OT/PSA: toyota prius and visibility

[etu]

Couple of years ago, I traded in my minivan for wife's new prius and got her hand me down prius. I know - SF smug household.:rolleyes: One of the things that happened were all these close calls where pedestrians seem to come out of nowhere. :eek:After the third or fourth near miss, I came to appreciate how large the blindspots were in the FRONT, especially on the right. After while, I made adjustments with the seat angle (more reclined) and driving habits (craning my neck both ways at each intersection), but I still get the occasional close calls and dirty looks from pedestrians in the cross walk! So you all might want to be a little extra careful when you see a prius at an intersection!

[jtakeda]

I wonder if thats where the "prius drivers are horrible drivers" stereotype comes from.

Have little experience in one and lots of experience next to them in Downtown SF (Uber).

[ceolwulf]

There's a lot of modern cars that have completely terrible visibility. In the name of making them safer beltlines have gone way up and pillars have gotten absurdly thick.

This is the correct way to design a car you can see out of:

https://prolifik1.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/hakosuka.jpg

[JAllen]

I used to be a valet in Los Angeles almost 10 years ago and hated when ever a Chevy HHR would come in. probably the worst blind spots I've ever experienced in a vehicle.

[cmg]

This is the correct way to design a car you can see out of: when in doubt add more glass......... Had the more sedate version of this as a kid, fun car.

[gasman]

I used to be a valet in Los Angeles almost 10 years ago and hated when ever a Chevy HHR would come in. probably the worst blind spots I've ever experienced in a vehicle.
I had to rent an HHR several years ago. Horrible design and I agree with you. Huge blind spots even with mirrors correctly adjusted.

I think you visibility problems is from the smug alert that forms over the Prius.
;)


https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=you+tube&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=smug%20alert%20south%20park%20site%3Ayoutube.c om

[duck]

This thread makes me miss my Volvo 240s.

[carpediemracing]

This is the correct way to design a car you can see out of: when in doubt add more glass......... Had the more sedate version of this as a kid, fun car.

Ah. Grew up with my parents owning only a bought-new Corona Mark II for 6 years (they traded it after 11 but had received a Bonneville in the meantime).

[carpediemracing]

Do you think the quietness is part of it?

[giverdada]

we got the prius v wagon last summer and i have been having the same issue with it. i absolutely love the car as much as i could 'love' an inanimate object, but the visibility in it is pretty crap. (i miss the old volvos too! or even a 1990 suburban? my daughter sits in the back on the right side and every time i go to check that blind spot, i see her beautiful face and the top of her headrest. i do not see out the damn car. the front on the low front-facing corners is a tough one too. the pedestrian, small children, dog, parking tie spot. i don't know. it feels like no one actually sat IN the car while they designed it; they just went from the outside and a CAD file.:crap: otherwise, my fave car ever. looking forward to packing it full of bikes again today.

[oldpotatoe]

I wonder if thats where the "prius drivers are horrible drivers" stereotype comes from.

Have little experience in one and lots of experience next to them in Downtown SF (Uber).

I drive the highway to nanny often and if I see a Pius, it's probably speeding. OP excepted of course.

[Avincent52]

It's not (just) the Prius, it's the "A pillar"

The problem....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW0G4OahV_s

[Avincent52]

...and a potential solution.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/22211/20141216/jaguar-concept-car-features-invisible-pillars-ghost-car-buh-bye-blind-spots-stone-age-gps.htm

[saf-t]

*This* was the car for visibility. Of course, it also scored 10/10 on the fugly scale, but......

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/autos/1202/gallery.surprising-collectible-cars/8.html

[Ken Robb]

We have a 2014 Mazda 3 and the A pillars are wide enough to restrict vision a bit. I think this is common to many new cars because thick A pillars help them achieve high rollover safety ratings.

[hockeybike]

Is it possible that the close calls with pedestrians are due to how quiet the prius is? As in, it's not just the blind spots for you, but also the fact that the pedestrians aren't alerted to you being there?

Also, distracted pedestrians. Smart phones, etc. We're all adjusting to tech, and not all in the same way or at the same rate. Makes for some annoying encounters. Makes em worse when one person is in a big hunk o metal and the other is in sneakers (or a bike).

