Rear View Mirror - Limited Vision

USA Gen 4 has folding rear headrests.

 

For my Gen4 Prime, I keep the cargo shade stored, I keep my rear seats folded down, and I have a flat/satin black cargo mat covering the back hatch area (reduces reflections, and protects the back of the seats). I took the headrests out of my back seats.
For my Gen4 Prime, I have great rear visibility.
Having the rear seats folded down, and a cargo mat on top, it makes it very easy to put shopping bags, and anything else, in the rear.

In the Gen5, the rear middle headrest "will come out". However, I don't know how easy. The headrest is separate from main rear seat frame.
Note that the head rests also come out of the front seats.

 

Those are NOT headrests. They are head RESTRAINTS. They RESTRAIN your head in accidents to prevent whiplash. Nobody uses that safety feature to rest their head.

 

no, toyota will not 'let you order a car without headrests' lol, the rear view is going to be worse, and it will prevent some people from buying it, just as the current rear bar obstructing view keeps some people from buying it.
toyota doesn't have a clue about these things

 

Because the digital rear view mirror increases rear visibility, I feel like this is a safety feature that should be available on all the the trim levels. If you agree and you’re interested in a Gen 5 LE/XLE it wouldn’t hurt to provide this feedback to Toyota.

In the meantime, if this is something you want to add there are quite a few dash cam mirrors with digital rear view options available. I purchased one in 2020 for my Prius C, and I still regularly use it in freeway/interstate and city traffic.

Yes, maybe you shouldn’t need to buy one of these, but it’s a quick, easy to set up and affordable aftermarket upgrade, and one I certainly don’t regret.

 

And because US regulations are stricter, the restraints are larger than in other markets.

 

LMAO!!
First, WELCOME TO EARTH!
SECOND, WE ARE CALLED "HUMANS".
WHAT IS YOUR SPECIES CALLED?

By what means, does your weird species typically communicate by?
Do you have ANY language experts in your species?
If so, maybe you should communicate (?by chirps?) with them.
For us HUMANS, we have many interesting, COMPLEX, and DYNAMIC languages.
Here's a very rough translation to your species: Chirrrp ccchrip ccchrip.

Lmao!



Headrest Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
headrest
noun
head·rest ˈhed-ˌrest How to pronounce headrest (audio)
1: a support for the head
2: head restraint

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_restraint
Head restraints (also called headrests) are an automotive safety feature,

Here again, visiting species thingy, maybe consult your language expert on how WE AMERICAN HUMANS define "nobody".
IN FACT, while driving, some people do use the headrest to rest their head, when they are tired. It may not be the best/correct thing to do, however some HUMANS, do in fact, sometimes use a headrest to rest their head. In fact, *I* have done that.
We HUMANS, unlike your species, get tired. While driving, we may use the headrest for support, until we find a rest stop, or a safe/proper place to pull over.


Nanu Nanu!

 

The design of the head rest is dictated by its safety role as a head restraint. Car companies would totally use lower profile head rests in the rear to save production costs and improve rear view, but they don't because of US safety regulations.

 

yes, some have reported removing them on previous models

 

I know the Sienna line has had long time shortages of this mirror. We have it on our '20 Sienna Limited and it's basically mandatory when the second row flip down video screen is in use and also at night it really helps with headlight glare better than the auto-dimming feature.

There are numerous aftermarket electronic mirror kits; some with built-in dash cameras. I've installed a couple in other vehicles. NOTE: I've had vision/focusing issues with some that are too close for me (cough, bi-focals, cough).

 

I agree. The rear visibility seems a bit concerning. However, this may be a case of 'internet paranoia' on the subject. I have watched many first drive videos and hardly anyone mentioned rear visibility being an issue. I'm waiting on real world reviews before drawing any conclusions.

With that said, even the Gen3 liftback had visibility issues. All of our other vehicles, including our Prius V wagon and Prius C have much better visibility than the Gen3 liftback did.

 

toyota used to have a team here, but they got tired of the harassment. unfortunately, they don't have anyone reading prius chat, and maybe rightly so, since you get such a wide range of opinions, it might make them even more confused than they already are.

 

Haha...and from what I have seen around here, PriusChat'ers love "vigorous debate".

 

The roads are jam-packed with trucks, buses, and vans, that don't even have a rear windows. A rear view camera provides much better coverage than any mirror.

 

Not when the lens cover is obstructed. IDK but I think these might be federally mandated to have washers too; our Sienna has one.