2016 Prius "Auto Dash Illumination"

You tried to change the brightness with the roller knob to the lower left of the steering wheel and nothing happened? The roller knob should be a little below the "full brightness" position for the inside lights to dim when the headlights are on.

 

With my 2016 US-model Prius Four, with the dash brightness set one "click" less than full high, it behaves as you want: bright in daylight, dim at night. (With dash brightness set at full high, the display is bright always.) Maybe it's time to take to your dealer.

 

When you say "dash" what exactly are you referring to:

The small screens on the top of the dashboard (speedometer, etc?)

Or the large black screen in the center stack with radio/navigation?

Or BOTH?

Now you have me curious. I have the Three model (with navigation.) My "auto dimming/brightening" works well, but only the large radio/navigation screen changes intensity automatically. I've never seen the two small screens on top of the dashboard automatically dim or brighten... I have to do adjust those manually, using the switch mentioned earlier. (And they are pretty bright at night. I decreased the brightness 4 clicks, and that setting is also fine in the day.)

For the large black Nav screen only. I noticed in the "settings" you can turn the auto dimming feature on or off.

 

Mine doesn't do it either. (Or I'm not noticing it.) The small screens on top always stay at whatever brightness level I set them at.

Only the big Nav screen auto dims in my car.

How about the rest of you guys? Do ALL your screens automatically dim or brighten?

 

Update on mine. Both of the small upper screens AND the big Nav screen do auto dim/bright. I had to drive through a dark airport tunnel to see it work.

I also went into the settings and changed the auto headlights to the highest sensitivity. Now they come on much sooner when entering a dark area. That may have helped with the screens? I doesn't know. But they now work.

 

I put a book over the sensor (it's the black nickel sized "button" in the middle of the dash up by the window) around noon today.

Both the large and small and displays decreased in brightness to the point they were hardly readable in the daylight.

 

Hiker, good idea. Why didn't I think of that?

"I doesn't know." (I need an edit button.)

 

Oops, I'm so sorry. I was thinking of my '05. I forgot the 2016 controls because I usually set the brightness and forget it. It's the up down arrows.

 

Well, that sure sucks! Shame on Toyota. I think there's also three or four other things they eliminated in the Two model. (Something about the way the doors lock?)

Anyway, that's ridiculous. The Two model should have the same basic features as the other non-touring models.

 

And yet they needed to run diagnostic tests to reach that conclusion!

Any reasonable person seeing that sensor -- or reading a PDF of the manual which they make available to the public prior to buying a car -- would assume that it works. Perhaps I missed it, but I could find no mention in the owner's manual that this feature only applies to more expensive models.

I see auto dimming as a safety issue. Too bad certifying class action claims is not an easy process-- if what the dealer said is true, Toyota put a good deal of money in its pockets by denying 2 buyers this basic feature.