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Steering wheel buttons - malfunction

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by glutaman, Nov 7, 2016.

  1. glutaman

    glutaman Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
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    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    New Prius owner here - got the car about 2 months ago.

    You know how the steering wheel buttons legend comes up as soon as you touch a button? Since the weather got colder here in Dublin, Trip is showing up as if it's being touched and this persists until the cabin becomes warm! Buttons work fine, but this is becoming annoying.. Any ideas how to battle this?

    I've connected this issue with low temperature as if the day isn't too cold or if car is parked in direct sunlight, this issue doesn't come up.
     
    #1 glutaman, Nov 7, 2016
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    The way those buttons work is described in the New Car Features Manual. They're a double-decker rubber sandwich. Both functions (the Touch Tracer display when you press lightly, then the real function when you press harder) are mechanical, pressure contacts (that is, it isn't doing anything fancy like capacitive touch for the tracer display).

    I imagine your cold temps are stiffening/shrinking the rubber just enough to count as a bit of button pressure. I don't know if there's any way to separate/clean/condition that rubber sandwich, or if all you can do is replace it. The dealer, of course, would just replace it (for a pretty penny, it seems; I'd probably try to get one from a recycler).

    I see this other report is similar (even down to Trip being the button getting ghost-pressed), though that one doesn't mention cold temps.

    I guess one option would be turning the Touch Tracer display off.

    -Chap
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Nov 7, 2016
    glutaman likes this.
  3. glutaman

    glutaman Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
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    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Perfect example why I love this forum, thank you very much for the extremely detailed reply as well as the technical info. Now I also know the correct terms!

    Wasn't a big fan of the tracer display so I've disabled it and off we go, because no thanks to anything near this:
     
    #3 glutaman, Nov 8, 2016
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