2010 Prius, RDS? DRL? Fog lights?

Hi KD,

The Prius Team posted quite a few videos on iTunes about the NAV system that include radio stuff. It appears it will support RDS.

You can check out the post here:

http://priuschat.com/forums/2010-toyota-prius/60386-2010-prius-navigation-explanation.html

 

My dealer told me that I could get foglights added as a dealer option on the tech package (Only the canadian touring has foglights).

I forget the price he mentioned though.

 

I strongly agree with your excellent input about the lack of DRLs in U.S. 2010 models. Although not required in the U.S. DRLs certainly do seem to make approaching vehicles more visible during daylight hours. And - for those inconsiderate drivers that may not turn their headlights on soon enough at dusk, DRLs are very helpful.

Dissapointed in Toyota - absolutely. I'd have to believe any additional component cost would be minimal. It really makes no sense not to include them in the product sold here, as they are mandatory in Canada and other countries.

If, in fact, DRLs are NOT in production units initially sold here in the U.S. I was hoping someone would develop an aftermarket workaround. But now that I'm quite certain to get a V with LEDs, that may be more cumbersome. C'mon Toyota (Doug...) What gives here???? With the new Prius being marketed with the very latest safety features....? BTW - DRLs standard on the Insight.

And...while we're complaining - yes, completely agree with the bland fog light knockouts. Another inspiration to purchase the Model V... hmm....perhaps a Toyota marketing plan as an "incentive" for buyers to go with the V??? No......

 

Don't be surprised
http://www.nordicgroup.us/drl/

DRL's ineffectiveness has been mentioned an dausium on PC as well as other sites. btw the link to the NHTSA document is broke, again.

 

Can't say much at this point without seeing production units but we can confirm that we checked if the pre-production units were pre-wired and they were not. Sorry all.

DRLs: This is another topic we are always re-evaluating. As Doug has mentioned, each little component does add a cost and believe it or not, even when it comes to safety, not everyone in the US wants to pay for the DRLs to be standard. We're keeping this on our long list of items to study for the future.

As I'm sure you know, it's always difficult to determine what the majority of shoppers will want and what safety features are more important than others to the broad market. Prius/Toyota focussed on different standard features than Insight (for ex Vehicle Stability), DRL's just weren't in the cards for Prius this year. As always, we will note your feedback and continue to study it for future models.

Thanks,
Erica

 

I believe it is a law in some places that cars must have driving lights. Not 100% positive though

 

I'm not sure about US states, but AFAIK DRL's have been mandatory in Canada for many years, and in the EU (here I can say it with certainty, as I've worked on the legislative text ) equipping all new motor vehicles with Daytime Running Lights (DRL) has been mandatory as from 1 October 2003.

I would very much appreciate if a member of the Prius Team could inform us of how DRL's are integrated (if possible, in both headlight types - but in a pinch I'd be more interested in the LED version) in the headlight units.

 

I initially assumed the DRL would be the lamp just above the fog lamp, but it appears that's the indicator. I was confused by the amber segment in the headlamp cluster, which is a forward position marker for the North American lighting regulations. (Not required, not fitted, illegal actually I think, in EU, Japan, and anywhere else that follows ECE construction regulations.)

I think it may be the lamp above the main and dipped headlight lenses.

krouebi, Wikipedia says DRLs are mandatory in ECE R48 from 2011. There certainly aren't any on my car - well, unless you count the piddly position lamps as DRLs, and they're not permanently on so I don't think they count!

 

I guess what's confusing me about this DRL topic (whether one agrees they are valuable or not) Why does Toyota / Lexus include them as standard equip -for many years now on some models, but the Prius, not?

Of course that may lead to the topic of why Honda decided not to include 'Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) with Traction Control' standard in their base model. But that's THEIR issue. Certainly to minimize product cost for their base pricing. Honda is getting heat from some auto press for not including this important safety feature. Hope Toyota doesn't become tempted to do the same with Prius model I.

 

Sorry, Mike

"new motor vehicles" means new to the market, not existing ones. But you're right - the definite date has been pushed back umpteen times , but DRL's have definitely been mandatory on any NMW in the EU for 1½ or 2 years now, if not longer.

I'll try to find a link to the actual text, but not right away .

 

I won't argue the validity of DRL's (since you ARE a nice guy ) in SOME cases, and I'm biting my tongue to not go into a diatribe about it. When driving in Montana snow, we simply turn on the 400h's super bright headlights (whoops! biting tongue again!). GM, (not known for honesty) used to tout DRL's and had to back peddle.

GM has greatly revised its estimate of DRL effectiveness
DADRL comment: According to GM DRLs have saved 423 lives over the past 10 years. Given that there are around 40,000-45,000 traffic fatalities in the United States each year [NHTSA], GM's new statement acknowledges that the effectiveness of DRLs in saving lives is about 0.1%. This is far lower than previous claims from GM and NHTSA. Furthermore, to make such a claim is to be completely ignorant of statistical significance. Assigning a 0.1% factor to a single safety device is simply not possible. GM also claims they "can reference more than 85,000 crashes of all types that never happened." Can the claims get anymore senseless? I can reference two crashes that didn't occur yesterday: my commute to and from work. It's pretty clear that GM is really grasping to try to keep DRLs alive. DRL effectiveness has not been proven and GM knows it!

UPDATE: April 19, 2007
Realizing that they published such rubbish, GM decided to pull their claim of 423 lives saved over 10 years from the aforementioned webpage

Btw, one of my WAY cool mod's on the 400h is a DRL "OFF switch". Why would I want to run down the traction batteries on something I don't even like/want? It was soooo satisfying. But I know the 'other-side' has legions of fans too, so all you DRL lovers ... you're still loved.