Double Vision on Speed Display

I have a 2002 Prius that I bought new 10 years ago. Thought I'd upgrade to a 2011 model and went to the dealership, checkbook in hand, to bring my new car home. Drove my 2002 Prius home again. Why? DOUBLE VISION ON THE DISPLAY!! (are you reading this, Toyota??) I noticed it as soon as I drove the test car. I'm 5'7" and it was nighttime, but I felt like I was constantly trying to focus my eyes. Just had my eyes tested a couple of months ago and they are 20/20. Salesman said he's never had anyone else complain about it (he needs to read this forum, obviously!) and acted like I was seeing things.

I noticed right away it was due to the projection. So, Wth? Why do a projection that distorts the display? My good ole 2002 Prius is perfectly clear because the display is not projected. Easy fix, next model year, eliminate the projection and go back to a nice simple display.

So, I will taking care of my good ole 2002 Prius until the display is fixed, or will be researching other hybrids. I can't drive a car that makes me feel like my eyes are out of focus the whole time. WAY too annoying!!

On a side note, I thought the center console was way too big and crowded out the front seats too much. That wouldn't have been a dealbreaker in an of itself, but I do prefer the 2002 interior over the 2011 interior I experienced tonight. Shame....

 

You got faked out by the brightness knob which was surely turned full up, causing full brightness when the headlights are turned on. You want it dimmed down a little at night. Roll the knob down just past the detent and the 'double vision' will go away. Turn lights off and it goes back to full bright on display for daytime.

About the stylistic 'floating bridge console' .... I've had mine for about 6 weeks and although I would prefer the openness of the v, the FBC is definitely not a deal breaker, nor does it annoy me at all. For me, the two biggest wishes would be a perfected steering wheel placement and adjustment range and a little higher end driver's seat with power adjust, but, really, for what it is, no real complaints. It's a very well designed and built small hybrid.

Take another chance. It's going to be 3 1/2 years before there is the first deliveries of '4th gen Prius', most likely. Then there's the c and v if you want, but the plug-in is same chassis as what you drove today.

 

Why in the world did toyota projected the speedo??? Just so we can have the overlay displays from the steering wheel control buttons? What a way to f up the visions of drivers...the ghosting/double image is annoying. I don't really see the point of the overlay screen, it's not like the buttons will randomly shuffle and change function on you expectantly. Over engineering IMHO. TOYOTA keep it SIMPLE! Think LOTUS, or cars that you used to built in the 80's!

 

By 'overlay' buttons you must be talking about the 'touch tracer display'. I do not know, I just look at the button on the steering wheel to make the change and don't notice the touch tracer.

But, don't go back to displays from the '80s or even today that have round gages you see through the steering wheel. Blech.

Lot of good things about the Prius displays. I like them. Very intuitive to me.

 

I noticed this issue from day one, but I work with optics and expected it. It seems that the speedometer was designed to be HUD but for some reason it wasn't implemented that way (in the US version at least).

Another optical issue I have noticed is that there is a double image through the windshield. The windshield is at such a steep angle that when the light bounces twice (once on the inside and once on the outside) the resulting image is offset vertically. It's not very bright but I can certainly see it occasionally.

 

Picked up my new 2011 package 5 yesterday. I have to admit I absolutely love the car...except for the annoying "double vision" display. Mine's not as bad as in the photo, but it's pretty close. It's really blurry and feels cheap. It's obviously not enough to make me take the car back, but it's seriously disappointing for a 2011. I'm glad I found this thread because I thought it was just me. The display on my 2005 genII was much clearer and easier to read.

 

I'm not denying people are seeing this, but i have checked my 2010 gen III and cannot see this artifact in my display.

 

Is there a chance that this may be partially due to the height of the driver and the angle of his/her eyes to the display? I've noticed on the thread that several of the posters have mentioned that they are tall. I'm short (5/4") and didn't notice it during the test drive. My 2012 4 will be here in February, so I can experiment with it then, but just thinkin'.

 

I first noticed the blurry display (or whatever we're calling it) last night. I wondered why I didn't notice it when I picked up the car. Well, I just came back from errands today and noticed that it's much less pronounced in the daylight, IMO.

It's also less pronounced when I wear my polarized sunglasses, which is why I didn't notice it when I drove it home during the day on Saturday. It's also less noticeable when I slouch down and move to my right (I'm 5' 11"). So, to answer your question, I think it depends on many variables.

 

removed

 

I'm curious as to why didn't toyota just install another LCD screen like the right side of the display for the speedo and other info? The layout is fine and intuitive but why not include an LCD screen instead and the colours can by adjusted by the user? Also why not include the features of the Scangauge 2 on the system as well? I hope the 4th iteration of the Prii will be improved to some of the stuff we discuss here on this forum.

 

I too thought I was going nuts with double vision on my speedo display until I read this thread. I bought my 2011 about 3 weeks ago, and just noticed this ghosting problem. I noticed the problem today after the dealer tinted my windows yesterday. I called them this evening and I am taking the car in next week. The service writer told me that many times they need to be cleaned to improve the problem, but to bring it in anyway. I gave it a shot by cleaning the display reflection area, but it didn't help at all.

Has anyone else taken there car in for service for the ghosting issue? Will I be wasting my time?

Thanks!

 

I am pretty sure you will be wasting your time. This is just the way that these displays are designed. Unfortunate, but you get over it after a while.

 

Has anybody tried cutting out a piece of tint film and lay it over the projecting area to see if that'll do anything? I'm not an optics expert just throwing darts to see if I hit anything...

 

I don't notice it in daylight due to my polarized sunglasses, but I definately see it at night.

 

Good thought on the tint, worth a shot, if I can find some today I will try and let everyone know...

One more item to add on this, putting a small mirror in between the projection and reflection windows still shows the ghosting. Leads me to believe the problem is on the projection side, as the ghosting appears with the mirror at any angle. Strange thing for me is that neither my wife nor me remember the ghosting before this week, like something broke? Maybe we were so enamored with our new Prius we ignored the problem until now...

 

I ended up taking the Prius to the dealer this week on Monday for the problem. The service manager met with me and looked at the dash himself and agreed there was a problem, and he agreed they would get it fixed. They had the car overnight, and the next day they called me and let me know that they had replaced the lens on the projector side, but it made no difference. to help troubleshoot the problem the Service Manager decided to compare it to one of the new 2011 Prius's on the lot. Shockingly, the brand new Prius's (all 15 of them, including the 2012 models) all show the same ghosting effect. He showed me both a 2011 and a 2012 when I picked my car up. (He offered to show me all of them if I wanted, and then let me pick whichever 2 I wanted to see, so I know its not a chance that it happens or doesn't). Definitely every Prius they have that's a 2011 or 2012 has the ghosting problem.

The dealer informed me also that they called South East Toyota Technical Assistance, who had heard this complaint before. They also opened what they call a "Technical Case" (TAS CASE # TA120090544).

Essentially the folks at Toyota technical support told the service manager at my dealer that the display with the ghosting is working as designed, but my dealer agrees with me, its not right. I would strongly encourage anyone who has a problem with the display ghosting issue complain and reference the above case number and make our disgruntled voices heard. I believe this will make sure that Toyota tries harder to correct this defect.

 

I'm 6'1"... I have went out and looked at my 2011 Prius Three from every angle. I do not see the blurry that is in the pictures. Maybe my eyes are just enough out of whack to hide this.

 

Picked up a 2011 prius last week. I don't see ghosting.

BUT - I have a known suppression of the images from one eye due to strabismus.

Which raises this question:

DO YOU STILL SEE THE GHOSTING WITH ONE EYE SHUT?

 

removed