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Previous: "Greek" spa sign | Main | Next: BestBuy.com menu
August 26, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: Prius nav system
Kenton Varda writes:
While not nearly as broken as the Hummer nav system discussed previously, the navigation system on my brand-new Toyota Prius is not without its quirks. Here we see a picture of the destination selection page.
If the car is moving, all buttons except "emergency" are disabled, preventing you from entering a destination. Presumably this is to deter stupid drivers from trying to type while driving. However, more often it simply prevents an otherwise unoccupied passenger from working the nav system.
The car computer is perfectly capable of detecting the presence of a passenger, as demonstrated by the passenger-side seat belt light. Why can't it leave the controls enabled if someone is sitting there?
Becuase people would put a sack of potatoes on the passenger seat, type while its moving and kill someone. Then there would be 4 lawsuits all suing the car manufacturer.
Big companies have to assume that stupid people will do everything and then they will get sued.
e.g. a button to turn off airbags, I have friends who turn them off 'becuase they heard of a woman in Florida getting killed', and then they look at me like I'm an idiot when I refuse to get in till they turn it back on. People are stupid on average I find...
Not really broken....
These people make a fix, or maybe enhancement for it.. And since it's the same as a Lexus NAV you can cut the speed sensor wire and put a switch in.
http://www.coastaletech.com/nav_kit.htm
I hate things that try to protect idiots..
Here's a much better design idea: put the display on a swivel. When it's turned toward the driver and the car is on, disable most functions. But when it's turned toward the passenger (and out of the view and reach of the driver), leave everything on.
What do you think?
I have a Prius and also realized that it's an extension of their legal disclaimer that they make you accept every time you turn on the nav system. Why can't they get me to accept a blanket waiver? What if I pull aside into a legal shoulder, put on my emergency flashers, then get hit by another car? I'll sue then, for sure, since they could have easily avoided making me do this. So it doesn't really save them from legal liability. If I'm wrong, then they are still wrong because they didn't explain it to me and they made me needlessly think they are idiots.
I have a Prius and also realized that it's an extension of their legal disclaimer that they make you accept every time you turn on the nav system. Why can't they get me to accept a blanket waiver? What if I pull aside into a legal shoulder, put on my emergency flashers, then get hit by another car? I'll sue then, for sure, since they could have easily avoided making me do this. So it doesn't really save them from legal liability. If I'm wrong, then they are still wrong because they didn't explain it to me and they made me needlessly think they are idiots.
Oh, the power button is great! See, the car detects when the keys inside of it, so you don't have to pull them out of your pocket. Just hit power.
And, yeah, the whole car is controlled by a computer. I guess that is sort of scary, but since it's a car, the engineers can't get away with writing crappy software.
Kinda strange I was able to jumpstart the car with a 12volt weedeater battery when I left my lights on.. I'm waiting for the blue screen of death..
What's with the "P" button, "Please press P to engage park". What happens when you're tooling down the hiway and someone pushes P? Do you come to a screeching halt? I guess you need to read the complete owner's manual to know what is going on. Not intuitive.
Damn you, person-who-can-afford-package-6!
I want a Prius :(
And Tom, if the nav system won't let you enter a destination while in motion, do you think the Park button would work?
Yeah, I'm sure the park button would not work when moving. The computer is smart like that. But, no, I'm not going to test it. :)
> Damn you, person-who-can-afford-package-6!
We're hiring! ;)
I also have a Prius with this NAV system. If you /really/ need to use the nav while driving, but you don't want to modify the car, you can hit this sequence to allow the use of any buttons.
Menu -> Volume -> upper left corner (volume icon) -> lower left corner -> Upper left corner -> lower left corner -> press and hold "override" until it beeps. -> back -> ok
Now you can do anything you want. Granted, I'd like it to know that the passenger was doing the button pushing, and simply allow it, but then I'd just keep my backpack in the passenger seat.
What's /really/ broken is the reverse-beep. I requires a button pushing dance to disable, but the default is on! Look it up at PriusChat.com if you want to know th dance.
As far as the Park, Power, etc. buttons. Things only work when it's a good idea for them to work. it beeps at you to let you know you shouldn't try to go into [reverse|park] while moving. The power button is nice because then you don't need to take the key out of your pocket to unlock/start the car (on some packages)
In other countries you can get some really neat add-ons that wouldn't be practical on a 'normal' car. You can get a "Auto-Park" button, for parallel parking, and also a side mirror that tilts down automatically when you go into reverse. the 2006 model has a backup camera option that displays on the nav screen when you are in reverse, and yu can add it aftermarket to the 2004/2005.
> What's /really/ broken is the reverse-beep.
I don't see what the big deal is with this. It only beeps inside the car.
PLEASE DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE PRIUS' POWER BUTTON! The car is an electric car, OK?!?! The whole thing is a technical marvel and works brilliantly! The thing gets 71 miles per gallon off the lot, and modified versions get 250 MILES PER GALLON. When all of the oil is gone, and there's no more countries to attack for their supply, you'll wish your car had a power button, too.
"the park button won't work while the car is moving."
I wonder if it comes off if the car starts rolling.
