Lame Prius "Features"
Jun. 8th, 2007 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
recalcitranttoyThe really good news about the Prius is that it's owned by enough geeks to have figured out hacks to squelch some of these truly annoying "features." Now don't get me wrong, I love the car, and its really cool features far outweigh the annoying ones, especially since I am indeed planning to "reverse engineer" the most annoying ones. Anyway, here's the list:
1) The backup camera. What crazy person who doesn't have a neck created THIS thing? Whenever you put the car in reverse, whatever was on your display screen goes away and you have instead this fisheye type view of whatever is behind you. Well oh freaking joy! Not only that, but you get this utterly annoying BEEPING sound like you're driving a trash truck in reverse. Luckily, there is a hack to remove the beep, and another to switch the backup camera on whenever you want to, not just in reverse. So if there's something hilarious behind you that you'd like a better look at. Now if only we could hook that up to a recorder so that I can drive in front of Dick Cheney and record his gestures as I speed up and slow down in very annoying ways....
2) The "protect from the telephone" device. *ARGH* Maybe it's just because I'm a pilot and used to doing umpteen things at once while keeping an aircraft's altitude while completing a 45 degree bank turn in zero visibility while eating a sandwich and talking to air traffic control, but sheesh, don't tell me I can't ask the passenger to dial a phone number on the touch screen while I'm driving the car. The Prius "helpfully" greys out the options to make anything but speed dial calls when the car is in motion. Of course, there is a hack for this which entails cutting the speed sensor wire that is attached to the phone system and replacing it with a switch. Damn, I hate "nanny" features.
3) See annoyance above and add changing destination on the navigational system. So there you are, driving along in the middle of nowhere and you discover to your dismay that you need a bathroom NOW. No, you can't ask your passenger to press the appropriate icons and find a restaurant nearby. That's not allowed. I wonder what dumbass came up with THAT idea. Luckily, there is another speed sensor wire (same color even) that can be snipped which will take care of that little issue.
So...happy me will likely go out and play more with Booger today and do more reading on the nifty cool features and nifty cool hacks while perhaps getting some actual work done at the same time :-).
1) The backup camera. What crazy person who doesn't have a neck created THIS thing? Whenever you put the car in reverse, whatever was on your display screen goes away and you have instead this fisheye type view of whatever is behind you. Well oh freaking joy! Not only that, but you get this utterly annoying BEEPING sound like you're driving a trash truck in reverse. Luckily, there is a hack to remove the beep, and another to switch the backup camera on whenever you want to, not just in reverse. So if there's something hilarious behind you that you'd like a better look at. Now if only we could hook that up to a recorder so that I can drive in front of Dick Cheney and record his gestures as I speed up and slow down in very annoying ways....
2) The "protect from the telephone" device. *ARGH* Maybe it's just because I'm a pilot and used to doing umpteen things at once while keeping an aircraft's altitude while completing a 45 degree bank turn in zero visibility while eating a sandwich and talking to air traffic control, but sheesh, don't tell me I can't ask the passenger to dial a phone number on the touch screen while I'm driving the car. The Prius "helpfully" greys out the options to make anything but speed dial calls when the car is in motion. Of course, there is a hack for this which entails cutting the speed sensor wire that is attached to the phone system and replacing it with a switch. Damn, I hate "nanny" features.
3) See annoyance above and add changing destination on the navigational system. So there you are, driving along in the middle of nowhere and you discover to your dismay that you need a bathroom NOW. No, you can't ask your passenger to press the appropriate icons and find a restaurant nearby. That's not allowed. I wonder what dumbass came up with THAT idea. Luckily, there is another speed sensor wire (same color even) that can be snipped which will take care of that little issue.
So...happy me will likely go out and play more with Booger today and do more reading on the nifty cool features and nifty cool hacks while perhaps getting some actual work done at the same time :-).
