Issues new 2022 Prius LE-AWDe: Headlights, loose panel by hatch, wipers, creaking, brakes?

Hi my wife and I live in NYC and recently had the privilege of purchasing a brand new 2022 Prius LE-AWDe and overall we are LOVING IT. We have been mainly pedestrians and transit users and not owned a car in 10 years, never owned a Prius or any new car before, but we have had this just about 3 weeks and already put nearly 1000 miles on it, mainly on one big week long trip.

Overall it is functioning AMAZING in city and highway driving (and that gas efficiency!), but there are several little issues though and I wanted to find out if they are common or unique to us. Also we have never owned a Prius before, or owned a new car before!

HEADLIGHTS: The first one, which I have scheduled an appointment next week at dealer for, is that the headlights seem to be misaligned. We live in Brooklyn, New York but we noticed when driving in a rural area last week that while the low beams were very bright they only seemed to illuminate an area between 15 to 50 feet ahead and fairly low — this was especially noticeable driving up a steep paved driveway in a rural area. I know this can be adjusted yourself, however I have no experience with it and not sure where in NYC I could even go to do this, so was going to start having dealer look at it — also in case the problem is not simple alignment. From my research it seems like this may be a common issue with new cars these days, unfortunately.

LOOSE PANELS BY HATCH: On this model there are 2 small panels at the upper corners on either side of hatch and they will sometimes appear to wobble when closing hatch and seem to have play if you try to wiggle them. This I definitely plan to mention too at dealer.

WEAK WINDSHIELD WIPERS?: On our trip when we were driving on the highway in a moderate-to-heavy rain (but I’ve seen and driven in heavier) wipers did not seem to entirely adequately clear the windshield, and it became very bad when there was a vehicle ahead of us. It seemed as if the high speed on the wipers was not that fast compared to other cars I’ve driven. I will probably mention this to at dealer. I've noticed some others on here complaining about something similar.

CREAKING WHEN STOPPING/PARKING:
This may just be because the Prius is so incredibly quiet in its operations otherwise, but for a brand new car, I noticed within a day or 2 of us taking possession, it seems like there is a surprising amount of creaking, sometimes in front and sometimes in back of car when you come to a full stop, esp. when driving in stop and go city traffic, and even louder sometimes during parallel parking (it’s definitely mostly when braking, the parking part also maybe seems to have some correlation with cranking the wheels?) This is worse when car is cold and things are wet, and doesn't always happen when stopping or when parking, but also doesn’t entirely ever go away. I have done a lot of research about this on this site and I noticed some rust on brake rotors within first few days of taking possession and I have tried braking in neutral at 30mph but as I live in NYC I haven’t found place to try it at faster speed yet.

BRAKES: I’m still not entirely sure but I feel like maybe it is harder than other cars I’m sued to when you come to full stop to do without the brakes clamping on really tight and making a tiny amount of jarring in the car?

Anyway, not sure whether to mention the wipers or creaking or minor creaking/brakes issues to the dealer at service appt. for headlights and loose panel, though I probably will. Curious about your thoughts? Again this is a brand new car, owned for 3 weeks, with now just under 1000 miles on it.

DEALER DELIVERED WITH TIRES OVER INFLATED? One other odd thing, I noticed in last couple days via first the Toyota phone app and then via my tire pressure gauge that dealer seems to have delivered car with tires slightly overinflated past max on tire (and we’ve been driving on them that way). Recommended on door sticker is 36 front, 35 back, max on tire for all is 44, I never did anything to them, and yesterday first thing in morning they were all around 47psi cold per the Toyota app anyway (and 45-ish according to a not reliable old tire gauge I had which soon after broke wand which I have since replaced). Today I lowered to about 38 in front, 37 in back (esp. as not sure how ultra-accurate my new gauge is). I will modify as needed, recommended....

 

Thank you so much everyone for such helpful and detailed responses! So creaking noises audible in the cabin that happen when braking at low speeds and generally at the moment of coming to complete stop even when you have been driving for a while are normal part of this braking system? They are louder and more frequent when car is cold but never entirely go away. They really are just at moment of complete stop more or less, not above 5 mpg. And then there are also particularly loud creaking noises when you're stopped and cranking wheels while parallel parking with brake pedal depressed. I'm definitely getting impression from things I read on here that this may be pretty normal with Prius, but wanted to double check, and definitely I also will discuss this with dealership service people when having other 3 issues addressed.

 

I just wanted to add the creaking noises when coming to full stop sometimes come from front and at other times back of vehicle.