*clicks power button*
"BEEP!! I'm afraid I can't do that dave"
"I wonder if it comes off if the car starts rolling."
Doubt it. The software most likely checks the speed of the car once, when the button is pressed, not continuously. Checking it continuously would be more work and would only be a bad thing, as you point out.
"The thing gets 71 miles per gallon off the lot,"
Whoa, there. I like my car, but the best I've done so far is 47mpg. Also note that the plug-in mod only means that the oil is being consumed at a power plant rather than in your car, so claiming you get 250mpg out of it is misleading.
"When all of the oil is gone"
There's enough oil in Canada to last a very, very, very long time. It's just slightly more expensive to harvest than in the middle east, so they haven't started doing so. And when the oil supplies really do dry up, it will be gradual, with prices going up steadily over a long period. The economy will naturally react to this by finding other sources of energy.
In any case, my Prius is going to be long dead before that happens.
I do like polluting less, though.
This is broken, but not in the way stated. For the price these stupid cars go for and the price you pay for the nav system, it should be done on a voice controlled heads-up display. As it is, the driver has to look at the stupid thing to follow directions anyway, taking his eyes off the road and risking a crash. NO system used while driving should require looking at it beyond glancing slightly down to see your speed. All car radios should be operable with one hand and NO eyes. Anything else is broken on a car.
"The thing gets 71 miles per gallon off the lot, and modified versions get 250 MILES PER GALLON."
Sorry Larry but you are a crackpot. The Prius got 35 mpg at best in real world tests and it does a lot worse than that if you have to do freeway driving. As far as your claims of 250mpg, I will pay you one million dollars for a car that runs at normal speeds under normal conditions (not downhill all the way) 250 miles and consumes a total of one gallon of gasoline as its sole source of energy. One million dollars Larry. That's your reward if you can prove you are not a big fat liar.
Here is information about how the Prius' only get 35mpg during normal driving conditions.
My car is not a hybrid and gets better mileage. Hybrids are a scam. It's all BS.
Try renting one for a wek to get your real world testing. I've had mine since march, and have an average of 46.660 MPG. I live in Seattle, and drive daily to Kent, WA, about 27 miles each way. I have done a few long weekend camping trips, and weekend grocery runs. It doesn't get more real-world then that. Don't believe my number? try my website http://gunn.ath.cx/projects/prius/gas.html for a real-life graph. I've read that article, and the only way to get 35MPG is to drive like a maniac, and go 75+ on the highway. Accelerating too hard and braking too hard don't help either.
i own that car and had the same problem. the fix is this: break the toyota emblem off the front and glue a honda one on... everything will work fine after that.
> Why can't it leave the controls enabled if > someone is sitting there?
Just because there's a passenger doesn't mean it's the passenger diddling the controls and not the driver.
The Prius got 35 mpg at best in real world tests and it does a lot worse than that if you have to do freeway driving.
Last year, I drove from Sunnyvale to San Diego, CA and around a bit in SD -- 505 miles -- on less than one tank of gas. I repeated the feat a couple of weeks ago. Right now, I'm getting about 47mpg. This is normal.
For the price these stupid cars go for and the price you pay for the nav system, it should be done on a voice controlled heads-up display.
In fact, the nav system has voice activation and gives voice guidance. You do not have to look at the screen while driving. However, current voice recognition technology doesn't really work for street names, so you do have to type addresses (before you start driving).
The Prius got 35 mpg at best in real world tests and it does a lot worse than that if you have to do freeway driving.
The article you cite says that some driving test showed the Prius getting 35mpg city and "much closer to EPA estimates" on the highway. EPA says it gets 51mpg on the highway. In other words, the article you quote explicitly states that the Prius gets damned good highway milage.
As for the 35mpg city driving part, it's just plain wrong anyway. I get 45mpg in the city. I'm not just making that up.
"the fix is this: break the toyota emblem off the front and glue a honda one on... everything will work fine after that."
then it will start leaking and break down :)
stick a mazda badge on and it will last forever.
Anyone can get 50 MPG in a Prius on the highway, just set the cruise control at 65 MPH or lower and I'll guarantee that you will get at least 50. I typically get in the mid 50s for a mixture of highway/suburban/city driving. You'd have to drive the car hard (or for short trips only) to get milage in the 30s, and that kind of driver would probably get milage in the teens in a conventional car.
I just got a 2006 Prius and I am unable to stop the navigation system after I reach my destination. It just keeps talking. How do I stop it please?
The Nav system override sequence talked about doesn't work on the 2006 Prius. Why not? Further, Coastaletech's override electronics are only available for 2005 and earlier so I can't even buy something to override the grey out on my nav system. Help. Has anyone figured out how to override the nav system grey out in a 2006 Prius?
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: "Greek" spa sign | Main | Next: BestBuy.com menu
aaahh, that power button frightens me. it looks just like the one on my computer. if my car crashed as much as my computer, i wouldnt be alive today.
o yea, this is broken. the navigation system was probably developed quite seperately, and no one wanted to try to integrate it any more than nessicary.
Posted by: gmangw at August 26, 2005 12:42 AM