2006 Toyota Prius Changes - semi-confirmed

[Danny]

It looks like some of the changes for the 2006 Prius are in wet concrete at this point:

http://hybridscoop.com/article/2006_toyota..._semi-confirmed

[priusham]

What the heck does this mean...

"Burgendy instrument panel color will be dropped and replaced with a dark gray textured grain trim"

Which Prius has a Burgendy instrument panel color? All I've ever seen is black?

Nice addition of the tire presure alert. The car already has ABS, so it is incredibly simple to have the computer detect a single wheel turning too fast and indicating a lower tire presure that when the reset button was calibrated!

A lot of people do not understand how this works - they think it has something to do with the actual tire presure, but the alarm only measures tire rotational speed and reports when a wheel is significantly out of sync with the others.

[bookrats]

Very interesting. Of course, it could be something someone faked up -- but all the items on the list have either been confirmed elsewhere (colors, change to grill styling (we've seen that in Europe)), or seem well within the bounds of reason.

A few speculations on my part:[list][*]I'm betting "advanced airbag system" probably means that they've added a sensor in the seat to detect weight, and then base the airbag explosive pressure on this.

It was a feature I was interested in when I first researched the Prius, and was somewhat disappointed to find out they didn't have. It is available in other cars (usually higher-end models).
[*]Agree re: tire pressure monitor -- very nice!
[*]Ah, the audio AUX-IN and the ability of the CD-player to play CDs with MP3s on them. Perhaps this will be a dealer add-on feature for earlier models!
[*]Since the rear camera is already available in the Japanese Prius, no surprise there.[list]
Finally, I'm not sure I'm clear yet on the colors. Let's inventory those 4 new exterior colors:[list][*]Salsa Red -> Barcelona Red Metallic[*]Tideland Pearl (Green) -> Silver Pine Mica[*]Millenium Silver Metallic -> Classic Silver Metallic[*]Which leaves us with: either Magnetic Gray, or Flint Mica?[list]
Flint Mica was an initial rumor, but at this point, I'm seeing more confirmation for the Metalic Gray. Or have I missed something?

Thanks very much to aridon99 and Danny for posting/summarizing this!

[wstander]

I have a 2005 Silver with the burgundy dash...only the curved section just above the wheel and the door ledges are burgundy. You have to get it into the sun for it to show very well though. The cloth is gray.
Go to the Toyota Prius website and check out the color palette listing for the interior. Although the color representation is horridly off, you will note the variation between the flat portion near the windscreen and the curved portion nearer the wheel.
As I said, the burgundy is not very noticeable without bright light (and even then it is not all that uhh, good looking<inmho>

[IsrAmeriPrius]

It looks like some of the changes for the 2006 Prius are in wet concrete at this point:

http://hybridscoop.com/article/2006_...semi-confirmed

Let me see if I got it right. Danny is referring to a Hybrid Scoop item which in turn relies on a message posted on Prius Chat as its source.

Over on PriusChat aridon99 has posted a pdf of a flyer given to him by a Toyota dealer of "What's new for 2006".

[bookrats]

Let me see if I got it right. Danny is referring to a Hybrid Scoop item which in turn relies on a message posted on Prius Chat as its source.

Yup. Though the summary he posted on Hybrid Scoop is pretty much a word-for-word summary of the PDF file (in fact, it's clearer, as there were some formatting problems in the PDF.)

[Danny]

Let me see if I got it right. Danny is referring to a Hybrid Scoop item which in turn relies on a message posted on Prius Chat as its source.

It's all circular, isn't it? I wrote the summary on HybridScoop and wanted to post it as news here since we have a surprisingly large number of visitors who only come to PC to read the news section.

[woemcats]

Wow, every new option would fix a problem I have with the car... I wanted a darker interior and especially MP3/aux support.

AHHH! Now I feel like I really should have waited another six months. Of course, since my old car died, I'm not sure I could have.

Nine days after I bought the car, Congress increased my potential tax savings by $2250. Now Toyota is adding the camera and aux input. I'll leave out the flat tire I got changed this morning (car was two weeks old at the time), since it's not really relevant to this post and I would just be venting.

[bookrats]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bookrats\";p=\"115234)</div>

I'm betting \"advanced airbag system\" probably means that they've added a sensor in the seat to detect weight, and then base the airbag explosive pressure on this.  

It was a feature I was interested in when I first researched the Prius, and was somewhat disappointed to find out they didn't have.  It is available in other cars (usually higher-end models).  
[/b]

Actually, having just read some articles on [url=http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=safe&subject=safe_tech&story=tec hAir&referer=advice&aff=national]airbag technology over at Cars.com, I'd like to retract my guess and eat crow.

After reading the article there (and elsewhere), it sounds as if that weight-based deployement isn't being implemented yet.

However, deployment that takes into account whether your seat belts are on or not are being implemented in cars; and really, this is probably the most useful criteria an airbag has.

As mentioned in the Car Talk article sited [url=http://priuschat.com/forums/info-about-airbags-vt1147.html]in this thread, by law, airbags are supposed to absorb impact for someone who is not belted in. That's way more force than is needed for someone who is belted in; and supposedly, that "extra force" is what has caused injuries in the past.

A system that takes into account whether you're belted in would mean that the potentially deadly "extra" force would not be used.