Lane Departure Assist and Steering Wheel grip

You must have a regular Prius and not a Prius Prime.

Lane Tracing Assist(LTA) can use two systems to monitor the driver. First is a set of capacitive touch sensors in the steering wheel. Second is sensing steering input via the steering angle sensor. The Prime has both systems while the regular HEV only has the second.

So you need to get in the habit of slightly moving the steering wheel when the alert comes on. You don't have to apply enough force to actually alter the course of the car, just fight the automatic steering barely enough to let the car know you have your hands(or knee) on the wheel. You'll get it pretty quick with a bit of practice. Since there are no capacitive touch sensors in your steering wheel, it doesn't matter how hard you grip it, nothing is going to happen.

For the record, swapping the regular HEV steering wheel with that of a PHEV steering wheel adds the touch function without any other modification. But it's prohibitively expensive to buy a new steering wheel from Toyota. I got mine from a salvaged Prime for $150 because I converted my interior over to the red/black "sporty" Prime interior and the steering wheel was part of that. Getting access to the touch sensors was just a nice bonus.


Also, the reminder is on a 15sec timer. If you do a lot of highway driving, you'll get to the point where you'll start to automatically bump the wheel every 13-17 sec.

 

I don't believe your steering wheel cover is hampering the "hands on the wheel" detection. I believe the car is looking at the resistance to a force applied to the wheel by the lane assist function. If it cannot turn the wheel with a tiny force applied, then it assumes your hands are on the wheel. If the wheel moves more than a tiny amount, it assumes your hands are not on the wheel. I do not know this for a fact - just sayin'

 

Interesting "safety" study on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems:

The data analysis showed that Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) (−19.1%) and Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) (−14%) had the strongest crash rate reduction effects, followed by Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) (−10.7%). However, systems like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Cruise Control (CC) were associated with increased crash rates (+8%, +12%).

 

I hate to say that doesn't surprise me. I know that I've gotten a bit lazy when using adaptive CC. I still have a car w/o it, and have to remind myself; THIS CAR WON'T SLOW DOWN; when approaching another car.
Now someone whose grown up driving with all these bells and whistles are much less aware of their surroundings while driving. Add to that cell phone and tablet distractions. I find a lot more people are changing lanes without looking. I know some people used to do that in the past, but it seems much more prevalent now.

 

I'm not saying it's wrong, but the Adaptive/Dynamic Cruise Control conclusion comes from a single report from a Dutch insurance group. I wouldn't want to draw sweeping conclusions from a single data point.


Personally, I found Toyota's implementation of Dynamic Cruise Control in TSS 3.0 to be a huge safety improvement to me in my visits to Chicago and Minneapolis. I found myself one-pedal driving in congested traffic with me controlling acceleration and letting the car control braking(all the way to a complete stop). I felt far safer using this system than I did with my old 2010 Prius in trips to Minneapolis and Portland

 

While there's a mixture of cars with and without the adaptive cruise control option, and an inattentive driver that's only driven in adaptive cruise control cars and suddenly finds themselves behind the wheel of a non-adaptive cruise control system or no blind spot monitoring - I can see an issue with that.

 

On my 2025 Camry (hybrid). the ada[tove cruise control braked too suddenly for a hybrid, IMO. I just gradually brake, which turns off the cruise control

 

Have you tried extending the 'follow' distance? I've notice that if there's a large difference in speed and the car in front of you is moving very slowly - it will hit the brakes hard. If you creep up on the car in front of you, it just shuts down the engine and switches to regenerative braking. Once the car has a safe distance, everything will re-engage. Unfortunately if someone slides into your safety zone, the adaptive CC will also brake hard, depending on the distance. I rarely use adaptive CC in traffic like that, mostly on the open road.
The system is limited by it's programming and sensor sensitivity. I still get the dash board turning red, buzzer, and BRAKE alarm on occasions. This happens when a car in front of me is making a right or left turn into a pocket and I'm approaching them too fast. If I don't blip the brake pedal or let off of the accelerator pedal; the cars' ECU thinks I'm "asleep at the wheel". Nanny - back-seat driver's mode.
It took me a long time to trust the cars' adaptive cruise control; but it also took me a long time to trust regular cruise control.

 

When i did my test, it was at maximum follow distance. I find adaptive CC works MUCH better on the 2025 Camry than it did on my 2017 Prius Two. Perhaps it is because of all the added sensors since I have most all the safety features on the Camry, including panoramic view The adaptive CC does not brake for a vehicle in the neighboring land and actually senses & displays when someone cuts in front of the car.

 

After much use, I learned that it is not about gripping the steering wheel, it is about just moving the steering wheel slightly. Give it a light tug every 10 seconds or when you see the warning pop-up, and it will go away. Hands on steering wheel but no movement of wheel, and you will the warning and then chime. Just a very light tug is all that is needed, not hands on wheel.

 

IMHO it is good but the behavior was designed for ICE only and should be tuned more efficiently for hybrids.

 

I had the same problem until I learned how to use it properly. It's activated by signaling a lane change, and it will engage after a few seconds if the lane to be entered is clear. It will disengage if you force the steering wheel in any way. That's what I was doing wrong; just signal the lane change, and keep your hands lightly on the wheel. it will then do its job.

 

Number one, that's not what there're asking about(where do they mention lane changes?). Number two, it probably doesn't apply to them. The auto lane change function is only installed on Primes in the US. The regular HEVs don't have it.



Traffic Jam Assist, auto lane change, and front cross traffic alert all rely on a set of sensors in the front bumper. For whatever reason, Toyota decided to only mount those sensors in the US Prime/Plug-In and not in the regular HEV. Although my experience fitting a Prime steering wheel to my HEV makes me wonder if adding auto lane change and FCTA to the HEV is theoretically possible. I plan to have my hood and bumper resprayed in a few years to get rid of the rock chips I'm building up(and then PPF them); maybe I'll try to source a Prime front bumper at the same time to see if it's possible.

 

On my Camry they call that Lane Change Assist (LCA).

 

Some likely looking, but not seeing the car there due to forest of head rests, raised belt lines and thickened C-pillars, maybe compromised further by aftermarket tint.

 

And my local salesman said that is BECAUSE Toyota concentrates on safety features, IMO what you mentioned ARE low cost safety features,

 

More succinctly, Toyota is concentrating on crash- mitigation features, at the expense of traditional safety features (visibility).

They’ll all be like subs, soon enough.

Withoutadoubt my least favourite maneuver is lane change to the right (North American).

 

One reason I bought my 2008 Corolla was because i saw the new body style in Japan that was coming with the higher rear doors, restricting visibility for the driver. I think it actually hit the US in 2010.