Summary of proposed improvements for future versions of Prius

MMM I am satisfied with everything but lighting. The under console storage area could be lighted and the mirror adj switch buttons as well as levers on steering wheel like my GM car. wipers, lights, turn sinal etc levers

 

I agree with everything you have said here, this is why I bought the model I have. Don't need or want options found on Prius IV and V

 

One wish I have for the current Prius is to provide and allow owners to easily upgrade their existing cars. It would be great if Toyota offered upgraded dash displays, upgraded GPS units with better resolution/features, ... I realize they are spending their NRE on the next model, but allowing owners to customize/upgrade their cars would increase customer loyalty and maybe even make money.

 

I LOL'd...as I remember the Olestra fiasco less than fondly...based upon personal experience and the above bolded area.

As for improvements to the car...I've only had my 2010 V for less than a week but here they are...

1) Do something about the rattles and squeeks. No new car, regardless of price should rattle and squeek. Period. I don't know if this is a fitment issue or a plastics quality issue...but something needs to be done about this.

2) Allow things such as reverse beep and seatbelt beep to be customizable by the driver via config screen...or even by virtue of previous Prius's (rub tummy, pat head, face Mecca, hop up and down, etc.). These configurations are modifiable, but one has to take their car to the dealership for the changes to be made. Not cool.

3) Have the passenger airbag light turn off after a minute or so. It's not a big deal during the day, but at night it can be somewhat annoying. I'm looking at fitting a small piece of tinted plastic or tape over the light. It would make more sense to me if a passenge sat in the seat, and the light came on as RED and said Passenger Airbag OFF...instead of it informing you that it is on...sort of backwards logic there.

4) I like the idea of a more colorful/customizable display..but I would assume that this would come at a cost...which I would be OK with as long as it isn't a ridiculously expensive thing to do...this is simply a "nice to have".

5) I like the idea of an iPod dock somewhere easy to access...but this is something I can engineer myself.

6) I would like to see a smaller compartment on the dash with a power outlet and USB port inside. One could stash (and plug in) a Nav unit there instead of having wires running to an outlet elsewhere in the car. I'm sort of anal about cable management. When these items are not in use, they could be store in the compartment, with the lid neatly closed. NOTE: I have Nav on this car as part of the advanced techno package, but I think a compartment like I mentioned could have myriad uses.

7) Better design for cupholder placement...this was better in the previous Prius. They LOOK cool in the Gen III Prius, and as long as you only have one drink, it's OK. But moving the console back to expose the other cupholder...then having the cup be in the way...not so good.

8) Someone mentioned warmers for the wipers...similar to the heating element for the rear window defroster. Good idea, my Volvo had that option and it worked great.

9) A pill to give Prius haters to help them see the light. Not the one at the end of the tunnel, as those are readily available, but rather the light that the Prius is a great car that is purpose built...and that not all Prius owners are f*rt sniffing, tree-hugging hippies with a smug attitude.

10) In F1 they use/used something called KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that can be used similar to a turbo button...it creates a short burst of additional energy that can be used for passing or to efficiently and simply gain additional speed. Something like that would be interesting to place on a Prius.

Overall, my impression of the Prius is quite good. However, there is still a stigma placed with owning one. I don't necessarily care what people think about what I drive, but it would be interesting to see what Toyota can come up with in terms of design that would make the Prius look "cool" yet still maintain it's aerodynamic efficiencies. I'm sure it can be done. This is one of the main reasons more people aren't buying these great little cars...because they look so "nerdy". I don't think they have to.

 

Ability to remove the center console for emergency egress by driver or passenger before help can arrive. Having been trapped in my gen 2 with a roof air bag deployment makes me want this option.

 

Put in extendable sun visors like pic'd below in Prius. I like them better than the slide-out extender I saw in a Tacoma one time.

Might not seem like much, but when the sun in shining from the side, it's much safer to have it blocked out than take a hand off the wheel to block with hand, etc...

btw, both driver and passenger visors have this.

 

Hi Bob...,

You are absolutly right. Besides this center console being a space robber, a braking hazard, a NVH disaster, and requiring excessive amounts of heavy plastic to make a quality build, its also an egress issue! In my 2006 accident, I had to do exactly that. Scramble across the front seat and get out the passenger side door. As the left door was 3 feet from traffic on I 355 in a blind curve.

In a hurried, decision accuracy error prone situation, I could have seen myself trying to get out the driver door and stumbling in front of a car doing 65 mph. Rather than crank the seat all the way down, worming backwards into the rear seat, and then out the rear passenger seat. Getting over the console, would have been impossible with the steering wheel in the way.

