What is the plastic thing on windshield?

you should be able to change that in 'settings'. although, mu gps allows true north or traveling direction 'up'. no east or west, unless you are traveling those directions.

 

Push the compass icon in the upper left part of the screen. It toggles back and forth between north up and your current setting

 

I don't think so - I believe that's used for the climate control - not the headlights.

My 2010 had that, and it did not have any auto headlight features. I believe this is also clearly spelled out in the manual,

 

NPR is all "native advertising." That is, vendors will package up slick content and subtly link it to their product or service. Very biased information, not trustworthy, and definitely a sophisticated commercial.

Many "news" stories are created the same way. At Christmas time, you hear on the news about an "anonymous" gentleman that goes to a Walmart store and pays off all of the layaway purchases for people at a single store. It gets on the news, makes Walmart look great and gets their name in the news, and encourages people to layaway, because that man may come to their store ....

For the NPR stories, NPR is actually paid to "host" the content. Scary, huh?

 

A quick scan through the manual finds (on p 522) that the item at top of window is a humidity sensor, I think:

 

I thought that the one on the dash measured solar based radiation - and "steps up" the A/C when the sun is intense. However, now that I've looked, I note that I can't find anything to support this thought... ;-)

 

OK - looks like I might be wrong - that dash-mounted sensor is related to the headlights (and maybe air conditioner, too??) From Page 245 of the manual:

 

Yes

 

I'm glad someone identified the thing on the windshield. I recently bought a 2016 Prius Three, not III because only 2010 used uppercae roman numerals for model designation, and had no idea what it was. I probably would have found it in the manual. I've been too busy just trying to figure out all of the displays on the dash and screen, not to mention what "mode" I need to be using. Sirius has sent two "urgent" emails so far wanting me to respond. I've had this car foe less than a week and I'm not sure I care about paying to listen to their radio

 

Yes, I've definitely noticed the tire noise. I've driven a truck for years and just figured the noise was due to being so close to the road. I just checked and I have Bridgestone tires. I sure don't need a fog detector. Mine doesn't even have fog lights, just those cheap looking black eye patches where the fog lights should be. I thought I would like to have fog lights, just because they look a lot better than the black plastic. I called my dealership and they said Toyota doesn't offer lights for the III. I asked whether the fog lights for the touring model would work in the III and he said he didn't think the wiring harness was compatible.
When he said the fog lights were over $300 each, I quit asking questions.

 

maybe it adjusts a/c when you have defrost on.

 

I've ran Bridgestone's for years on my Avalanche and they have served me well. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to give them a try on my new "toy".

 

Road Noise: It's better than the 2010, as is the handling. Of course, "Road Noise" is a largely subjective discussion (unless you've got one of those expensive, high-tech noise meters).

Tires: Mine came with Bridgestone Ecopias. At an average of 20k miles/year, it won't be too long before they'll get changed out. Overall, they seem just fine to me.

Humidity sensor on windshield: this is there (presumably) to detect the humidity level near (at) the windshield. I think this is a very good idea, as it can pre-emptively react to high humidity near the windshield by engaging the compressor (which will work to de-humidify the air.) A clear windshield is a safe windshield, and if it can be maintained as such *before* any driver interaction is necessary, that's one less on-road distraction.

I'm a big fan of Toyota's automatic climate control system. I loved it in my 2010, and I think it continues to work splendidly in the 2016. I believe the addition of the humidity sensor at windshield level (I think that the 2010 included one somewhere in the ducting) was a good plan on the part of Toyota engineers. It may be "new" but that doesn't make it a bad idea - same could be said for electric power steering, ABS, Traction Control, etc...

Overall, (especially if you're new to the Prius) you'll find that it is a superbly engineered vehicle. Trust in the engineers - they've carefully considered most of the changes... (Yes, I'm an engineer, too - so it's admittedly a bit of professional bias and deference).

Enjoy!
Eric