We just picked up our shiny new 2005 Prius last Friday and have been having a ball ever since. The NAV system (Dora) has been keeping my wife busy during trips finding every gas station and shopping mall (much more interesting than my son's game cube!) Pardon me if this has been asked before, but here goes a wacky question. . . What is the purpose of those two tiny little windows just ahead of the two front side windows? It appears Toyota has given quite a bit of attention to these little buggers with what appears to be a defrosting vent. Is there a practical use I have yet to discover?
I believe Toyota has claimed it's to increase side visibility, but my experience has been the opposite. From the driver's perspective, it's fairly useless on the driver's side and unneeded on the passenger side. These A-pillars are much fatter and bigger than needs to be IMO comparing to a 2005 Corolla, and a Lexus GS400 which has similiar pillar side-airbags.
if you position your mirrow just right, the back window is visible. good to see when you pass someone. i think those windows help.
I think that they are just there to give the car a more "open" and airy feel, because they are pretty useless for actual visuals.
Because if Toyota didn't put them there, everyone would complain that it is too solid there and not enough glass.... :roll:
Yup, just there to "open up" the dash a bit more. It would be a bit darker and more closed-in without them. Dave
Well, does the A-pillars actually need to look like an 'A' ? Is it structural? Afterall, the Lexus GS400 has similiar side-airbag pillars without the 'A'-A pillar and it sure looks much more open than the Prius. I'm sure they didn't do the vertical line just for the tweeters (which are pushed forward against the pillar in the Lexus).
Huh. What a strange coincidence; I had a guy ask me the very same question about those tiny windows this evening. I told him I thought it was to make the car "look pretty." I had no idea they were holsters; it seems so obvious now!
I put my parking sticker there on the drivers side. The one on the right is OK for parking. The old fat "security guard" who provides neither security or guarding at work can walk around the car to find it. God help us if he ever does anything we will fend off the perp with the CPR paddles just before we bring him back! Where do they find these people!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike\";p=\"90414)</div> They are structural. Think about the straight line from the top of the B pillar to the bottom of the A pillar. Now think of your car upside down on its roof (Sorry, horrible image I know!) without that vertical strut. My Odyssey had a simiarly sloped windshield and no side air bags. It also had the 'extra leg' in the A pillar creating a triangular space and there was glass in it. The windows were larger though as the vertical leg was a bit farther back. The passenger side one was more useful to the driver than the one in the Prius because of its size. So, I agree that the glass exists to lessen the 'felt' blind area if they left it solid. The passenger side one can be a bit useful if you are stopped at a crosswalk. The pedestrians, at least some part of them, are visible in that window.
They are structural. Think about the straight line from the top of the B pillar to the bottom of the A pillar. Now think of your car upside down on its roof (Sorry, horrible image I know!) without that vertical strut.[/quote] Hm.. that vertical strut isn't far back (to the back of the car) enough to be really weight-bearing on rollover, so maybe it reinforcement of the corner or to prevent bending in the long length of that pillar. As a trapezoid, the top of the prius is already a strong geometric shape, but I guess every little extra helps.
Actually, I think folks are a little confused about how pillers are named on vehicles. The A pillar is the one at the front of the vehicle. The middle pillar between the front and rear doors is the B pillar, and so on. Each pillar on a vehicle is given a letter designation, the farther from the front of the vehicle, the "higher" the letter that is used. Letter naming has nothing to do with the appearance of the pillar, etc.
I thought those tiny windows were for your boogers when your picking your nose. After all, you wouldn't want to wipe it on your side windows.
A couple weeks ago I was leaving a multi-story parking structure. Very steep ramps and tight corners. I was amazed that I was actually using the front right 'tiny window' to see where I was going during this process! :mrgreen:
