Do Not Fold, Spindle Or Mutilate

I disabled by reverse beep because I found it annoying. I have driven long enough to know whether or not he car is in reverse. If the "R" is highlighted on the dash and my car is going backwards, then I am in reverse. Simple enough for me.

 

The reverse beep was disabled after one year of putting up with it. The beep was annoying enough to me to make me rush when backing. After turning off the annoying beep, I feel at ease when backing the car. At first I thought it was a good thing, until I turned it off. I'm more confortable and tend not to hurry to stop the racket.

On topic #2, I would NEVER, Never disable the beeping for seat belts. My life was saved when I was sixteen when I rolled a van several times. I could not move my foot from the gas to the brake to disengage the cruise control. I know the value of a seat belt.

 

You ask two questions, and in both cases set about explaining why those who might answer you shouldn't have done what they did.

Your opinion in terms of these warning devices is as valid as any other opinion, but no more valid than anyone else's.

For example, assuming I had disabled the reversing beep, would that mean I am any less aware that I was reversing than before? Any less capable of observing rearward progress? Watching for hazards? One must presuppose the warning tone actually assists the driver in order to infer it should be left to beep away - and if the driver finds it annoying or distracting, then the tone is actually counter-productive and needs to be shut off for improved safety in vehicle operation.

Might it not be that for some, the world is already sufficiently full of buzzes, tones, dings, pings, boings, beeps that adding to the cacophony is the last thing desirable?

Might it not be that amongst us there are actually some people who are able to take responsibility for their own actions sufficiently they don't need the vehicle to warn them about it?

Might it not, in it's basic form, be a simple matter of the exercise of personal choice? And if so, what on earth could be wrong with that?

 

I disabled my back up beep because I didn't want two beeps going at the same time.

I installed a back up beeper in the rear tail-light so that it could be heard from outside. (I must confess, at the insistence of a hysterical mother in her 70s. She insisted I was going to run over a child someday and was afraid of the car.) This is the first major modification I've ever done to a car and took it carefully and quite seriously. At the same time I documented everything with notes and pictures as the directions I had from Priuschat did not include pictures are detailed step by step directions. The first step was to disable the back-up beep, which I did.

I can understand why it is annoying to some. I can't understand why Toyota didn't design it to be heard outside. The car is quite when you first start up and if you're going to have a back up beep to warn the driver, how hard is it to warn pedestrians too?

I never disable the seat belt warning beep. I see no need.

The other modification I did was to remove the stock plate and replace it with a BT plate. I was a little more confident of this because it didn't involve cutting wires.

Why do people do these things? Convenience and customization. Others have gone so far as to remove the stock mirrors and install side signal mirrors, remove all of the interior and install noise deadening insulation. I would like the side signal mirrors but that is a little too much rewiring for me. I'll wait until my next Prius to see if I want to take on a project like that. I have no need for the extra sound deadening material as I don't drive my car to listen to superior sound so the stock radio and car are fine for me. I consider them a lot quiter than my last car so have no complaints. I have no problem with the stock seats either so I've never removed them to put in more padding or make the rails longer. Others have.

Convenience, comfort and customization. It goes beyond decals, which I have applied.

 

No offense to the OP, but if you get hit by a Mack Truck head-on, I don't think it's gonna matter if the airbags deployed or not. Size doesn't matter that much, because I don't think even a Hummer could stand up to a Mack Truck head-on.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(catgic @ Aug 7 2007, 11:01 AM) [snapback]491817[/snapback]</div>

Well now, that's not at all the same thing is it? If nothing else, the attack warning device of which you speak is there to warn the pilot of something he or she could not know otherwise, whereas the warning signals in the Prius only supplement what the driver and/or occupant can observe perfectly well for themselves, namely, that the vehicle is traveling backwards or that a person is sitting on a seat with no seat belt fastened.

I was also curious to note that a common complain amongst pilots at one time was the growing cacophony of warning tones in the cockpit, which can actually cause confusion rather than provide clear warning and air crashes have been reportedly caused by distraction caused by tonal warnings - hence the reason many aircraft use verbal warning tones for critical functions.

