2011 Prius - Windshield triples light source images

The dealers can also be horribly misinformed.

I went to one dealership at night and could not find a SINGLE Base or Advanced PiP that did not have the windshield problem out of about a dozen I looked at - this was all relatively old inventory.

Then recently I looked at 3 fresh off the boat PiPs and they were fine - which may hopefully indicate that Toyota has finally fixed the problem.

 

FWIW mine was mfgr'd July 2013 and has no sign of distortion, day or night.

 

Good to know manufacture dates to try to figure out what range of mfg dates have issues.

Mike

Mobile on my SGH-i717

 

Just found out from my attorney that Toyota is basically telling me to go pound sand - they denied my claim.

 

That is quite surprising to me. Historically Toyota has been quite accommodating about this problem. I wonder why they are taking a different stance with you.

 

The Toyota Motor Sales USA representative stated in their denial letter that it's been determined that this is a normal operating condition for this vehicle. Gotta love big corporate America.

 

That is quite an unreasonable position and I'm surprised Toyota put it in writing. If you have a good lawyer they should be able to take that to the bank! They might as well add disclosure to the window sticker that says items seen through the windshield may be fewer than they appear, and driving at night may cause dizziness, eye fatigue, confusion, limited visibility, and accidents.

 

Wonder if the lawyer got nasty with them on the phone or something and they said screw it we are not doing a thing now? Kinda odd with the other people getting a resolve and not this one. Don't know...

Mike

 

Purchased a 2014 Prius Package 4 with the Deluxe Solar Roof package and it has the triple light source problem.

The only difference is that the ghosting seems to be entirely below the light source rather than above and below it. As an added annoyance the Head-Up Display is affected as well. Also as I change my vertical POV (make myself shorter or taller) I can see some decent ripples implying the windshield is just wonky all over. It's the first thing my co-worker noticed when I showed him the car!

So I just wanted to get this on the forum for any newer buyers. I had this car delivered to me, but if you are going to buy a new Prius it probably won't hurt to test drive at night just to be sure the windshield you'll be getting doesn't have the issue.

 

That stinks Bring it back and be polite & persistent. You will get good glass hopefully the first time.

Mike

 

Just noticed the new activity on this board and thought I would followup on our 2012 Plug-In. The new windshield fixed the problem, and like I said before, the dealer said it was a different part number from the original. The manufacturer is the same. There is some undulation in the glass, but nothing I have not seen in other windshields, and it does not cause any visual issues at night. To get it replaced the dealer had me contact Toyota directly and get a case number and referral back to the dealer to get it done. The entire process was done in less than a month back in May 2013.

Sounds like a lot of dealers and Toyota need to get their act together and go ahead and fix the cars instead of giving so many customers the run around. I don't think we were just lucky with the replacement windshield.

 

Thanks for this. The service rep I talked to said they needed to have their service manager look at the windshield, and then the district service manager (who shows up once or twice a month) would have to look at it and then OK a replacement. Not very conducive to my time or schedule (and I travel a LOT for work).

I'll contact Toyota directly now! Of course I have a separate issue at the moment, the check engine light popped on at 1600 miles. A little nervous...

 

Good luck. To be honest- this will be the last Toyota we will own for a variety of issues I've had with this Plug-In and the previous 2010 III... my Ford hybrid has been a much better experience overall.

 

Optics is not my strong suit, but I believe the extremely raked Prius windshield (for low drag coef.) means that light has a longer path through glass to reach our eyes. Light rays bend at every media interface (air-glass-air). And the angle of bending is a function of the glass' index of refraction and the wavelength (color) of the light. Some glass may have an index of refraction which exaggerates the deflection enough as it travels the longer path in glass to give the red lights a visible couple of ghost images formed at the glass-to-air boundaries. So Toyota would need to have some optics experts analyze the problem and determine a spec for index of refraction of the windshield glass, accounting for the new part number........Who knew??????

 

genalex, there are at least two more interfaces you missed. The windshield is a lamination of glass-plastic-glass, so the light path is air/glass/plastic/glass/air. It's no surprise there is refraction of light sources through the steeply raked windshield.

SCH-I535

 

Thanks, xliderider. Indeed there are those additional interfaces. However, the plastic layer is quite thin, so the additional deflection of the refracted beam would be small. But if less transmissible than glass, the plastic may afford a screen on which the ghost images display.

 

Well they must have figured the problem out ten years ago because my 2005 Prius didn't have this issue. ;-)

 

Hey guys !

Good news from Canada, got the windshield replaced under warranty for the second time with a "brand new part available" for this exact issue from what the service manager told me ... anyway, it fixed the problem !

No more ghosting issue !

The part # from the invoice is: 56101-4E928.

Cheers !

 

This is great news! I'll call my dealer tomorrow morning and see what they have to say. Thanks so much.

 

Persistance and kindness pays off. Awesome

Mike

SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 ?