Bugs? (A/C and auto-high beams)

Main difference with a heat pump is a reversing valve so the electric compressor can send refrigerant two different directions.

 

Hammersmith already covered that - there's a config option to control whether Auto does.

I don't use any of the online stuff, so no experience with that extra complication.

Something of an overworn phrase now generally used in place of someone saying they don't like something - makes it sound objective. One should really have a better design with no additional downsides before making such a bold statement.

That would just cause a different problem - you wouldn't know what was still auto and what wasn't. This version decides it's worth trying to indicate what is and isn't auto, and prefers that to showing current state of auto things.

Personally I would prefer for auto controls to always show their current state - whether the system is in partial or full auto - I can remember what I've set to manual. That would suit me. I wouldn't claim it's an objectively better design though - just a different choice.

I don't understand what your proposal of "don't show any state when fully auto, show all state when partially auto" would achieve. Toyota's design is more logical than that.

Problem is the flexibility (complication?) of the system has exceeded what the physical buttons can display. You'd need more lights or multi-colour ones to fully indicate the complete state. Or do what others are doing and give up on the physical buttons.

The A/C button on the multimedia screen is a tristate with On/Off/Auto.

 

I've no first-hand experience with this. I already posted the manual text. Maybe you missed it?

"the low beams will remain on for a certain amount of time. After this, the Automatic High Beam system will operate."

I would assume the "certain amount of time" is several seconds - long enough for a car to pass. Can imagine it might end up being off for longer than you want, in which case you should be able to toggle the main beam (not as a flash) to get it back on.

So pull the stick and release to turn off AHB temporarily when it's high and you don't want it to be.

Push the stick to get high beams if you haven't got them (either cos auto hasn't put them on or because auto was suppressed by the above), and when you bring it back, it should go back to auto. (I'm assuming that the push forward to select manual high beams will cancel the "no high beams" effect of the pull).

A little bit too "smart" for my taste, but a reasonable way of reinterpreting the stick control in the context of auto, letting you override in both directions without changing the mechanics of the stick, trying to avoid the need to reach for the button.

 

since you have a heat pump, heating or AC is just a matter of valves within the heat pump. There is no separate AC compressor.

 

My 2017 was a Prius Two with a compressor.

 

Your profile lists a 2018 Prius Prime which had a heat pump

 

What in heaven's name do you think compresses the refrigerant to push it through those valves?

 

Either an AC compressor OR a heat pump containing a compressor & valves that can also heat the cabin. In a car with a heat pump, it is generally running when the HVAC is turned on, especially in Auto mode.

 

So either way one part of the system is a large electric variable-speed compressor whose power consumption likely falls in the same range of around 250 to around 2500 watts.

In the A/C system, it'd be more surprising to see the compressor running when you're asking for heat (though it sometimes does, say when you have defog or feet+defog selected). With the heat pump it's maybe unsurprising to see it running at any time.

 

I never have a problem, but that's probably because I just leave it in full auto. And you always know when it's in full auto - the AUTO light is on.

The only ambiguity is between full manual and partial manual. Even then, I tend no know where it is because I set it. The visual feedback is a reminder - it's not vital.

If someone else was changing your controls regularly, I guess that would be annoying. And whatever per-user memory function there is with the key could well count as that sort of annoying - I've never used that. Mine just remembers the last setting. I'm conscious of put the climate back into full auto before leaving so I'm not leaving in a silly mode for the next start-up - something that's caught me out before.

To you, maybe, but I don't understand what you're suggesting.

Are you suggesting ditching partial auto, so as soon as you change anything it's fully manual?

 

Based on my former Gen 4 Prius, I suspect the AC reacts differently depending on drive mode. In Eco mode, for instance. it always put the HVAC in Eco mode when starting the car. On the Gen 4, the AC light lit in auto mode but I do not see that lit on my Gen 5 HEV Camry.