Does anyone have any good ideas for dealing with visibility issues in Prius C?

What decade did you start driving? Roof support pillars have steadily thickened, and window sills raised. Cars used to have much better visibility. Maybe death-traps in a rollover, but hey...

 

You fixed the problem. You removed the headrests. Not everyone wants to remove a piece of the car.

 

You could always cut the roof off, that should help with the B and C pillars!

 

There's a tight 180 degree curve on one of our routes. For the duration of that turn the A pillar (assume that's the one at corner of windshield) is smack in the middle of where I'm going. At least there's a low speed limit through that curve, but that's one place I could really use that technology.

 

well then take the A pillar out as well, just buy some good goggles!

 

Last few days we'd need effing snorkels.

 

FWIW, a stupid mirror mod...

 

In the 80s and 90s cars had narrow pillars and outstanding visibility in general... that was part of the design goals of the time. But now in an effort to make cars look tough or more agressive/sporty, this trend has been reversed. Its true guys, campared to what many of us are used to from before, the C (and many other similar cars today) have much poorer visibility.

 

My pre-C sedan had no blind spots. I used my side-mirrors as useful supplements, but my final and vital check for lane changes was a quick turn of the head. In the C, I'm forced to depend entirely on the right-side mirror, and I'm not entirely comfortable with this. My worst concern is what might be happening two lanes to my right, in the region blocked by the rear support column. This is the thing I worry about when circumstances require me to move several lanes to the right. This should be safe enough, unless some driver is making a bonehead move that involves accelerating while he's making lane changes toward me. My goal is not only not to be the bonehead myself, but to allow the bonehead to have his encounter with someone other than me.

Maybe one of those little wide-angle mirror bubbles on the right is a good idea. People seem to like them.

Yes, the blind spot radars on new cars sound good, and I would have bought it if this feature had been a C option.

I've assumed the wider columns serve to increase structural strength and also provide air bag mounts. I'd be annoyed to learn they were merely cosmetic.

 

I installed a Rearguard on my rear window. It's a plastic lense found at Camping World that is installed on motorhome rear windows. Images look the same as in a convex mirror , so don't install it right in the middle. You want to be able to judge distance behind you. So install it on the corner of your back window. Helps in backing up.

 

When I first got my C I had massive issues seeing out the back window, so I replaced the headrests with shorter ones from another car. My '14C didn't have a rear backup camera so I put that in. My largest gripe from then is how big the A pillars are. At every intersection I make a weird left/right motion with my entire body to make sure I didn't miss any pedestrians in the crosswalk. After a half miss with a guy running in the crosswalk and my wife screaming me to stop, I made it an issue to be paranoid about what the A pillars could be blocking.

 

not necessarily. the A pillar has grown due to rollover protection and stuffing airbags into it. taller windowsills and doors was a result of bigger and bigger cars on the road to protect from side impacts. designing around those safety standards resulted in a perception of tougher/more aggressive (although a car with lower sills looks more aggressive than one with taller ones). blame big car drivers!

with that said, i'd much prefer better visibility. the safest car is the car you don't crash, so as long as i don't crash, safety standards be damned! jk, but really, i'd rather be able to see stuff before I crash into them. as for me, I also took out the rear headrests and have my mirrors set correctly (wide)

 

IMHO, most drivers have their side mirrors adjusted incorrectly. If you look in your side mirrors and see your car, Wth... Where the hell is the rear going that the front isn't. You always adjust the mirrors to see all of the next lane over. This cuts down most of the blind spots and a slight turn of the head then eliminates all of the blind spot. If you are complaining about the front pillars, stop being a lazy assed driver and move your head side to side-unless you have fused joints in your neck, learn to be a better driver and move your franking head.

Z917VL ?

 

Says the guy driving a Prius C model 5, maybe your car has different A pillars than the normal C... these A pillars are large and I have caught myself having to lean a good bit in order to see when making a left turn. What he is saying is a valid concern.
As far as the mirrors... to each their own, I personally think the car has decent mirrors, but I always turn my head when changing lanes.

 

Maybe getting harder for me to turn my neck too...

 

I walk like an Egyptian moving my head from side to side. Sometime sticking my head out the window to make sure pedestrians not coming. Then having to kind of do a neck grinding lowering to see under the rear view mirror.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Good post, I have my side view mirrors angled a bit lower so I can see the lower part of the vehicles on the side.(I don't need to see the sky from this mirror) I don't need to see the cabin of a car from my side view mirror. The hood,side panel, and tires are the lowest part of the vehicle. If you see those, chances are the cabin of the car will soon follow. If a vehicle moves out of my rear view mirror, I can see it on my side view mirrors.

 

I remember complaining, years ago, about the rear window being very small. I suppose I have gotten used to it by now. And I did remove the head rests, as usually there is no-one on the back seat.