Whether to have the tones on or off in the Prius is a matter of personal choice - which of course doesn't ensure that choice is exercised wisely in all instances. However, if one assumes a driver is trusted sufficiently to be allowed to place a vehicle in reverse, one must assume that he or she can be trusted to understand the implication.

All that said, I have not turned either warning off. I would not think to start the car without having first put my seat belt on, and I left the tone on to help ensure any passenger does the same without needing to be nagged by me to do so. It hasn't failed in that regard so far. As to the reversing beep, I don't really notice it since I'm concentrated on the business of reversing safely, but I can see how it could be a significant distraction and if I find that to be the case I'll turn it off for safety reasons.

 

I would have to agree with the OP in both points. The audible warnings are there for a purpose. Backing up is a critical time of reduced visability (even with the camera), and the warning signal is a good reminder. (How much time do you actually spend in reverse anyway?) Same with the seat belts, the chance of survival is generally always better with the seat belt on. Better safe than sorry.
I guess part of this is going back to my service days of operating a nuclear power plant, you never want to get complacent.

 

i see no need to be babysat by my car. i know when the car is in reverse- i put it there.

 

In the past I have always disabled the seat belt warning on previous vehicles. Why? Because I always start the vehicle with the seat belt disconnected. You do that after two vehicles you attempt to drive start on fire upon startup (one a Ford, the other a Chev). The silly seatbelt buzzers in those vehicles were so loud I couldn't hear the engine starting.

Oh, and BTW, I don't listen to idiots in govt. telling me to be careful. They are NOT qualified. I have installed and used seat belts in cars since -long before- those "cover your nice person" people decided they had better mandate it, or even mandate the belts be there! My father and I used to purchase aircraft belts and install them in our cars.

The Prius seatbelt warning is not obnoxiously loud. It does sound every time I press "On", as my belt is not fastened. I will not be bothering to shut it off. I may yet shut off the reverse beeper. Very silly idea. Flashing light, ok. Beeper, inside the car, just silly! More "cover your nice person". Passenger belt beeper - I think I will leave it alone. It warns me the passenger air bag is enabled when it shouldn't be so I remember to move the items on the seat to the back where they belong.

 

I never found the backup beep all that annoying, after all, I was only ever in reverse for short periods of time. I believe it was included since the Prius uses a rather unorthodox shifter, and for anyone used to driving a stick, "up and left" is usually 1st gear forward.

I did finally disable it after 14 months, as I found that the beeping often awoke my newborn son. :huh:

I am a firm believer in seatbelts and they are always fastened, so the seatbelt warning is irrelevant to me since I never hear it, thus no need to disable it!

 

I'm bored by your opinionated premise, so I'm not going to bother reading your rant, but I'll answer your basic questions:

1. I've never had a problem shifting into "D" or first gear in any other car I've ever driven, and no other car has ever reminded me in such an obnoxious way. They all did fine with a light on the dash, just like the Prius has. I also have a second visual cue, which is the backup camera being turned on. I rarely if ever fiddle with other electronics while in reverse, so I've not yet seen that screen overridden. The beeping is simply redundant and excessive... although I may eventually go for a modified version of Godiva's backup beep.

2. Disabling the seatbelt warning doesn't turn off the initial beep. It still beeps at me when I start the car, and I also ALWAYS tell all my passengers to buckle up. I'm more annoying than the car's beeps about it, so I don't need the car chiming in more. The real annoyance is when someone takes off their belt for a few seconds to shift position, or at the end of a ride and the passenger is getting ready to exit the vehicle, and the car FLIPS OUT with beeps. I turned it off for that reason. Also there's no warning for rear passenger belts, so you should just get in the habit of reminding your passengers to buckle up.

In this age of deferred responsibility and legal action for our own stupid mistakes, why not be sensible and take responsibility for your own safety and the safety of your passengers?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(catgic @ Aug 7 2007, 09:01 AM) [snapback]491817[/snapback]</div>

Probably for the same reason that I find the throbbing, over-amplified bass notes thundering from the beat-up pickup truck driven by the teenager in my neighborhood "unbearably irritating" while he apparently delights in ruining his ear drums.

I learned a long time ago that personal tastes vary greatly among large groups of people. If you enjoy listening to the reverse beep (or find it reassuring to have an audible confirmation that your car really is rolling backwards), by all means keep it enabled. As for me, I'll listen to my jazz collection on my iPod.

 

With all due respect, if the back up beeper is such a great safety feature why isn't it heard OUTSIDE of the car? Why did it take over a century to have one installed in any car?

If the occupant leaves the seat belt disconnected long enough the beeping stops. If one is so safety oriented I hope you always wear your helmet or HANS device, installed a roll cage and replaced the crappy seat belts with a harness.

Small & quick can beat big and lumbering. In a collision there are usually two drivers who could have mitigated the situation. An alert driver in the path of an oncoming truck may have the opportunity to get out of the way.

I have a friend was injured when his Buick was hit by someone running a red light. If he had been watching the traffic he may have been able to avoid the collision by not moving until he saw the SUV slow or stop.

Again, I am sorry for your loss.

Time to install that zero/zero ejector seat.

 

I disconnected the back up beeper because I found it so annoying. I have some driveway to back out of, and hearing it every day had me pi**ed off enough that I disconnected it as soon as I found out how.

A few weeks later, while maneuvering into a parking space, I did in fact end up backing up unexpectedly. Given all the distractions going on at the moment, I don't know if the back up beeper would have made any difference (maybe if it ONLY came on at that moment -- > so maybe the solution would be a steering wheel button that you could turn off the beeper THIS TIME ONLY as soon as you heard it).

So my compromise is this. Internal backup beeper disabled, and I will be installing the $10 Radio Shack beeper that has been described elsewhere on this forum. It is apparently less annoying, and adds a useful function to warn pedestrians.

 

I disabled them both because they're obnoxious. I know when I'm in reverse, and if I'm not wearing my seatbelt its because I decided not to.

 

I didnt read the entire post, just skimed over the questions and rants.

Ok, so you dont like to modify anything? Does this mean that because we turned off our reverse and seatbelt beep, we're going to die? Wth does it matter? Its just an annoying beep to most people, who would rather not have it then do. If it were so necessary to drive the car, Toyota wouldn't have made it publicly able to disable.

Its your car, make it drive it use it how YOU want to. You dont have to use it the exact way Toyota gave it to you. Everyone is different, use it in your own way.

 

Most of the posted excuses, are just that 'Excuses'

Why does anyone modify thier cars? because they wanted to.. :huh:

To the OP, if anyone got into a situation where the modification was the fault of a problem with the car. Or they where involved in a accident because they turned off their reverse beeper. they would blame somone or say that it wasnt working..

I find it funny at how many drivers that have years of expieriance DRIVING..... and they have their car stall so they put the car in park restart and think they just pout the car in drive but really put it in reverse and when the light turns green BAM..


They modify the car because they want to make the car better for them who cares if it has state of the art saftey items (like the warning beeper) I would venture to say if the insurance industry would NOT pay on vehicle claims because a modificaion was made there would be less mods being done to new cars... Just my 2 cents... B)

Ps the pictures you posted 3 would be serious to fatal .. :mellow:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Aug 9 2007, 01:09 PM) [snapback]493056[/snapback]</div>

Except the beeper isn't a state of the art safety system. It's a device put there at the request of expensive lawyers who's job is to protect Toyota from potential third-party liability claims. Thus they're a state of the art legal device and not there for our benefit as owners and drivers at all.

Put it this way: you don't find a reversing beeper on a Chevy Cavalier do you? Why not? Because when you put one of those in reverse, you can hear the engine running, and the revs increasing as you put your foot down. You can see out the back, so whatever happens then is entirely your problem. Thus if you back up over someone, they can't really sue Chevy for your stupidity or negligence because you were the driver and the car just did what you told it. However, the Prius backs up in total silence because the ICE doesn't provide the motive power in reverse. Thus if you back up over someone, and Toyota didn't give you a means to be fully aware you were in reverse, there is potential for them to be hit by a suit for contributing to the injury or death.

However, since one has to have some competence to get a drivers license (apparently not all that much competence in some locations) if a driver is prepared to assume responsibility for defeating the warning, Toyota has done it's job protecting it's own backside and doesn't care a bit.

If the beeper was meant as a state of the art warning device it would, as has been said already, have been on the outside so that not only was the driver made aware of the obviously somnambulistic action of engaging reverse, but that pedestrians were too.