i drove a rental auris hybrid before I brought my hybrid. here is a few difference i remembered: it has push button start but no smart door. i have to unlock it with remote. its headlights will not automatic off even after power off. but one things i really liked was its blinkers: it has a 3 blinks minimum. so even if you just move the handle briefly up or down, and release, the blinker will always flash 3 times. i think it is a very cool feature, maybe most of the cars in france have it, I dont know. it also got me thinking, who decide what feature to put on a given car. the canadian prius base model has all 4 windows with automatic up and down. whereas on a rav4 limited edition 2010, only the driver's door window is automatic up and down
The Sonic here has that 3 blinks with a tap to the stalk feature. Can't recall how manual refers to it, but I've heard it called comfort signal or something along those lines. Supposedly, it is common on European cars.
It's also oddly available in the 2013+ Camry and supposedly part of the gauges and not a separate blinker module.
I had a Chrysler 300M some years back that had it, the Volt has it as well as the current Infiniti QX60 hybrid. It's been around, just not put into all models for some strange reason. I kinda like it.
If it originated in Europe, it kinda make sense that the 300M could get it from Mercedes-Benz. It likely followed the usual path of showing up on luxury models first, and it is just filtering down the ranks. The cost is probably higher to not install it for markets not use to it than to just put in everything with a global model. People might not know they have it. I only found out about it from skimming a Sonic forum. Then when I drove the wife's car a couple days last week, I kept forgetting it didn't have it.
My VWs had the three blink directionals. I had to get used to not having it when I went to the Prius.
It's a European feature and I like it (although I've noticed that some Audi models are now using 4 blinks, probably because of our wider lanes. I noticed sometimes 3 blinks isn't enough and it ends before I'm halfway into the lane in my smart fortwo). I believe Toyota has incorporated it into 2013 and newer models. I'm going on the assumption it's all models for now unless someone says otherwise. Toyota Canada never really advertises these features so it's hard to know. A lot of it is trial and error - finding stuff out on test drives by accident or seeing a particular button in person at the dealership or auto show.
I know the one in the 2013 Camry is adjustable for the number of blinks through Techstream. I can't remember how many blinks you can opt for though. I don't have it on my 2013 PIP.
2013 Prius model came out as a 2010my and had a facelift for the 2012my, which was available in 2011. The Camry received an update to address the new IIHS offset test. So Toyota likely started putting in the 3 beeps recently, or at least at some point after the Prius refresh.
My new car's manual says that the number of blinks can be configured by the dealer. From memory, it can be turned off, or set to 1, 3, 5 or 7.
"Comfort blinkers" as they are called was introduced in the second generation Toyota Auris on all trim levels for the European market. This matches other European cars, but the dealership can configure the setting if you prefer it differently. The Auris is the first Toyota with this feature.
