Prius PIH Prius v Prius c Prius Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS) Impressions & Opinions

Gathered Fuel Miserz – Greetings all you new owners of the 2012 Prius cars with the government mandated Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS). You have owned and driven your new 2012s long enough to either have heard the VPNS or have had trouble hearing it or have not heard it at all, as may be the case.

What are your impressions and opinions of the automatic, Prius vehicle controlled and operated VPNS warning noise generation system?

Do you like Toyota’s implementation of the VPNS?

Do you have any anecdotal stories to tell us about the VPNS contributing to saving the lives of sight-impaired pedestrians, mall parking lot wandering grannies, unattended sprinting toddlers or driveway sleeping dogs and cats?

Except for the extra money I had to pay for the VPNS, as its cost is included in the 2012 Prius MSRP, I am neutral about it. 99.9% of time, I cannot hear it when it is suppose to be activated. I know it is making the VPNS noise, and functioning as it is designed to function, because I took it into the dealer right after I purchased my new 2012, and it checked out O.K. Since I cannot hear it, it is not a “NOISE†nuisance to me.

The 0.1% of the time when I can hear it, I can only just barely hear it like an audio version of a will-o'-the-wisp. I can detect the VPNS Warning Sound as it bounces off the interior walls of my garage, only if I back out in the EV Mode with the driver-side window rolled down.

I do not like Toyota’s implementation of a “WARNING SOUND†that cannot be heard 99.9% of the time. I would like to see a driver-operable “Up Volume Control†put into the VPNS.

So far, I cannot report that my VPNS has contributed to saving the lives of sight-impaired pedestrians, parking lot wandering grannies, errant toddlers or driveway sleeping dogs and cats? lane: