The only reason I can see that Toyota switched the location of the gear selection and fuel level gauge in the instrument cluster, is so the passenger could tell if the driver was in the correct gear or not. This might be helpful if the driver was trying to backup when the vehicle was actually in forward. Before the passenger could only see the fuel gauge and speedometer. Anyone have the official word from Toyota?

The FAQ has a reference to Toyota's unofficial book about the Prius development effort that answers this question. Basicly, the location puts the instrumentation panel at an optimum distance to focus for the driver and of course, supports both left and right hand drive vehicles. Furthermore, it removes obstruction by the wheel.

I have Graham's mini-scanner located at the 'traditional' instrumentation location. More than a few times I've notice the focus challenges and finding it blocked by the wheel during turns.

I would recommend getting a copy of the Toyota book since it will give you insights about the seat height and other aspects of Prius design.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

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My other 1500 cc car:

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I wasn't talking about distance or the different style. I was talking about the order location of the 3 gauges. My 2007 has them as, shift indicator/speedometer/fuel level. The 2004 had them as, fuel level/speedometer/shift indicator. So why did Toyota switch the order?

Post a photo?

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
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I don't have any but just look at any of the 2004 and then of a 2006 or 2007.

Bob ... this is from john1701a's website. His is a 2004.



I have a 2006 and the shift indicator and the guess guage are reversed. Like in this photo I "borrowed" from somewhere else.

(that's what my car tells me, so it must be true)

Wierd. The change doesn't make sense to unless some 'style' designer decided they needed to 'make something different' to show they are different model years.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

That sounds about right to me. You'll notice the "ready" indicator moved, too. It's now over to the right with the rest of the dash indicators.

(that's what my car tells me, so it must be true)

Well as I already said, the only reason I can see for the change is so the front passenger can see what gear the driver put the vehicle in. With the earlier version you couldn't see that gauge from the passenger seat. So I guess that could be considered a safety consideration.

Although I personally I think the speedometer should be all the way to the left but I guess then it would make the whole guage hard to use on left hand drive vehicles. But then again thinking about left hand drive vehicles, the current change wouldn't help out their passenger view of the cluster. So I guess there really is no logical reason for the change from 2004 to the current one.

Perhaps they wanted the fuel indicator on the same side of the car as the fill-up cap?

(Sounds lame to me too. I think a 'style' designer did it.)

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.