Prius Always-on lights, fog lights and rear hatch openers

[bogeybob513]

Does anyone know if I can purchase aftermarket always-on lights for my 2006? They used to have them, but maybe on the upper option models?

Would also like to install after market fog lights. Any advise for same?

How about a rear hatch opener? First moderen car I've had that doesn't have one!

[Tideland Prius]

Aftermarket foglights would work fine. I'm not sure what you mean by the first line.

Also, lotsa cars don't have a internal hatch release. Matrix, RSX, Mazda3, Golf/Rabbit and tons of SUVs and minivans lol.

What would be cool is a powered hatch like the minivans/SUVs.

[David Beale]

If you mean DRLs, you can get a module that can be installed in most cars to perform this funtion. Check out Pep Boys or Autozone, they should have them.

[Beryl Octet]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bb513 @ Oct 22 2006, 11:20 AM) [snapback]336376[/snapback]</div>

How about a rear hatch opener? First moderen car I've had that doesn't have one!
[/b]

You mean a power hatch? It seems to be pretty simple, about every episode of Monster Garage shows them installing one, or some variation thereof. Just need a solenoid and an actuator.

[TonyPSchaefer]

You mean a power hatch? It seems to be pretty simple, about every episode of Monster Garage shows them installing one, or some variation thereof. Just need a solenoid and an actuator.[/b]

That makes me think about the post "what are the blank spaces next to the light rheostat for?"

You could very easily put the push button actuator in one of those blanks and probably make it look pretty darn "supposed to be there."

[Tideland Prius]

You can probably get one of those buttons from an RX. It seems to be roughly the same size as the 04/05 blanks.

[Ari]

As for day time running lights - at least on our 06 the lights come on if they are switched on and then go off when we shut down the car. Sounds a lot like DRL to me!

[David Beale]

Close, but "true" DRLs come on when the engine is started. They will be off if the parking brake is engaged. Taillamps are not on when the DRLs are on. Some vehicles use the front "parking lights" as DRLs, such as Chrysler mini-vans and RX-7s. They use yellow lamps and brighter than "parking light" bulbs. I'm not aware of any HID equiped vehicle that uses them as DRLs but I suppose they could. Many vehicles that use the headlamps (halogin) for DRLs run them in series to decrease the brightness and increase the life of the bulbs. I find this strange, as my education tells me running a halogen bulb at less than full voltage will actually decrease its' life. But whatever.

If I were to enable DRL on an American Prius, I would be tempted to use the "driving/fog" lights at full brightness rather than trying to use the HIDs or Halogen headlamps. This might cause problems with legality however.

Is there another bulb in the lamp assy that might be used? The RX-8 does this.

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(David Beale @ Oct 23 2006, 08:24 AM) [snapback]336756[/snapback]</div>

Close, but "true" DRLs come on when the engine is started. They will be off if the parking brake is engaged. Taillamps are not on when the DRLs are on. Some vehicles use the front "parking lights" as DRLs, such as Chrysler mini-vans and RX-7s. They use yellow lamps and brighter than "parking light" bulbs. I'm not aware of any HID equiped vehicle that uses them as DRLs but I suppose they could. Many vehicles that use the headlamps (halogin) for DRLs run them in series to decrease the brightness and increase the life of the bulbs. I find this strange, as my education tells me running a halogen bulb at less than full voltage will actually decrease its' life. But whatever.

If I were to enable DRL on an American Prius, I would be tempted to use the "driving/fog" lights at full brightness rather than trying to use the HIDs or Halogen headlamps. This might cause problems with legality however.

Is there another bulb in the lamp assy that might be used? The RX-8 does this.
[/b]

For Toyotas, the DRLs come on when the car is started AND the parking brake is released. On GM cars, the DRLs will go off when the parking brake is engaged but with Toyota, it'll stay on until you shut off as you've found out.

Lotsa cars use foglights as DRLs - Murano, A4, Navigator.

I suppose you could use the foglight mod that allows you to turn on the foglights independent of the headlights.

However, a word of caution. The foglight covers have a tendency to develop an internal crack due to the intense heat from the bulb and possibly the cold rain or snow on the outside.