Frank, make sure that you don't have the brightness all the way up to daytime level. Use the thumbwheel on the dash, lower left to adjust the brightness. You will still see some reflection, but you'll get use to it. I don't even notice the reflection on mine now.

 

Some day I'm going to break down and build a shade to attach to the dash just above the source of the reflection. Something fairly solid that won't be more annoying than the reflection. Where do you get the kind of styrofoam they use for kid's surfboards and stuff?...

 

Use ABS Plastic reinforced With aluminum bar. (Not as bulky.) Plus you can shape it with the aid of a heat gun.

 

I agree with the give it time recommendation. I'd be surprised if it bothered you at all after a week. The mind is very good at filtering out stuff like that. I had a Corvette with the heads up display. I preferred to just look at the gauges so I never noticed the heads up display at all after a week.

 

I drove a company Buick a couple of years ago that had a heads up display. I found it quite useful, but it stil felt a bit gimicky.

The unique thing about the Prius display is that it is so far foward on the dash that it is almost a heads up display. Very functional.

I also experience the reflection. I mentally filter it out and it is not an annoyance. However by lowering its brightness you can reduce or eliminate the reflection.

 

Thanks for the tip on lowering the brightness.

 

I thought about this... there is room to put something there...

For me, with a black dashboard, it think the least occuous would be two black post-it notes... not sure how long they'd last though

Electrical tape might be an option if I wasn't afraid of what the glue would do to the dashboard

Barring that, some black construciton paper and old fashioned rubber cement might be workable

Your dashboard may vary

 

One problem though you can't really correct for, is the windshield reflecting what's coming out of the 'projector' that's located under the dash.

 

I lowered the brightness level and the reflection goes away (at least for me). The display is just as visible as before; not sure what my wife will find but I'm sure I'll hear about it one way or the other... :lol:

This car is a lot of fun to drive!

 

Reflection in Windshield

I find that the reflection bothers me most when driving in bad weather conditions on unlit roads.
UK versions of the 04 Prius don't have a thumbwheel to adjust the display intensity so I can't turn it down. ( The only thumbwheel is to change the angle of the headlamps when carrying a full load.)
A simple fix would be to stick a narrow strip of tape on the edge of the projection window so the projection doesn't spill out past the mirror cowl. However, I feel there should be a more elegant solution like adjusting the angle of the projector. I recently asked my Toyota dealer if this is possible. They didn't think so.

 

I have found that the reflection is caused by a smooth bezel that is around the glass of the projector. Slide your hand down into the hole where the projector is. You will feel this bezel before your fingers touch the glass. You will also notice that your fingers obscure the reflection on the windshield when they are only covering the bezel.

So, although I have not tried it, my theory is that you can get rid of the reflection by attaching a strip of black felt or similarly unreflective material over the bezel using double sticky tape. You probably wouldn't be able to see it from the driver's seat either.

Like I said, I've never tried this, because the reflection doesn't bother me. If it does work, I don't know how durable the tape would be, since it would be in direct sunlight.

 

My understanding from reading the Prius-UK yahoogroup is that the display can be dimmed somewhat by pressing/holding down the MPH/kph switch, with 4 different preset levels of intensity.

A possibility that I've heard of is to take a mousepad-like material and use it to cover up the seam that some light will escape past on the dash, or to make a little hood over the combination meter to keep the light from reflecting further up.

 

Most major cities have a 'plastic' store that makes about everything imaginable PLUS a lot of cheap scraps. I used ABS plastic about 6"X15" (@$3), a light strip of aluminum flat bar 1/2"X3/16"X36" (from any major hardware store for about $5), some 3M auto (emblem) molding tape, 2 decent (nickel sized) magnets and 3/8"wide X 1/8"thick weather strip. Tools: hacksaw and file; 1/8" drill bit and pop (blind) rivets, pair of pliers (or vice), and a heat gun. The last 3 items are really only needed if you are also making a visor for your MFI. (REMEMBER DURING THE DAY, THE SUN WILL MAKE SEEING INSTRUMENTS HARDER AND EVENTUALLY CAUSE FADING.) I even made a small visor for my GPS.

I have other pictures of the visors for the dash, MFI, GPS, and the 12 feet of brake lights I added since having my '08 Gen 2 destroyed (rear ended) last year. Some of the latter are about 2 feet higher than the roof so people who have to drive lifted trucks, etc. can see them too.