Fix for difficulty seeing red arrows on Energy Monitor Screen in daylight (2010 Prius II)?

[fuzzy1]

Originally Posted by KJF

In my Owner's Manual (US version), this Meter, navigation system, instrument panel customization on p. 583 refers back to p. 181 which describes the Gauges and Meters (not the Auto Light on p. 206 which has to do with the headlights). ...

My bad. I must be suffering age-related dyslexia. Or is that called dementia? I forget ...

[KJF]

I finally got my Toyota dealer to agree to customize the afore-mentioned instrument panel brightness so that I can see if the red parts of the displays are more visible in the daytime. To get this done without paying the $38 shop rate for 1/2 hour, I resorted to threatening them with my latest Toyota survey that I recently received via e-mail and have yet to complete. The dealer's customer service relations person called Toyota who said that I was the first and only one to complain of this issue. Toyota told them to do the customization for no charge and asked that I share the results on PriusChat. (I had told them I had posted my difficulty on this site and others said they were having the same problem and no one had reported trying this customization to see if it solved the problem.) So I will be making my apointment for this in the near future and will post my results.

[DaveinOlyWA]

i agree with John that the HSI screen shows so much more than the old energy screen. plug the "no arrow" driving mode for glide is not that easy to do anymore. the delta for "no arrow" glide is either much smaller or non-existent.

now as far as threatening a bad survey for freebie tweeks, i would have gone for a more accurate consumption meter (MPG screen)

[spiderman]

This is probably a real dumb comment but did you all try to adjust the instrument panel dimmer switch on the lower left of the dash? I turned mine all the way up (to a click) and I can see everything real well (headlights/markers on).

Peter

[CivicQc]

Originally Posted by spiderman

This is probably a real dumb comment but did you all try to adjust the instrument panel dimmer switch on the lower left of the dash? I turned mine all the way up (to a click) and I can see everything real well (headlights/markers on).

I tried that switch last time I drove the new Prius at the dealer, and it changed nothing to the energy monitor display brightness...

[radiocycle]

Originally Posted by KJF

I finally got my Toyota dealer to agree to customize the afore-mentioned instrument panel brightness so that I can see if the red parts of the displays are more visible in the daytime. To get this done without paying the $38 shop rate for 1/2 hour, I resorted to threatening them with my latest Toyota survey that I recently received via e-mail and have yet to complete. The dealer's customer service relations person called Toyota who said that I was the first and only one to complain of this issue. Toyota told them to do the customization for no charge and asked that I share the results on PriusChat. (I had told them I had posted my difficulty on this site and others said they were having the same problem and no one had reported trying this customization to see if it solved the problem.) So I will be making my apointment for this in the near future and will post my results.

Excellent KJF,

Is this the 'customization' on page 583 where the function is listed as "Sensor sensitivity for darkening the brightness of the meter, navigation system and instrument panel depending on the outside brightness" and "Sensor sensitivity for returning the brightness of the meter, navigation system and instrument panel to the original level depending on the outside brightness"? The custom range being from -2 to +2 and the default setting is 0?

If so, I asked my dealer about it and he didn't know anything about it. I mentioned it here but didn't get any responses, so I'll be very interested in how your appointment goes. Maybe we'll even find out which setting (-2 to +2) does what for which parameter.

radio

[KJF]

Originally Posted by CivicQc

I tried that switch last time I drove the new Prius at the dealer, and it changed nothing to the energy monitor display brightness...

I agree that the instrument panel dimmer switch does not fix this daytime problem.

Originally Posted by radiocycle

Is this the 'customization' on page 583 where the function is listed as "Sensor sensitivity for darkening the brightness of the meter, navigation system and instrument panel depending on the outside brightness" and "Sensor sensitivity for returning the brightness of the meter, navigation system and instrument panel to the original level depending on the outside brightness"? The custom range being from -2 to +2 and the default setting is 0?
radio

Yes, this is the customization that I will be experimenting with.

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

i agree with John that the HSI screen shows so much more than the old energy screen. plug the "no arrow" driving mode for glide is not that easy to do anymore. the delta for "no arrow" glide is either much smaller or non-existent.

now as far as threatening a bad survey for freebie tweeks, i would have gone for a more accurate consumption meter (MPG screen)

I agree that I am getting good info from the other screens - I still want to see if this helps (there is also hard-to-see-red on the HSI screen too). There is nothing else I want free at this point. What do you mean about going for a more accurate consumption meter (MPG screen)?

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by KJF

What do you mean about going for a more accurate consumption meter (MPG screen)?

well, this is my 3rd Prius, i have tracked every drop of gas put in all 3 and in the 70,000 driven between the previous 2,

the TOTAL discrepancy between the MFD and the pump calculations dont add up to the differences i have seen in the first 2500 miles of my 2010...(ok...maybe exaggerating that a bit)

now, i am not really complaining as its obvious that the 2010 is an improvement. its faster (i guess, dont really ever try it but they all say it is...) bigger (there is indisputeable proof of that. we have a stroller... ya know the one with the big wheels, even when folded it takes up a lot of space. in the SPM, i have to put in one side at a time to make it fit... on the 2010, drop it straight in with a little extra room on both sides to boot) and it does get better gas mileage.

so even without mentioning the cool bells, etc... its better which makes me wonder, what happened to make the mileage tracking so far off?

but i guess its all off topic...so, back to the umm...what were we talking about?

[KK6PD]

Originally Posted by fuzzy1

deleted, to hide possible evidence of dementia.

"Mans got to know his limitations!"
. Harry Callahan

[CivicQc]

Originally Posted by KJF

I finally got my Toyota dealer to agree to customize the afore-mentioned instrument panel brightness so that I can see if the red parts of the displays are more visible in the daytime. To get this done without paying the $38 shop rate for 1/2 hour, I resorted to threatening them with my latest Toyota survey that I recently received via e-mail and have yet to complete.

Dear KJF,

please do not hesitate to share the results with us. I am particulary interested in knowing whether this solves the problem, and also if doing so makes the night brightness too high.

I hope that for those of us who have not ordered their prius yet, that sort of setting (and the reverse beep) can be done as a pre-delivery "customisation step" for free by the dealer...