Under dash lighting

If you are referring to the puddle lights at the bottom of the doors, those are standard; at least they were in the 2005 model year.

 

I've never heard of under dash lights as an option in a Prius so I imagine if you want them the dealer may be having them installed by an auto electrician for you. In this case, no I don't think there will be a loom in place for them. I'm not even sure why you want them but if you do that's fine. Surely it wouldn't be hard to install a couple of LED lights under the dash by hooking into the wiring going to the door courtesy lights.

 

This is an option on the JDM and European models called "footwell lighting". I'm not sure if any US dealers offer it, but I haven't seen it listed in the Prius book. There is no harness pre-installed, but you can get the JDM kit that plugs into the factory connectors as a pass-through. The kit costs around $100 and is fairly easy to install if you have average mechanical aptitude.

Go to the Prius page on http://www.sigmaautomotive.com or do a search here on PC for footwell lighting.

Here's a starting place:

http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/jdm/prius/m...lightingkit.pdf


[attachmentid=12576]

 

Very pretty.

 

I don't know why Toyota left this out, since many American cars come with it as a standard. It would probably cost them $5 to put it in as an OEM, would look cool and would be useful for finding things on the floor at night. The interior lighting is already a bit on the minimal side and I think the footwell lighting would have been a good addition. It's one of the mods on my list when I get around to it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Nov 22 2007, 11:13 PM) [snapback]543090[/snapback]</div>

Oh great that is what I would like is green lights on my feet.
Being from Oregon the Moss state, I would really like to have
my feet look like they are Moldy......

I myself prefer Red or Blue, but everyone likes different things
otherwize we would all be driving the same car and same color....

2008 Prius Pkg#5
Seaside Pearl with 1,200 miles

 

When things like this come up I just tell myself that Toyota built a pretty darn good car for the money. There's a lot of technology packed in to this $25k car, and a lot of conveniences... yeah, there's a few things missing, but overall it's still a great package.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JSL @ Nov 23 2007, 10:32 AM) [snapback]543246[/snapback]</div>

If you're handy I'd probably find the wire that leads from one of the other interior lights and wire up a couple of lights under there. My initial thought would be to use a relay as there is a risk that the lights may end up dimming but then the foot well lights would come on instantly while the others would fade on. I'd probably just tap in and cross my fingers that the other interior light didn't get noticeably dimmer. The easiest way though would be to plop down the $$ for that kit someone posted and just swap out the green lights (assuming other light colors aren't an option).

Mike

 

and you would waste $100 why?

wehn you could go to an auto parts store, buy the bulbs and install them yourself like i did?

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=3...mp;#entry534562

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JSL @ Nov 23 2007, 10:32 AM) [snapback]543246[/snapback]</div>

You can always hand the dealer the info on the light kit and tell them to install it for you before you take delivery. They're not going to lose a sale over $100. As far as the green, I don't know if the dealer will mess around with changing the bulbs to clear, but you could always ask or do it yourself. I don't know about these, but sometimes the 'green' coating is just a translucent vinyl cover that slips onto a clear bulb.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Conine @ Nov 23 2007, 01:08 PM) [snapback]543325[/snapback]</div>

Because it gives you an easy to install plug and play kit with a timer so the lights go off after the doors are closed. I don't know how yours are wired, Conine, but I'm guessing they are tied to the dash light circuit so they are always on when the park lights are on. IMO, this would annoy me while driving at night. I plan on doing what you did either with neon or with LED's but plan on making my own timer circuit and tying it into the dome light control circuit similar to the JDM kit. I might also add an override switch so I can turn them on when I want. It'll probably cost me way more than $100 of my time, but that's just me and I'm nuts that way.

 

I think floor lighting is a take it or leave it feature. It's pretty rare for the floor to suddenly grow an obstacle while I'm out of the car so normally, well every time up to now the floor and anything on it is pretty well where it was when I got out of the car.
My wife's car always has an accumulation of crap on the passenger side floor so floor lighting would do 2 things I guess, a passenger could see where to squeeze their feet between the crap and she could be shamed by it even on dark nights.
I can only recall one car that I have driven at night that had floor lighting, that was a 1970s Monaro, it was quite novel but I can't say I have missed it in every car since.

I still think if you take the Prius post purchase to an auto electrician they could fit under dash lights very cheaply and wire them into one of the door courtesy lights. Hooking in extra lights wouldn't dim the existing ones. Go the whole hog and put lights under the back end of the front seats to light the rear floor too! My son would say “PIMPINNn!â€

Enjoy your new car and be sure to post some pics of the illuminated floor for us poor people.

 

Ok, I have read all post on this under dash lighting subject. I do not prefer the footwell lighting which shuts off after 15 seconds. I want to have full control to switch ON and OFF the light.

Can anyone list step by step instructions how to add under dash lighting? perhaps instructional pictures or videos? I have never done any wire tapping to 12V... I dont even know where the 12V line is.

Another thing, I read somewhere, you can use the IKEA LED, which they sell for ambient light behind a flat panel TV, for the under dash lighting. That gives nice & crisp white glow, for $50. Anyone have this mod?

THANK YOU

 

IKEA and other places (hardware stores, department stores, etc.) sell battery powered lights for use in closets and such. They are more like $5, not $50. Should work well and give full on/off control if that's what you like. You may need some stick-on Velcro to attach it to the car.