I have 2026 Prius PHEV, and went to the drivein theatre and had issues with all the lights staying on (front headlights and rear red light across the back). The light stalk doesn't have a "off", just auto. Ended up using tape and garbage bags over the lights which is not ideal. Anyone have experiences with taking their Gen 5 prius to the drivein? Would replacing the light stalk add this ability which most other cars have which allow all lights to turn off?
wow I can't believe toyota didn't take drive ins into account when designing the light options. what about camping? are you sure there isn't an option on the info screen?
One option is to use the parking light position on your headlight stalk. You still have to tape up the rear light bar but at least the headlights are off. Your parking brake is on, right? It's not Toyota, it's Transport Canada. It's to tackle the phantom cars at night that drive with only DRLs because the instrument panel and MFDs are brightly lit so the driver coming from an older vehicle thinks their headlights are on. (esp if the manufacturer uses the headlights as DRLs)
we see a lot of that in Florida, people unfamiliar with rental car technology I suppose, thing their headlights are on, driving at night with drl's and no tail lights
As was said, this is a Canadian law, not a choice by Toyota. I'm pretty sure swapping out the stalk for one out of a US car would give you an OFF option. You'd want to double check the wiring diagram, but I'm pretty sure the only difference is in the stalk itself. You're looking for part number: 84329-33080 Toyota has used the identical part in a ton of cars over the last few years, so finding a nice used one would be very easy. After a quick search, I'm seeing $65-$80 USD used and $120 new. Apparently the windshield wiper stalk is also different in Canadian cars, but I don't know what the difference is. But the steering wheel switch that both stalks plug into is the same between US and Canadian cars, and there's no special Canadian wiring harness for the dash, so it's safe to say swapping the stalk is all you would have to do. It's a pretty easy job. Some annoying screws that hold the steering column cover on, and you need the correct socket for the steering wheel nut as well as a torque wrench when you put it back on.
Yes, parking brake is on, it's not an option to set DRL to off. Wow thanks so much for your response. Especially with part number. For less than 100, it's worth a try. I wonder if turning the lights off will also turn off the light bar at the back.. probably not, and will need to make something, maybe out of some thick material and magnet for when I go to the drive in. Another option I saw, which didn't seem to work that I'll play more with... is putting a flashlight on the sensor by the windshield and setting lights to auto.
It should since it's using that light sensor to turn on/off the headlights. Maybe use a small flashlight (like those keychain ones), put it inside a cup and place that cup upside down over the sensor so the sensor thinks it's "bright".
Swapping the stalks should turn a Canadian car into a US car for this particular case. So turning the stalk to OFF should turn off all lights, including the tail lights. The one negative is that the dash lights will default to full brightness. You can turn the infotainment screen off temporarily in the options panel, but you might still need a piece of paper to cover the gauge cluster. Your profile says you've got a PHEV, so the red LED strip in the dash shouldn't be quite as distracting at night as the blue LED in the HEVs. If you really want full darkness, you could consider getting one of the scan tools that can do the dealer configuration options. The LED strips can be turned off, but only by a dealer or someone with one of those scan tools. And I was thinking more about it, and I'm not sure you need to pull the steering wheel to swap the stalks. It's been about two years since I worked on that part of my car, so my memory is a bit fuzzy without having access to the repair manual. I think you can just remove the steering column covers and get access to the stalks without removing anything else. I think there are three screws holding the cover together; one from the bottom and one on each side. The ones on the sides are a royal PITA. It's a small allen screw and you have to access it through a "window" when the steering wheel is at a certain angle. If you have one, I would strongly recommend an allen bit in a screw driver rather than the standard right angle type of allen wrench. I used the latter and I remember having to blindly socket the allen wrench into the hole, rotate the screw about 1/3 of a turn, remove it, and repeat the process about 20 times while holding the steering wheel in the proper spot. And then do it all over 3 more times(remove the other side screw, then reinstall both again at the end). But once you get the covers off, swapping the stalk is super easy. One or two small screws that lock the stalk in, then gently prying at the tabs that hold it in while pulling the stalk out. It's just like unlocking a giant electrical connector. Then reverse the process to reassemble. Since you've got a PHEV, you've got those IR cameras on the top of your steering column. I think all it means is that you have to be a little more careful moving the upper steering column trim out of the way because it will have wires attached(in a HEV, it's just a piece of plain plastic). Since this should be a quick job to just swap the stalks, I would try just placing the trim gently on the side while you do the work. But if the wire is too short to move the trim out of the way, you might need to disconnect the trim while you do the work. Final note: It's a good idea to disconnect the 12V battery while doing this work. Some of the safety systems don't like being unplugged while they have power and might potentially throw a code. If you do end up having to remove the steering wheel, then I absolutely suggest disconnecting the 12V and waiting for 15-30min before disconnecting the air bag. You don't want to take even the smallest risk of having that thing go off in your face.
