DO because it would be against company policy...

I'm not sure about this but I'm thinking that in the 130 year history of the automobile....idiot drivers did not start with Priuses - social media memes notwithstanding.
....and they won't stop being idiots when the last Prius on earth gets turned into beer cans..

Besides....dot.gov isn't responsible for the nannynunciator....it's the car company hiring lawyers to keep idiot drivers from suing the car company. I'm aware of no government regulation requiring that cars have exterior annunciators to notify people that they've committed the travesty of exiting their car with their key fob in their purse or pocket while it is booted up.

Now.....the parking lot annunciators are a MUCH different thing....but that's dot.gov getting paid by the pound to legislate.

 

can anyone here with a g4 detail the neighbor waking commotion it makes when opening the drivers door and getting out while in park and ready?

 

have you tried counting them, or is continual until you get back in and close the door?