God, whoever came up with that center console needs to seriously find another profession!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

+1 lose floating bridge console in 4th gen. Can we just get a hybridized Accord type interior ...it's working for me

 

Hi All,

A big disappointment I had with the Nav, was it does not display a digital representation of heading and speed. How dumb an oversight is that?! I mean, that is one of the great things about GPS, is it can give a true velocity display. Yet, they do not even have it output on the NAV!

 

Hi Macmaster,

There is technology out there that would prevent the wheel getting any hotter than a specific temperature. Its called PTC Thermistor. Its what is used in the Prius defrosting side mirrors actually. When the thermistor gets hot, its resistance goes up. At a design temperature, the current flowing in the wheel is so small, it can't get any warmer. If the enviormental temperature is hotter than the design temp, the resistance is even higher, resulting in even less current flow, and no increase in temp.

Warming the air is wasteful, as it allows the heat to flow out by conduction where the air touches the interior surfaces of the car. But, some interior cabin surface heating is needed to maintain visibility.

Your body typically has enough heat, properly insulated (like with sheep-skin seat covers) to keep one warm, except where the hands are exposed and have to remain extended away from the body to operate controls.

 

My thoughts thus far, upon owning my Gen3 for all of 3 weeks:

- allow the auto-dimming rearview mirror to get darker...much darker! I have a piece of semi-opaque tape on the sensor area of the rear view mirror, but it's still not dark enough when headlights are shining behind you. This shouldn't be such a difficult thing to accomplish!

- If you have to have that floating bridge console, at least make it lower or a concave shape. Unless you have gorilla arms, it's not easy to reach for something on the passenger seat. I have to contort myself if something falls on the passenger side floor. It is wasting space and for no good reason. The 'storage' underneath the console is kind of a joke--there's got to be a better way to design the console bridge.

- Move the digital clock to a different spot, closer to the steering wheel and make it larger.

- Put some kind of rubber grip on the leading edge of the tonneau cover to help keep fingers off the cover itself and keep it clean(er). I have misty gray and there are dark fingerprints already from me needing to get something out from the hatch area. I like to the keep that cover closed at all times.

 

Careful here! Which sensor are you talking about and where is it located?
If you put semi-opaque tape on the sensor used to detect the headlights from a vehicle behind you, then you'll actually disable the auto-dimming functionality!

 

Nope. It's the one on the back of the rear view mirror. This DIY mod has been discussed as early as Gen2.

 

Time to wash your hands

 

I drove sixteen hours in my new Prius yesterday, 6 of them at night. I must say that the dash display cast an annoying glare on the inside of my windshield that was very distracting. I turned the intensity down as far as possible and this helped, but I had to choose between my highbeam indicator annoying my nightvision with reflection, or driving through the dark desert with my lowbeams on. Im taller than average at 6'-3", but it seems like issue this could be improved.

 

I wish that All of the interior lights were operated by the dimming control! You can turn off most of the display at night but not the green indicators or the blue highbeam indicator. I've put black tape over the orange Passenger indicator above the glove box. Why do I need an indicator telling me that the seat is empty? I may do the same thing with the blue highbeam indicator.

With the cruise control set at 75 mph, I don't need to see anything inside the car other than the fuel gauge once in a while.

 

It would be great if the data and graphs (as seen in post #17) were availabe through an Android/Ipod App.

I would also like 1) electric seat and stearing column with 2 driver memory for seat, column and outside mirrors. 2) LED fog lamps that match the LED Headlamps. The Headlamps are currently much brighter. 3) Hoping that when the new Entune Multimedia System is available (being introduced on the Prius v) it will allow use of the Navigation available on the SmartPhone attached. The Toyota Navigation seems way behind the times. I currently use Google Navigaton instead of the built in Nav.

 

1. I wish there were a latch inside the car to open the hatch. Further, I wish there were a separate button on the remote to pop open the hatch. I had this on my Saab and it was very handy. Sometimes I don't want to open the hatch via my touching the back hatch SKS.

2. Power driver's seat w/memory

3. ability to change angle of driver's seat (making for an 8-way adjustment like most modern cars)

 

Re-program the computer to remember not only the previous power mode settings such as "Normal" and "Eco", but "PWR" as well. Every time I turn the car off and re-start, it remembers the previous power setting-except for "PWR"! My gas mileage does not really suffer if I use "PWR" all the time, but I get annoyed at having to turn it on every time I use the car. Grrrr!