Twice a day I change the brightness of my dash and MFD lighting, using the rotary control to the left of the steering wheel. Other fine cars do that automatically. Did I miss something in that never-opened manual? If not, is this another gadget for Dave Watson at Coastal?
I'd agree since I like them dimmed at night, but not everyone does. Which is the reason for the dimmer I suspect.
It sounds like you leave your headlights on, and allow them to shut off automatically when you power down and open your driver door. In such a situation, the dash is perpetually in NIGHT mode based on the fact your headlights are on, but this state can be overridden by the dimmer in detent. Auto on-off was supposed to be an option, but was not provided in the US market. Canada has DRL, which the full-auto function was supposed to be tied to, so I don't know if they have it. Still, I believe Toyota could and should have added the full-auto function, even with HID, and used the fog lights for DRL.
Yes, with the auto headlights, our dash lights do brighten automatically even though the headlights are on. Perhaps that's why the "Day Mode" function is provided? to switch between two set settings. I never found use for that mode but perhaps it's more useful for those without the auto headlight function.
I saw that in the manual and asked my dealer about it, he didn't know why the car didn't have the 'auto' setting on the light switch that the manual seems to indicate would be there. None of the Prii in the US are sold with this? Oh well. I can use the little wheel to change my lights.. I guess.. She does everything else on her own though, seems silly to not include this. I wonder what the reasoning was behind that..
No, none of the US cars have it. It seems to be tied to DRL, and in order to support HID, they did not provide DRL in US. If you ask me, I don't see why DRL is required in order to support full-auto. I have been looking at the wiring diagram and seeing if it would be possible, but there is an extra module needed besides the relay(s) and switches. Relays and switches can be done make-shift fairly inexpensively, but modules are a different matter.
Oh! The headlight switch has an OFF position? Hmmm.... I wonder if it makes sense to hard-wire the 'fog lights' to be ON when the car is on, as DRL. Trivial.