[unterhausen]

it takes a while to get used to the pedestrians ignoring you in a prius. I had a manual transmission car before my first Prius, just rev the engine and people scatter

[David Kirk]

I rented a Prius once and it made me nervous to drive in traffic. The vision out isn't good and if you are tall like I am you look through the very top of the windshield which has a subtle curve in it that distorts the view out and after driving a bit started to make me nauseous. We'd been shopping for a new car at the time and the Prius was on the list but after driving it for a few days as a rental it slipped off the list.

I think if I wasn't 6'4" it would have been better but I doubt that I would, any any height, think the view out was very confidence inspiring.

dave

[rugbysecondrow]

Is it possible that the close calls with pedestrians are due to how quiet the prius is? As in, it's not just the blind spots for you, but also the fact that the pedestrians aren't alerted to you being there?



Also, distracted pedestrians. Smart phones, etc. We're all adjusting to tech, and not all in the same way or at the same rate. Makes for some annoying encounters. Makes em worse when one person is in a big hunk o metal and the other is in sneakers (or a bike).


I think this is it. In parking lots, they are silent and can begin backing up and moving with zero sound. We are accustomed to using all our sense to move about, and the Prius effectively removes one of the most important ones.

I think they should pipe noise through the engine when operating at low, electric only speeds.


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[etu]

Is it possible that the close calls with pedestrians are due to how quiet the prius is? As in, it's not just the blind spots for you, but also the fact that the pedestrians aren't alerted to you being there?

Also, distracted pedestrians. Smart phones, etc. We're all adjusting to tech, and not all in the same way or at the same rate. Makes for some annoying encounters. Makes em worse when one person is in a big hunk o metal and the other is in sneakers (or a bike).

Nope, wish I could blame the pedestrians or smart phone on this one. All the close calls have been at four way stops signs or intersections, usually with me starting into a turn and suddenly stopping after seeing the pedestrian in middle of the crosswalk.

[aramis]

I think they should pipe noise through the engine when operating at low, electric only speeds.


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I'm surprised they don't. I leased a nissan leaf for two years and it made noise at low speeds to let you know something was there. Also had a backup beeping noise if I remember correctly.

[BobO]

Nope, wish I could blame the pedestrians or smart phone on this one. All the close calls have been at four way stops signs or intersections, usually with me starting into a turn and suddenly stopping after seeing the pedestrian in middle of the crosswalk.

For some reason the majority of close calls on my bike are with Priuii (priusses). I have been aware of their presence in each and every case and still have nearly been hit. Their silence isn't part of the problem in my case. I hadn't considered poor visibility before, that's a good point that I'll take into consideration in future dealings with them. I thank you for that.

But, I doubt that's the whole issue. I can't count the number of times I've been nearly right hooked by the Prius driver on autopilot who is staring at a phone. That car, for whatever reason, seems to attract people who don't actually want to be driving a car.

[bfd]

Nope, wish I could blame the pedestrians or smart phone on this one. All the close calls have been at four way stops signs or intersections, usually with me starting into a turn and suddenly stopping after seeing the pedestrian in middle of the crosswalk.

Agree, it isn't the quietness or lack of noise of the engine. the problem is the vision out the front window. The A pillar is large and even the rear view mirror can block your view. I'm 5'10 and had to learn to look around the A pillar and rear view mirror before proceeding at a stop sign. Before that, I almost hit a couple of cars and a few motorcycles....:0

Good Luck!

[chuckroast]

I had one as a rental car earlier this week and I never could get a comfortable driving position. I couldn't put my finger on why until I read this thread. That's it, I was always bobbing my head around trying to see out of the darn thing.

I also found the split rear window off-putting when I looked in the rear view mirror.

[shovelhd]

I had the same experience when comparing the Prius-V to the JSW. The A-pillar and the low seating position did show blind spots from the front. The JSW has them to the side, but a euro progressive mirror fixed that for me.

[Louis]

Every time I drive it I marvel at how good the visibility is from my GTV:

[rrudoff]

Here is a couple other examples, one I have, one I wish I had

[dave thompson]

I just returned from a week-long bike tour where I was a support car driver. My car was a Prius. What a perfectly horrible little car; the aforementioned forward A-pillar visibility interference, far too gimmicky workings, noisy, and not comfortable. It did good gas mileage though.

The lack of good visibility really surprised me as the car does have lots of glass. The big A-pillar and tiny forward side window really got in my way while I was trying to watch my riders, watch traffic and watch our road markings.