What can I do about eliminating the reverse beeping on my 2012? A service person told me I can get it down to one beep, but I also found out that dealerships charge for adjusting this. Is it an easy thing to do? How can I get this done for free or at least cheap? Why does it even have this ridiculous function- useless! On a similar note, after service warranties have expired and you start taking the car to independent mechanics, is it easy to work on? Lastly, I bought my car recently and still haven't received the Toyota packet in the mail. Just in case, what should I do in the meantime if I need roadside assistance, which I'm apparently automatically enrolled in?
If you have or buy a scanguage you can make the setting changes yourself concerning the reverse beep. PriusChat Shop : ScanGauge II Scan Tool + Digital Gauges + Trip Computers [ScanGaugeII] - $159.95 I'm not aware of how to do it since I don't own a scanguage but there are threads on here discussing how to do it by people who have done it. Concerning roadside assistance, the roadside assistance number for eligible customers is 1-800-444-4195.
I don't want to pay a lot to get rid of the beeping, so that piece of equipment wouldn't be for me. Has anyone gotten the beeping to stop cheap or for free?
I figured as much but for asn many times as this gets asked on here most of us offer the same advice; That is, use a scanguage or use a dealership. Yes, people have had it done at their dealership for free. Some charge, most don't. It's wrong of them to charge for it IMO. Maybe call another dealer close by to you and inquire or challenge your dealership telling them if they can't perform this few minute task for you after just purchasing the car you'll not use them again and inform as many others as you can not to use them as well.
You just bought your car---right? The sales person that you bought it from ought to be able to have the service department do this for free. I'm not sure how Toyota does it (mine is a company car) but the last few cars that I bought resulted in my receiving a Customer Care Survey form in the mail about the same time that I got the usual "welcome aboard" packages. They want good marks. You want the reverse beeps to go away. If they're not big on helping you out with this trivial problem, then I wouldn't be big on letting them swing wrenches on my car when bigger issues arise. Like I said, I'm not sure how Toyota does "Customer Care", but the same sales staff that was stumbling over themselves to sell you the car ought to arrange a 10-minute procedure in the service department to keep you nice and happy so that you will consider being a repeat customer. Warranty work: There is a schedule of maintenance in the owner's manual. Stick to that. Don't let them up-sell you on any additional services. If you're covered by Toyotacare (and you probably are) then they pick up the freight for this for the first 25K miles. If you stick to the maintenance schedule, it's mostly filters and fluids for the first 100K. After your warranty expires, this car is not much different to work on than any other front-wheel drive vehicle with the exception of the regenerative brakes. Unless you're a moron (or just drive like one) you're not going to have to worry about brake work until you're well past the 100,000 mile mark. Probably more like a buck fifty. By this time, if you're the average American, you will have long since been seduced by another car. Good Luck!
There are a number of threads discussing how to disable the beep with either a Scangauge or an ELM 327. ELMs are available on eBay and Amazon for $15+. I did a search for "beep elm 327", and the first one that showed up was Can I disable the beep w/o a gauge or stealer visit? | PriusChat . ELMs come with serial or Bluetooth connections. A serial unit from China costs the least (be sure to include shipping in the cost). For a little more, you can get the same units from Amazon and save some shipping time. A Bluetooth unit costs a little more, and can additionally be used with Android devices (with Bluetooth) for performance monitoring. Best deal is to get your dealer to do it for free. Many people have done this, while others have been refused and/or charged up to $100.
After making the request from a dealership, I got the response that dealerships aren't allowed to disengage the beeping for liability reasons. This sounds dubious. Anybody know if that's true? I don't see how it could be if people here are saying it's been done. Could it be something new? And how is the beeping providing safety? Like we don't know we're backing up- give me a break!
The Owners manual tells you to take it to the dealer for this, so they are just blowing smoke. Make it clear no other work will come their way. http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47704U/pdf/sec_06-02.pdf Print the first page and seventh page and show them to the dealer.
Just on the assumption the question isn't entirely rhetorical: Yes it can be irritating, but maybe you've got a low threshold, lol. The Prius has a very drive-by-wire shifter, it's easy to lose track of which direction you're going to go the next time you push the gas. Well, for me anyway. Accordingly, I don't mind putting up with it, it does remind me I'm in reverse, for those few seconds. I kinda like the pedestrian alert speaker too. It would be cool if you could customize it though...
This is strictly an internal dealership policy, and is not universal. My dealership cheerfully turned off this beep during the first service visit, and asked whether I wanted the seat belt beep turned off too.
Well, it will still beep once when you put it in reverse. If you forget which direction you're going in imediatly after that, maybe you shouldn't be driving!
Assuming that's for me: I don't recall ever losing track of which gear I'm in. I've come close once or twice maybe. But there's always a first time. Toyota set it up for a legitimate reason. It's a minor irritant for a few seconds as you back out of a driveway or a parking spot. With a potential big pay off. Or not. Like insurance.
Thanks for the help guys. My nearest dealership was totally cool and fixed it for me for free. Plus they threw in a free car wash. Amazing!
Maybe it's due to the nature of the shifter? It's not like your conventional auto shifter in the sense that it doesn't move to a certain position when it's in R. You only click over and then it returns to the center position. Not all Toyotas have this type of shifter so the beeping isn't necessary.
If anyone needs their back up beep disabled and you're in the Annapolis MD area, I'll turn it off for you for free. PM me.
I personally like the backup beeper, in fact I bought one and installed it on my Ford f150. It is to Save some childs Life, Maybe Yours.
I bought my Prius on Nov 24th and just received my roadside assistance packet in the mail yesterday, Jan 5th. It comes with cards (wallet and key chains) that have the toll free number and your car's VIN printed on them. So it looks like it takes awhile to receive this information from Toyota.
