Electronic Height Sensor question.

[Chippy01]

A friend of mine is picking up a '08 MkII T-Spirit tomorrow. He is downsizing since retiring and this will be his first Prius.

When we went to look at it last week, I rolled underneath and spotted that the Electronic Height Sensor had seized and one of the arms had snapped off.
I know this sensor is a soft spot, because when I had a MkII T-Spirit in 2011 the same thing happened to mine.

When I enquired at the time, I was told that the sensor monitors the rear ride height, and adjusts the brake force distribution to take into account the extra weight in the back. It is wired in through the SatNav, and is also linked into the self parking system.
The (Toyota) garage which is supplying the car, told him that all that sensor does is to work the headlight levelling.

Now, as far as I know, auto headlight levelling is only used on HID systems, which, as far as I can remember, is not on MkII T-Spirit.

My partners MkII T-4 doesn't have the sensor, neither did my MkIII T-4.
My present MkIII T-Spirit has the sensor, and also does not have HID lighting.

So, does anyone know exactly what this sensor does?

I am going with him to pick up his 'new' car, and want to go in armed with the correct information with regards to this sensor, as I know from previous experience how expensive this unit is, and I don't want him (or me) to be fobbed off with excuses for the garage not replacing it.

 

[Ancient Nerd]

AFAIR there was an option on the Gen 2 that included LED headlights. This would have required a self levelling mechanism. 

Mine was a standard T-Spirit, with  standard headlights,  and as far as I am aware didn't have the self levelling mechanism. It stayed in the family until 185,000 miles, and if there was a height sensor, it stayed well hidden until the car was sold two years ago.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

I'm not aware of HID's or LED headlights being available on the mk2, so must be for the brakes as you say Chippy01.

[Chippy01]

Did a bit of digging, and found an old thread I started in 2012 (I thought it was 2011), about the very same sensor on my MkII.

It appears I didn't get a definitive explanation then, and I was hoping more positive information about the sensor and it's function had been found.

[kithmo]

Whether it's for headlamp levelling or brake force distribution is irrelevant, they should replace it anyway as it's broken and in either case would probably be an MOT failure, which means they are illegally selling an unroadworthy car. If they offer to put an MOT on it, ask them if it's ok to take it to the nearest government MOT testing centre afterwards to check the integrity of their MOT testing station and if they want to risk losing their MOT test centre status.

I had a similar situation with a supplying dealer, when SWMBO bought her Gen 2 some years ago, it had 1 good tyre, 1 with 3 mm tread and 2 which were on the legal limit (down to the tread wear bands) which they refused to replace. They put a 12 months MOT on it and when I mentioned taking it straight to the government test centre after their test and asking the service manager if he had kids and would he send his family out in this car on a wet day, they replaced the 2 on the limit.

[Chippy01]

Whatever it's for Kithmo, it was replaced and we collected the car.

The car was NCT'd (Irelands MOT) in late April, has a full Toyota service history, and had the Hybrid Health Check done a couple of weeks ago.
I drove it back the 70-odd miles myself, and it was all good. Couldn't find a fault in it anywhere.

I did drop into my local Toyota garage and had a chat with the Service Manager and Parts Manager before heading out to collect it though.
All three of us stood there at their computers trying to find out what the sensor does, but the best we could decipher was that it has something to do with the self parking/reverse camera set up, as it's on their computers as "SENSOR SUB-ASSY, HEIGHT CONTROL, REAR LH, BACK GUIDE MONITOR, WITH INTELLIGENT PARKING ASSIST".
What it actually does however, is still a mystery.

[kithmo]

 Glad you got it sorted, better to be safe than sorry.