Annoying back up beeping

In 6 years of Prius, and many, many many reverse operations, not ONCE I felt the need of a constant piercing beep. It is already quite the concert when you parallel park close to 2 cars and both the front and rear beeps chime to tell you "you are about to destroy your car!" - even if you are standing still. If added to that I had the reverse beep, I would go insane and really end up crashing in another parked car.

I am glad it can be set to one, the fact they have that it means they know it is annoying and I am only annoyed it has to be set by a dealer.
I mean, most don't even know how to use the settings as most (as I read here a lot) don't even bother to read the manual at least once, for an object they paid several thousands of €/$, I don't see how making it user's customizable would be an issue.

I have bought Carista (and it works really well) - if my dealer forgets to turn it off, I will take care of it myself. Along with another couple of changes.

 

Excellent! You took the words right out of my mouth. That beeping has saved me a fair few times when flustered, under pressure, and flipping the gearstick the wrong way. It does happen, believe me. The first you want to know about it, is NOT when you zoom backwards and crunch into whatever - or whoever is behind you!


iPhone 6s +

 

I fully agree, however no one is complaining about one or two beeps confirming/warning that you have just put it into reverse. The complaint is the continuous annoying beeping the entire time that you are backing up. Which for me takes about thirty seconds to back out of my garage, across my driveway and into the street, due to some poor visibility at certain points, combined with a neighbor's car on the street that I have to maneuver around, and another neighbor's mailbox that I have to avoid. All the while watching out for cars, kids and dogs that might be coming from multiple directions. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it does mean that to be safe I have to backup fairly slowly the entire time, and the last thing that I need is a loud continuous beep informing me over and over the entire time that I am backing up. I was ecstatic when I found out that it could be disabled in the Gen II through a specific sequence of button pushing. Although that means I get no warning at all anymore. Glad to hear that in the current model you can turn off the continuous beeping but still get a warning beep when you first put it into reverse.

 

you are a fool

 

Take a ticket and get in line.
You're not the first to say that.

Reverse Beeps Matter!

 

For pointing out the usefulness of the reverse selector mode's repeat beeping warning signal? He most certainly is not.

I'm sure nobody really comes on to Prius Chat to categorically wax lyrical about the number of times the "annoying reverse beeper" saved them from accidentally zooming backwards into a car parked behind them / an assorted range of pedestrians / straight through a wall in a high rise car park to certain doom / straight backwards off a cliff......need I go on?!!

Acknowledged beyond reasonable doubt.....the incessant reverse traction mode beeping literally drives quite a few drivers insane. No denying it.

Just as some people are driven to the point of uncontrollable rage when their car starts talking to them - yup! Some people genuinely hate that with a passion. And yet, they'd be eternally grateful if they were zooming along at 70mph on a highway, and their vehicle said to them in a pleasantly modulated voice, "Warning! Your vehicles offside rear tyre will catastrophically explode and disintegrate in 3 minutes, please pull over and stop now".

I'd be grateful, for sure!

Some of us might not want to admit how many times a few of us have accidentally flipped the transmission selector into reverse without realising it. Until that annoying beep starts beeping away, warning us of our Prius faux pax.

Yes, I've done it on occasion, but thankfully, have received that warning just in time before my foot left the brake and hit the accelerator / impulse engine pedal. Saved again, by the beeping sentinel. Well done Toyota, for thoughtfully installing it. Shame it can't be turned off for those of us that appear to be blessed with cybernetic thought processes, and never make mistakes.

But for the rest of us.....I'd wager it's saved us all, many more times than we care to remember. For me, it serves as a constant warning for that I'm going backwards - it warns my passengers NOT to talk to me, while I'm concentrating on my all too important and potentially dangerous reverse manoeuvre. It reminds me to look out for children that might sneak behind my vehicle during that moment. Indeed, I feel very much like a starship slowly backing out of space dock on thrusters only - good old imagination! It might as well be a Star Trek emergency klaxon - and I do wholeheartedly, absolutely approve.

And while we're about it, incidentally, here's my definition of a real fool;

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, he is wise. He will go far, because he acknowledges his shortcomings, and can adapt.

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not; he is a fool. Avoid him.

The latter directly pertains to trolls who come on to PC, calling Prius loving folk "fools" in an attempt to stir things up.

May I suggest, Mr Troll, that you evaporate and condense elsewhere? I hear Uranus is the perfect place for you to go, this time of year!




iPhone ?

 

Lurking since May, then this got you all lathered?

 

Thanks for the defense...
But it's OK.
I know that defending the reverse beep, for many is going to be an unpopular viewpoint.

As I said, in my original post....I know it's hated.

Those that appreciate it/or appreciated it, and like it?
We are a minority.

It's not so much that people dislike the reverse beep that bothers me, it's the idea that it's SO BAD.
People act like the beep is the worst thing in the universe.
Really?
In a world where nearly EVERYTHING beeps? You gonna act like the Prius Reverse beep is killing ya?

I never had any problem recognizing it...and ignoring it as needed, for the few seconds I might be in reverse.

And as you pointed out....with the selector knob aspect of a Prius Transmission I think it's safety benefit legitimate.

 

Everything beeps. My electric kettle beeps when switched on and again when it boils!

 

Our usual TV goes boodleloodleoop when turned on, and boodeboop, when turned off. I really grew to appreciate this, just didn't realize, till our son swapped in his new-and-improved tv for a while. It had no audio feedback: I'd push "on" (I thought) wait a while, push "on" again (same button for off and on), wait a bit longer, wondering if I'd in fact just turned the damn thing back off..., which was usually the case.

 

Just another young punk!
Meet me in the alley out back, fool!!!

I don't even notice the beep anymore. Even when I did, it didn't bother me. It's just all part of driving a Prius... Beeping, buzzing, humming, wiz-bang. It's the Star Wars experience.

 

Unfotunately, that's defeating it's purpose. And it's that way with me too: something that's ubiquitous is also undetectable, just fades away into the noise. And that's not good. In other words, you hear the beep, but it's "yeah yeah, the beep...., OOPS!".

There's an advantage to the traditional shifter: you reach out, grab it, push it to another position. This gives indelible feedback, that never gets old.

But yeah, the beep is all we got.

 

FWIW when I took our Prius v Three in for the 10K miles service this morning I had them configure for one beep versus the constant beeping.. The dealership did it for free...

 

Thats a safety feature the reason its continuous. Since our car’s engine shuts off. In the time that you stopped and talked to someone. Its gonna be too hard to tell if you’re on reverse or drive. Some people do forget and doesnt look at the dash.

 

I’m not sure how it’s done in the states but in Canada you can have that changed as part of your customization service. It’s paid for by Toyota. Talk to your service advisor. There’s a sheet you can fill out with all the options you want to have changed.

 

Welcome to Prius Chat, that's good for Canada, but I think it could vary from dealer to dealer whether they do it without charge. Especially if it's not done prior to handover.

 

Thanks to this thread and some YouTube videos, I ask/demanded the dealership to change it to one beep only, before I signed the paperwork.