Last vehicle I had with an underhood light was a 2005 Ram SRT-10. I don't really miss it; a flashlight works as well or better.
Has Toyota demonstrated that they can make passenger car engines good enough to have essentially zero risk of running low on oil over 10,000 miles, for the reasonable life of the car? Their recent history is not even close to convincing for many of us. The Gen3 engines most certainly don't qualify. The Prime lacks an oil level sensor, so opening the hood to check is the only way to find out in time to prevent damage.
A dipstick is the simple and accurate way to see how you're doing when topping up too. Or verifying level directly after an oil change. Scotty mentions that. OTOH, I've been bitten so many times, doing oil changes: putting in the proscribed amount, running the engine a minute or two, checking the level, putting in a little more. Then a day or two later, finding it overfilled. Now I make a point to NOT check it right away. Put in carefully measured amount, drive it a few days, then check. It's invariably right on the top mark.
Well, the engine bay is where the windshield washer fluid tank is at. Plus a fuse box, and other various fluids.
It could be designed to be filled without opening the hood. Do you open the trunk to put in washer fluid for the rear window?
It could, and cars could be designed to not have the engine in the front. For some, the hood covers a trunk. For the companies that didn't expect their customers to ever open the hood, why did they go through the effort of decorating the engine bay with plastic shrouding?
Just keep an LED headlamp in the car, they work great as they direct the light right wherever you are looking at, for those not sure what I am referring to just go to the Amazon web site and type in "headlamp" to see a lot of examples. I use one in the house occasionally to read when the light in the room is not bright enough, also when working on various projects.
It could be part of the sales pitch, for the shops that display cars on the showroom floor with hoods open.
"...and if you ever did pop the hood on accident, you won't be offended by the appearance of the car's mechanical workings."
That boat sailed LONG ago when Lexus & Toyota put the big black grilles on their vehicles. The hood does not need to be open to drive me away. I have owned Toyotas as far back as a 1969 Corolla but unless their design changes, my next vehicle will likely NOT be a Toyota.
