Disabling front cross traffic alert

I don't have an answer, but an observation.

For some brands, someone with a laptop and the right program can get into the ECU and make all sorts of changes, sort of like the menu of car setting choices you make that may or may not reset every time the car is turned off and on. Toyota doesn't seem to mind making me press a bunch of buttons and make some screen selections every time I get in a car. It was neat that my Corolla had a rev match feature, but it was nuts that I had to press that damned button every single time.

You might be able to find someone who knows how to do this by choosing a "permanent" off for Front Cross Traffic Assist. I believe when you take it to the dealer for service, the ECU will be "reflashed" with Toyota's latest version of the ECU program for your Prius, and you'll have to find your man to fix it again.

 

Are you sure it is the front cross traffic alert or some other alerts? I had the annoying enables on my 2026 Camry XLE and disabled tt in the setup menu. I still get some visual alerts on my front panoramic display. especially if creeping forward. That would be a different feature/setting though.

One major complaint with these newer, complex cars is the hierarchical menu of three letter acronyms is totally undocumented and takes a LOT of trial & error to find what you wish to change.

 

Does it show as on again in the Settings menu? i would expect our cars to have similar software modules since both are Toyota Hybrids.

 

There's a basic misunderstanding going on here. This is not a flaw or glitch in the car's behavior. The car is doing exactly what it was designed and programmed to do.

There are two types of changes that will always be reverted on startup: emissions and safety. Emissions is why the car will always start in Normal or Eco mode even if it was in Sport or Custom when it was shut off. And safety is why traction control will always be on when you start the car even if it was disabled when the car was shut off.

Guess which category Front Cross Traffic Alert comes under?

Yes, you can temporarily disable it, but you can't permanently disable it. The dealership won't be able to either.

 

Just like the PWR/sport and auto-stop buttons have done for years. I believe these reactivations are part of the EPA and NHSTA regs against permanent defeats that would otherwise permanently change the operational performance or safety ratings of the vehicle.

 

I can ( and did) obn my 2025 Camry XLE with the Premium Plus package. Like I previously stated, I get an occasional visual in some cases but not like when FCTA was enabled.

 

Well, I can't test it myself because the Prius HEV doesn't come with FCTA in any trim or package, but the web is filled with owners of many current Toyota/Lexus models trying and failing to keep it shut off.

So you went into the menu of your Camry and found FCTA, disabled it, shut off the car, waited a bit, restarted it, went back into the menu, and FCTA was still off? And you've confirmed this a few times?

 

I stand corrected. i just explicitly checked & it turns back on for me too. I think I disabled some audio alerts from it that stayed off. The manual explicitly stated you can customize to turn FCTA off.

 

I just did a general search and Toyota and Lexus owners have complained about this for years.

 

That sounds correct about the audio alerts. I believe that is a customizable FCTA setting that sticks between start cycles.

And the manual isn't lying. You can certainly customize the setting and shut it off. It just doesn't stick. And the manual doesn't say anything about the customization being permanent. It never says anything about it one way or the other. If you look through the entire list of customization, you'll find more than one setting that is only temporary.

Interesting quirk: The 2023 Prius HEV manual has a footnote for the Pre-Collision System customization option that says it returns to the default of ON every time the power button is pressed. But the 2023 Prius Prime manual doesn't include the same footnote. And PCS is the only option to have that footnote. It makes me wonder if more of the options used to have the footnote, but a decision was made to purge them. And the Prius PCS was the only one that slipped through the cracks.

Would be interesting to look at older Toyota/Lexus manuals to see if that footnote appeared more often.

 

I wonder if there is some obscure US legal requirement to annoyingly turn them back on.It appears the government tracks what safety features the car has.

 

i think, unintuitively, you turn off those sounds from the multimedia display settings.

 

The safety systems that can't be permanently turned off:

Blind Spot Monitoring
Pre-Collision System
Front Cross Traffic Alert
Rear Cross Traffic Alert
Rear Camera Detection

 

In this world, where liability fears rule the roost, no one wants to be accused of allowing any safety loopholes. It's no longer safe to give the consumer the option of circumventing safety features.

But no one can stop me from sitting on a buckled seatbelt.