I have Google'd and searched in vain for now. Can anyone help me find out how (if) it is possible to convert the display of a Prius (us model) to metric units? It can only change the speedometer but the odometer, temperature and fuel consumption stays in US units. I read something about changing the country in the on-board computer. Nothing clear though... Thank you.
I was under the impression that this was a non-trivial change. I have no first hand experience, but I believe it involves swapping out some of the hardware. Tom
Very frustrating situation. Blows my mind... Many other cars (ex Chrysler Pacifica and others) switch everything on the dashboard at a click of a button and Prius does so many wonderful things but not a trivial conversion. It's a computer after all... I am prepared to go a long way to convert it. I would have bought it from Canada if there wasn't this huge price difference combined with a worthless buck... I never thought that a hack would be so difficult.
It does seem odd. We can see what the others have to say. You would think it would be a simple flag in the configuration. You see some other interesting metric/english things with the Prius. One of my favorites is the outside temperature display. On the U.S. version it is shown in degrees F, but the sensor is really a metric sensor. I know this sounds odd, but many electronic temperature sensors scale their outputs to one format or the other. On the Prius, the outside temperature is sensed in degrees C, then converted in software to degrees F. This works okay, except that degrees C are coarser than those in F. There are 1.8 F degrees for each one in C, so the outside temperature goes up and down in jerky steps. If you watch carefully, most of the time it will jump 2 degrees at a time, then once in a while you will get a single degree transition. It's that 1.8 to 1 conversion. Tom
I just noticed that, and realized what was happening. The other night, as we went up I-94 and I-29, it went 0....-2....-4....-6....-8....-9....-11....-13....-15....
I know this might sound strange, but there were a couple times I got into Priapus and the outside air temp was in centigrade. It was like that for quite some time. I figured I might have accidentally hit something so I was looking for the English/Metric conversion button. Only after going into the Climate screen and existing did the display switch to Fahrenheit. The second time, I went straight to the screen and back to info and it switched back. I meant to post about it here but forgot until just now.
Tony, that's weird. I wonder what internal setting is getting toggled and why. You might think about an exorcism. Tom
My understanding is it is not possible by programming. Some have posted it is, but have never backed that up with an example of someone doing it. You can get into the diagnostic screen where the country is selected, but you can't change it. Neither can the dealer using the THHT (Toyota hand held tool). It -may- be possible for Toyota Canada to do it, but I doubt that they would. They don't want customers to be purchasing their cars in the US and importing them, as it cuts into their profits, and doing the conversion would just encourage importation. There's not such a big price difference now, so it's not as tempting to cross the border. The Canadian price has dropped about $2000, the US price has risen a bit, and you can't get the federal rebate on a US car purchase, and those three factors have cut the savings way down to close to the cost of the trip.
Yet on the other hand, here in Canada where everything is metric, the speed is in kph, the consumption is litres per 100 km, the odometer is in kilometers, the temperature is celsius, but the cruise control switch increments or decrements in miles per hour. In other words, if I am doing 100kph and I click the cruise control stick up, the car's speed increases by 1.6kph (or 1 mph). Likewise, if you click down, it drops the speed by 1.6kph. It appears the basic software was Japanese, and then it was modified to suit the market. If you reflashed the computer with a different country's settings you would probably have problems because some of the hardware which is controlled by the software is different depending on the country.
http://john1701a.com/prius/documents/Prius_User-Guide.pdf I see here on page 4 a button on the dash says kph/mph it must be that simple, on Registrar of Imported Vehicles RIV: How to import a U.S made vehicle into Canada for importing the cars to Canada it says that the Prius is OK if built after Sept 7 07, I am going to bring one in because fully loaded, which there is more available options in the US it is almost $10,000.00 less, and I havent found any reason why you cant get the Fed and Prov rebates for the taxes because you still have to pay them coming accross the border, I want the Hid headlamps and the leather for one thing that are not available in Canada. Good luck. Glenn
The switch only changes the speedo, not the odometer or the mileage readout. It will still be in US MPG. You may not have found the reason you can't get the rebate, but what makes you think there is a reason. It's their policy. No reason for it! You can't get the rebates if you buy the car in the US. Check their "eco rebate" website. Questions and Answers - ecoAUTO Program - Tranpsort Canada
Good luck finding a dealer in the US that will sell to a Canadian - it's very difficult. As previous posts suggested no one to my knowledge has been able to switch to full metric display. I guess Toyota installed the KMH/MPH switch for safety reasons and the rest is not there to discourage cross border shopping. I bought my Prius nearly a year ago and to be honest I don't care that it's not fully metric. If you track your fuel consumption in a spreadsheet the coversion is easy and can be fully automated. Good luck, Gabe
I bought an eligible vehicle in th United States, can I apply for the rebate? Imported vehicles are not eligible for the ecoAUTO Rebate Program. Only vehicles that have been purchased or leased (12 months or more) in Canada on or after March 20th, 2007 are eligible for the rebate. I will actually be leasing it from a Canadian Company who is buying it for me from the US, I still think the rebate will stand US Prius Loaded to the max is 28695 +pst +gst Canadian Prius loaded less HID and leather 35427 +pst +gst So after the rebate is paid out its $3607 more for the Canadian Prius IF i cant get the rebate which I think I will, because I am leasing it through a Canadian company. If it happens, I will let you know.
Hi glavine, Since your paperwork (sale/lease invoice) will be with a Canadian dealer you should get the rebate. Good luck, Gabe
Ditto for me, I just got mine, 08 Touring, fully loaded, HID, NAV and bluetooth, not all avail in Canada. But, still looking for help changing fuel consumption settings to L/100km. Anyone found anything yet? fyi- price difference I beleive to be approx $4-5K. Recived PST $2k rebate, applying for Fed $2k rebate now.
You can toggle between KMH and MPH for your speedometer by pushing the button on your MFD. Your MPG and odometer readings will remain in miles - no way of changing it. Some people have reported that it's a country coding in the software but no one has reported any success changing it.
Did you ever figure out how to do this? I have 08 Prius #6, imported from AZ to BC. No one seems to know. thx
