Best software / hardware to recover codes from 2004 Prius?

If manufacturers made this equipment available at a realistic price to customers, instead of supplying to the dealerships at an inflated price many more units would be sold and the price could be easily at or below the level of the VCI.
The manufacturers however wish to keep the very profitable secrets of service from there customers. It is no wonder people seek alternative suppliers to fill the requirements.

John (Britprius)

 

In the state of Massachusetts, they have a bill called the Right to Repair:
The Facts | Massachusetts Right to Repair

It has been a long trend, by manufacturers, to expropriate the means of maintenance from owners, which is really the same things as eliminating the concept of ownership. I hope the above trend catches on. If an electronic tool is so crucial to keeping a car running properly now, it ought to be available for a price that is not ludicrously inflated.

 

There is no reason why with the Prius fault code information and service tasks could have been done through the MFD. On my version of the car there are at leased three different methods of doing most tasks like turning on the radio.
If I wish to turn off the reverse beep it would be a trip to the dealer instead of setting the function through the touch screen. It's cheaper to buy the VCI by about 60%.
I would happily give up one of the methods of turning on the radio to accomplish this, but it could easily have been done through hidden buttons on the MFD as in the battery voltage check. This would cost pennies in production.
Getting rid of the spare wheel as in later cars would more than pay for a dedicated reader supplied with the car as part of it's tool kit.

John (Britprius)