Gen II Prius has an annoying feature that its headlights remain on beginning when the vehicle shutoff button is pressed and ending when the driver side door is opened. If you pull the vehicle over during the day to implement a long cell phone call, the absence of a prompt "door open" means that the headlights could remain on while you talk and you don't realize it. It's not unusual for the 12VDC battery to run down sufficiently during a long cell phone call, enough to prevent the motor from restarting at the call's conclusion. Is there a chicken dance-like method for defeating this annoying headlight overhang feature, or at least shorten the period that the lights remain on without the door being opened?
Yes there is. Place hand on light switch. Turn the headlights off. Press the power button. Enjoy your phone call. Open the door.
Thanks, there was a time I had a regular parking spot that was a tight fit and required me to exit from the passenger side door. Drained the battery down a couple times because of that.
From page 487 of North American edition of Owner's Manual. It's not clear if this is easily customizable by owners, or requires Techstream. No clarification on page 152: Got a hunch it does require dealership (or someone with Techstream), and custom settings are lost if battery is disconnected. I think that's the case with gen 3 anyways.
No, not as far as I'm aware. Also as far as I'm aware, the lights stay on indefinitely unless and until the door is opened. Another option is to not press the vehicle shutoff button.
