Glare on windshield at night

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(christet @ Aug 4 2007, 10:08 AM) [snapback]490486[/snapback]</div>

You can reduce the glare somewhat by adjusting the brightness of the display with the thumb wheel. This has been a complaint since the 04 model came out. I have gotten use to it and don't even notice it anymore.

 

If it's anything like my '02 Prius you can jut turn on your lights, fog lights I believe, not your beams, and then you can just have the MFD in night mode. I think he's talking about the same thing though, except in my car you have to have your lights on for the scroll wheel to dim the MFD. Else it's just like an on/off switch.

 

I never got used to the green reflection on the windshield. I did some investigation, and the glare is coming from the display bouncing off the dashboard, not from the mirror area as I initially thought. So I took some black electrical tape, put a crease in the middle so it was T-shaped (upside-down, with sticky parts facing down), and stuck it right behind the mirror. It looks kinda goofy in daytime, but it doesn't block any numbers and the windshield is now beautifully dark.

Maybe these pictures will help. Click for full-size picture. Looking from the right:

Looking thru the windshield from above:


I think there's a market here for somebody who can make something look more like OEM product.

 

Yes. Your analysis of the problem and your solution were similar to mine. I know that using a carpeted dash cover will not work (unless the carpet is extended over the edge of the dash above the mirror) because the source of the speedometer light showing on the windshield is not reflection from the flat dash surface per se (I think it's coming from the mirror or something underneath the dash near the mirror).

Black construction paper or black poster paper may look better than electrical tape. Maybe even a piece of that Frost King pipe insulation that PriusChatters use to block their grilles would work and look OK. Personally, I experimented with black construction paper, but ended up ditching it because the light never bothered me.

BTW, I'm not sure that your or my solution would work for a signficantly shorter or taller driver -- might have to vary the height of the vertical tape or paper wall, or the amount of horizontal overhang of the tape or paper over the edge of the dash above the mirror.

 

Yep, you pretty much need a vertical barrier of some kind, perhaps 3/8" or 1/2" tall, just to the driver side of the lower mirror. Maybe a 1/4" would do, I didn't have the luxury of experimenting much when sticking the electrical tape together.

I tried lowering my head to make sure it wouldn't be a problem for my wife, and it looked fine. She's driven it also without complaints (I'm 5'10.5" (180cm), she's probably 5'6" (167cm)). But the glare problem didn't bother her in the first place, this was just for me when winter came along and I was driving in the night more.

 

Personally, I've found that if the speedo display is causing a glare/reflection visible in the windshield, the brightness control is too high.
I turn it down so it's visible, but not glaring, and doesn't cause pupil dialation when transitioning from outside to inside. With it's set like that, there is never a glare, and quite confortable to look at.
Sometimes I'll notice other drives have there display so glaring and bright I can read their speedo from inside my car, when passing by. What a distraction that must be.

 

For me though, when turning the dimmer down this much to eliminate windshield gare, makes it very hard to see the illumination of the other switches/buttons. A real solution is needed IMO.

 

The green goblin light got me too and I haven't gotten used to it, but I just lower the display lights at night. It is a liveable quirk but I'm a designer of equipment and pride myself on designs that work simply and well so I'd be unable to sleep until I fixed that if it was my product! Toyota could have fixed this problem easily by now (I have a 2008) since it is reproducible and been an ongoing complaint. They obviously don't care a whole lot

 

Love the dog, thanks for the great picture. I make my living selling cool dog stuff on the web (I've been doing it 12 years since the web was so new my customers didn't know how to use email and were afraid to shop online. What a difference a decade makes)

I have a Corgi
Elizabeth

 

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If I have the display turned down so it doesn't glare at night, I can't see it all during the day, esp. a sunny day!

Kind of ironic it is a problem since I find the interior at night generally very dark and can't find any knobs. I didn't have that problem in the Sienna and thought maybe it was because I had a darker interior in the Prius. But I think it is just because there is far less instrumentation shining directly on the dash/cabin area

One thing I find a bit silly is I have homelink programmed but I can't find the button on the mirror at night because it is so dark!. I'm thinking of putting a dot of night glowing paint on there! Anyone have that problem and a better trick (besides fumbling around and/or turning on the interior light)

 

OT: Homelink buttons

Hi Elizabeth. I programmed the left-most button to turn on my lights, but could never find it in the dark. So I reprogrammed it so the right-most button, located in the center next to the little "ON" LED is the one to hit. No problem finding that one. If I had three things to operate, I'd have a problem.

By the way, the Homelink mirror in my 2005 is narrowed at the bottom and easier to grip when pressing a button than the Homelink mirror in my 2007. I don't think the electronics got fatter, but the newer mirror has a much broader base.

 

I've noticed that same green glare on the windshield, but it doesn't really bother me at all. At night...just like other Prius owners I simply turn down the illumination for the display. You guys are right, we can probably can get used to it.

 

Re: OT: Homelink buttons

That is a brilliant suggestion. I'm glad I'm not the only one with that problem, why they can't have tiny backlights like the "on" button I'll never know...

The only problem is getting the garage door opener programmed was an incredible hassle! (I've spoken to folks who have given up). We have to get on a stepladder to unscrew the cover from the garage door, get in to the housing and the instructions Toyota gives (and the garage door folks) don't work... so we ended up mashing buttons for 15 minutes and finally got it programmed despite ourselves!!!!

I'm not sure I can bear to go through that again, I'll ponder it

 

Thank you. That is my male Border collie, 'Duke'. He is quite the character!

 

No need to see the buttons, they are just where they were last time you used them in day light. There is a 3 stage dimmer on the Aussie Prius rather than the rheostat and I think the dimmest setting is still a little bright for dark outback roads but OK around town. I don't have a problem with the glare on the screen if I have the speedo at its dimmest, I have more trouble seeing the MFD in daylight when the sun hits it.

 

"no need to see the buttons, they are just where they were" ??!!

I "know" where my homelink button is more or less, but I still can't find it when it is dark with ease, have to do braille. Some of us are a little less capable I guess

 

You do have to adjust the instrumentation differently for day and night operation. One of the operator-adaptive drawbacks of electronic instrumentation.
Traditionaly analoge instruments are simply illuminated at night and ambient lit during the day. This new stuff is different.
The range of brightness control is also much wider, because the display brightness must penetrate ambient light during the day, not just reflect it.
As a result, that level of brightness is way too much for our eyes, when the ambient daylight is gone.

 

Do you leave your lights on full-time? Turning off the lights increases the light to the dashboard significantly. I don't know what happens in Canada and other places with DRLs.

As for turning down the brightness to deal with the glare, that never worked for me. Very minor effect. According to another thread on this, there's a sweet spot for drivers around 5'7" (170cm) where there is little/no glare. I can't verify that without ripping out my glare-blocking fix (and trying to scrunch down in the seat), and I'm not about to do that now! It's so nice to have a completely black windshield, particularly when driving in actually dark areas. If there's lots of other traffic and streetlights and such, it isn't really a problem, since it just gets lost in the noise, but out in darker areas, it's really a perpetual annoyance.