night interior lights

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 18 2007, 02:08 AM) [snapback]527234[/snapback]</div>

why not...is it just impossible or? i mean there has to be a light source right? or they are illuminated like the watch....

 

Once you get acustomed to the buttons, each has a different feel, you will be able to operate them by feel which is better than taking your eyes off the road. I believe they are dim to minimise distraction.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 18 2007, 08:45 AM) [snapback]527260[/snapback]</div>

I have the same opinion. Once you get used to them, they are bright enough.

As for being technically possible to make them brighter, sure, it can be done, but it's not an easy modification. You can modify your Prius to make it a rear engine car if you really want to. It's only time and money.

Tom

 

When I drive a manual car I don't need to look at the gear lever to find it or shift it.

 

I prefer controls on sticks
Buttons that rotate with the wheel are a nuisance working out what's where :mellow:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius2go @ Oct 18 2007, 06:15 PM) [snapback]527487[/snapback]</div>

Some sticks (stalks) rotate too, such as the cruise control on the Prius. Sometimes it's hard to find.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius2go @ Oct 18 2007, 04:15 PM) [snapback]527487[/snapback]</div>

My wife's Citroen C4 solved that in a very weird, but practical way... the center of the wheel, where the controls are... does not turn!!! only the external part of the wheel (the grip) rotates!!! so... no matter if you're turning... your radio, cruise control, telephone controls and horn never move!!

 

i vaguelly recall and its not verified and i most likely wrong, but i thought there was a way to adjust the brightness of the steering wheel lights with the dealer programmer

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rigormortis @ Oct 22 2007, 06:00 AM) [snapback]528723[/snapback]</div>

I was about to say the same thing. I think there is an obscure way to do it with the dealer programmer, I think I've even seen the Toyota chart showing the brightness settings available. I seem to remember reading about someone getting a dealer to crank up the lights, once they asked around at enough dealers to talk to a tech that was a Prius enthusiast.

I have been hoping that they will go the way of Citroen and make the hub of the wheel stay fixed. Steering wheel buttons are great but as they are now they are worthless when the wheel isn't in the dead-ahead position. And if you've seen the "catcher's mitt" shaped passenger airbags that have started showing up in Lexuses, it seems quite logical that they would try to apply the same tech to the driver's airbag, which will require that the airbag not rotate with the wheel.

Oh, if it's not apparent from my description, the purpose of making the airbag shaped like a catcher's mitt is to help guide the head and upper body of the passenger toward the center of the airbag. Since crashes aren't always neatly head on, oftentimes you would kind of tend to slide off the side of the airbag to some extent, even with seat belts.