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Old 12-20-2005, 09:50 AM
JeromeP JeromeP is offline
Pretty Darn Active Enthusiast
 
Location: Eastern Washington State
Hybrids: 2005 Toyota Prius
Posts: 442
Default Re: switch and cabin lighting

What kind of auxiliary entry lighting are you looking for? Or maybe the question is where do you want more lighting?

With Smart Key the vehicle will illuminate as you approach, both providing light and indicating that the vehicle recognizes you and that it is ready to unlock when you touch the pad on the handle. When you get in the lights should stay on for a moment, at least until you power on the vehicle. When you turn off the car the lights should also come up and give you illumination and will turn off when you lock the vehicle, or after a specified period of time.

If you don't have Smart Key I believe that when you unlock the vehicle with the fob it will illuminate the cabin, and then when you insert the key in the slot and start the vehicle it will turn off the lights at that time. I also believe that when you turn off a vehicle without SmartKey the lights behave the same, the vehicle turns off, but the lights come up and then the lights will turn off again when you lock the vehicle with the fob.

As for button lighting, Toyota doesn't actively illuminate their window or lock switches on their regular line of vehicles. However they are very tactile and easy to identify once you are used to them. I find that the pull up/push down nature of the window switches is very intuitive, much more so than rocker style switches.

Before you start grafting lights to the vehicle start by getting a good solid feel for the switches and their placement. Car interiors are designed to be tactile because the designers don't really want you looking down from the road to adjust a window or turn on the lights.

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It has been said:
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2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)
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