Moving the conversation out of Reviews to a dedicated thread: Do the 2023 Prius front parking assist sensors alert when parking stops or sidewalk curb will not fit under the 6" clearance of the car? This is a "Parking Stop" - (most appear to be 5 inch height per Internet search): Sometimes there is not a parking stop, only a curb and sidewalk. Internet search for curb height suggests curbs will be 4 or 6 inches. The larger 6 inch curb would likely scrape the bottom or damage the front of the car. Does the parking sensor assist alert when the curb height is 6 inches or more?
It should pick it up - the sensors definitely scream about any kind of foliage near the front of the car if it's over 6" from the ground. Although I suspect this is more of a movement issue rather than a curb because the car is assuming it's a person walking.
With a 3rd gen at least, if you roll right up to a typically dimensioned, concrete wheel stop, you’re going to damage the plastic panel at the leading edge of the underside. Reliably. Which is absurd of course, but here we are.
What if alerted for the parking bumps, but also screamed for a small object that the car would clear on the highway, or more likely, a driveway apron ramp? In addition to nuisance alerts, the sensors might have to be mounted lower, where they'll more likely get damaged. The goal of these sensors is to prevent hitting other objects. Ones that can be damaged, or cause visible, pricey damage to your car. Bumping the tires into a curb, or having it scrape the under plastic before the wheels doesn't fall in that concern. Plus, pulling that far forward shouldn't be necessary to park. More so for backing in, as the camera gives a better view of where that curb is in relation to the bumper.
Yeah. A camera is the solution, not another collision detection alarm. 360 cameras come on while even pulling forward to park on many cars. Very useful option.
As promised I have tested this out. Unintentionally, inadvertently and unaware, unfortunately. I can now say with certainty, too much certainty, that there is no warning, no auto brake, nothing to protect the spoiler (see that, I even learned that is not the grill - for me the grill is outside with charcoal and steak anyway), from a high parking stop (or curb). Today while not being careful enough parking, I ran the spoiler into a high curb and it hit pretty hard. Scratched but still intact, thankfully. With my more mature outlook on life, I just smiled, thinking of this thread. And, I am now passing on this information so you can all be more careful than I was and avoid this small tragedy with your car.
Yup, Get used to backing in if you can’t figure out the dimensions of the vehicle while pulling in forward. You could also put out some cones and practice judging distance pulling forward. That way you can’t really screw it up and crack a front lower bumper.
Might not have to always back in, although funny thing is later in the day after my little episode above, I did back into a spot! Really not that big a deal, a few scratches on the lowest part of the silver plastic spoiler. It does, however, not have a lot of clearance. My sad story was a bit unusual, not really a result of not figuring out the dimensions (although I am still learning it), but a parking spot that had two holes where tires of vehicles had somehow made indentations like pot holes where the tires go near the curb. So when I pulled up I didn't realize that my wheels, once going in the holes, pulled the car forward. I wasn't really paying attention enough, clearly, but kinda a freak accident. As accidents sometimes are.
My previous car was lowered with a factory front lip on it so I became a good judge of how far to pull forward into a parking spot. You'll learn to judge the distance and worse comes to worse you start backing in.
Interesting. I’ve noticed a lot of hot cars backed in at my favorite fast food places, which seems counter to “fast”. Maybe these muscle cars with giant engine compartments figured this out already. Now that I own a Prius muscle car, I’ll have to join the back in mindset.
I mean, it also is a safer option. The majority of minor fender bender accidents do occur while backing out of parking spots in parking lots. If you’re already backed in and just have to pull out forward it is safer. Or pull into a pull through spot where you just have to exit. Although it does make sense to practice parking and driving with the dimensions of the new car with cones or something similar. I obviously have not driven mine yet, but the fact that you can’t see the hood at all does seem kind of weird and will take some getting used to.
