Please don't laugh. Has anyone ever heard of a way to amplify the beep when the doors are locked? I am a little hard of hearing (long story) and sometimes if I am parked on a busy street or near railroad tracks, I have trouble hearing if my Prius locks when I press the door button. If it is a bright day or I'm busy trying to balance more than I can gracefully carry (usually), I can't see the lights flash. I end up opening the door, closing it again and trying again. Sometimes I'll wait for the traffic to slow or if I have a passenger, ask them if the heard the beep or saw the flash. I fell kinda silly. Now, I don't lose sleep over this and it isn't the biggest problem in the world, but if anyone has any idea how I might bump up the volume, I purely would appreciate and thoughts. Many thanks.
I have pretty normal hearing and I have trouble hearing the beep in noisy environments. I just watch for the parking lights to blink, if you can't see them try looking from a different angle and pushing the lock button on the fob.
Also, rather than opening the door and trying again, just try the back doors - they won't unlock when you touch them. I would imagine that you could replace the speaker with a louder one (similar to replacing the horn, i would think), but i don't think i've heard of anyone doing it on here.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(laundryczar @ Nov 3 2006, 11:38 AM) [snapback]343197[/snapback]</div> After locking them with the button, the doors will not unlock for 3 seconds. This is specifically to allow you to test to see if it is locked. So, press the little black button and then immediately pull on the door handle. If you sucessfully locked it, then it will not reopen. If 3 seconds is not enough time, I believe I read that the dealer can change it to 5 seconds.
Great point. Would save trouble if you just got into the habit of locking and trying the rear door (not the hatch) each time. In my Rav, I added a buzzer that beeps for the second that the lock solenoid recieves the +12V to unlock. Works really well, and something similar could probably be added to your car. The one thing to remember when making that beep louder is that if anybody else with *normal* hearing is near your car and not expecting a loud chirp - it'll freak them out. It is also annoying to others on a quiet night when you lock the car.
I didn't know about the three second rule. That solves my problem completely. Thank you very much. laundryczar <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Nov 3 2006, 12:53 PM) [snapback]343309[/snapback]</div>
on a side note regarding the door lock beeps. Occaisionally on wet/damp days, or even after I wash the car, the door lock beeps become soft or muffled. Sometimes they even sound a pitch or two higher! The problem resolves itself after a week or two but I'm trying to figure out what causes this. Could it be water getting into the speaker area?
I think it's difficult to see the lights flash because 1) As some others say, the turn signal lights are quite dim and hard to see in the daylight and 2) When you press the button on the door handle to lock it, you are so close to the car it's hard to see the lights. Also, with moderate ambient noise I have trouble hearing the beep when I press the lock button on the hatch. Maybe there should be a second beeper on the rear of the car? It's great to hear about the 3 second trick though, I never knew that. Does anyone know how the dealer changes it to 5 seconds or why the dealer has to do it?
If it's too noisy, I just leave my finger on the button after pushing it since I can feel the lock mechanism "click". I didn't know about the 3 second rule either, though. That is a handy tip.
