When my kid planned to take her Pennsylvania drivers license test recently, we had heard she couldn't drive our Prius because it has a backup camera. I found that hard to believe, so I called the main office in Harrisburg and was told that "it was up to the individual" tester to allow it. Sure enough, we had to borrow another car at the last minute (our other car is an SUV warhorse of a vehicle that she never drives so the idea of taking the test and parallel parking it was out of the question). Later, we asked another tester if he would have allowed us to use the Prius, even if we covered up the screen, and he said no also. What gives? It's not as if backup cameras are anything odd or new.
pretty stupid considering 10 years from now all cars will have backup cameras as std. equipment... then you;ll probably need to get retested and recertified on a backup camera equipped car! HA!
You can turn off the screen can't you? The tester wouldn't even know it has a reversing camera then. I doubt the driver would miss the MFD during a driving test.
The car still has two side mirrors and a rear view mirror like any other car. Back up camera can be turned off, covered up or whatever.
A piece of tape over the camera works well, and still leaves the MFD running. Still, it's silly. The Prius has a backup camera because it's hard to see out the back. Shouldn't everyone have to take the driving test in an old truck with an unsynchronized manual transmission? Power steering shouldn't be allowed either. Tom
I think everyone should hold a cyclist's licence for at least a year before even going for a driver's test. Not that this has anything to do with backup cameras. Why would that be an issue? Is it considered 'too easy'? Should we have to hand crank the engine and use arm signals, too?
You can leave the MFD on. There's nothing on the MFD that's crucial to a driver during a driver's test. Additionally, as a driver, you should be look out the back window anyway and not at the MFD. The backup camera should be used if you need to know if anything's behind you (e.g. glance at it on your way to the rear window) and maybe if you need to park really close to something behind you to maximise the space in front your car or to tuck the front of the car in as much as possible.
Like I said, it's silly and I tried to tell them the camera isn't a big deal but was told that even if we'd covered the screen or turned it off, couldn't use the Prius. I happened to be at our Toyota dealership a few days after this (state inspection on the 4Runner) and ran into the guy who sold us our Prius in November. He couldn't believe it, either.
Anyone who thinks Prius is hard to see out the back of hasn't driven may station wagons, utilities or 4X4s. The Prius has the best rear vision of any car I have driven in the last 7 years except my 1968 Toyota Crown which is low in the back and has no tint at all on the windows. It also didn't have an outside mirror from the factory. I see no reason the Prius cant be used for a drivers test and I would ask to see the regulation that excludes its use.
When I had my first driving test, I had to use arm signals. Even though the car had turn signals, "not every car has them". I was, however, allowed to use the 10 year old vehicle that had those new fangled things.
Well, '04+ Prius certainly are quite restricting compared to the 01-03 Prius or a Nissan Versa Hatchback or many other similarly sized cars for that matter (I would not compare to station wagons or SUVs as they are even more "challenged" in terms of rear view to put it mildly). It is a very silly idea to put a largely unnecesary spoiler in the middle of the rear window to say the least. Both my wife and I test-drove the 07 Prius and felt the same about it - the spoiler restricts vision much more than the little slit of a window below it expands it...
But you know, I hardly notice it. Oh well. The spoiler makes a contribution to the low drag of the Prius, it isn't useless.
Some Pri have backup cameras, some don't. I doubt they know one from another until they see the picture on the screen. Before you go in put a piece of electrical tape over the camera and either turn off the MFD or tape a piece of paper over it, a nice picture of the head of the Department of Motor Vehicles or something. Then just show up. You say nothing about it unless they ask. If they ask you say it doesn't have it, which is true. Between that tape and the picture you don't have it.
Exactly. Do these idiots think that the reverse camera is somehow cheating? Maybe you shouldn't use that rear wiper when it is raining either - since many cars don't have one. Good lord. I agree with the power steering and sycromesh comments.
I agree, noticed when I test-drove the Prius for the first time (just this past December), that the rear visibility was not great, but no worse than I've noticed on any number of vehicles in recent years. I consider my all-time champ for easy parking and rear visibility to be my '00 Jeep Wrangler. I can see out the back so well that I can back it to within an inch or two of just about anything. Great around-town vehicle, and also good for it's intended purpose, off-road or dirt, but not a great highway cruiser. Problem with driving it around town, however, is the 13mpg. No thanks!! I'm keeping it for the occasional jaunt into the back-country, or for when the Prius is in the shop (which I anticipate will be infrequently).
Not allowed for Driving Test because of the Backup Camera?! That's unheard of..... There's no need to tell up-front your Prius has Backup Camera. Like other have suggested, just turn the MFD off or tape the lens up before the test. Maybe they also think that cars with ABS, VSC, TRAC, etc. safety features should not be allowed for Driving Test as well.
It's not actually the view directly out the back of the car that's the worst for me but the view out the rear side areas due to the wide columns. They really do block a large chunk of the sightlines. Particularly when backing out slanted parking spaces. I could certainly drive the Prius without the backup camera but I wouldn't choose to for a long period of time. Too nerve wracking. You camera-less folks must have a heartier set of nerves. That said, I agree with others. It's stupid to bar the Prius from a driving test just because of the camera.
Prius is easy to back up if you're skilled and have good situational awareness, as any driver should. I have the camera, but only use it to squeeze in really close to something behind me. Yes, it's totally stupid to say a car w/ backup camera can't be used to do a road test. But I have to disagree with comments about hand signals. Too many drivers have no idea what the hand signals are (duh... I point the way I'm going) and put me at risk during my bike commute. One driver ran up behind me one time while I was signaling, looking over my shoulder and carefully turning left... he honked at me as if I had done something wrong, so I yelled back at him as he drove by... he shouted back "how was I supposed to know what that hand signal meant?!" He actually said that, as if he had no responsibility to know such things. So, while I don't necessarily think that during the driving test is the absolute best time for a driver-in-training to demonstrate hand signals, I absolutely think everyone should know them and be required to prove that they do. </rant>
A lot of them don't know about *any* signals. Either that, or their cars are unequipped. I can't believe how many drivers don't use turn signals. They probably wouldn't use brake lights either, if they weren't automatic. Tom
