Carista App for Gen 4 Prius

[thecaretaker]

I've seen several references on the forum about the Carista OBDII device and I am considering purchasing one to turn the reversing beeps off myself. I always seem to have problems with my Toyota Hybrids getting the main dealers to turn them off for me. One wanting £80 when I purchased my Gen 3 Prius. I did ask for them to be turned off when I purchased my Gen 4, but they forgot.

Anyways, it looks like this could be a good investment for all my family run Hybrids (both kids have Auris Hybrids). The unit looks like it costs £15 with an annual subscription of £30 or thereabouts.

So if you have one, what other customisations does the Carista allow you to make on a Gen 4 Toyota Prius?

 

[RWaggers]

I know there must be a more eloquent of doing this, but I've listed screenshots from my Carista App showing the options available on my 2016 Gen 4 Prius.

You probably already know that you get a month's free trial when you buy the Carista unit so you do have some time to tweak for free.  However, as I've just discovered, it appears that the trial starts from when you first connect the app to the unit and not (as I thought) from when you make your first tweak.

Hope this is useful.

 

 

[thecaretaker]

You are a star. That is some list. I've gone ahead and ordered one. I'll try it out for a month to see how I get on.

Again, that's very kind of you to take all those screen shots. Thank you...

[Harters]

@RWaggers Thank you very much for this, very useful.  

Just wish we could have the option to auto lock/unlock the car when driving away/putting into D like the American market has.  This is the first car in years that does not have that feature and I really miss it.

[wass]

I see the problem, Prius models are so reliable , they( mostly) only see the inside of a dealer just once a year so it isn't always convenient to just pop it in for something the dealer forgot to do during the last service. All part of owning a car with good reliability I suppose! Now if only the prius could be unreliable, then it would go to the dealer every other day and turning off the bleeps would be something they would do for nothing in the hopes that you might not come back quite so quickly! :):):) I knew there must be an upside to unreliability! 

[PeteB]

14 hours ago, wass said:

... I knew there must be an upside to unreliability! 

and free valets!

I'd always held Volvo in high esteem until I finally got one in 1997.  It was delivered with 3 glaring faults, one of which could have left me with no brakes if the ABS had kicked in!

It visited the dealer at least 3 times a month for the first 18 months or so.  The saving grace was a brilliant dealer, who would bring a courtesy car to my house after 8pm when I got home from work, swap over, and swap back when fixed, bringing my car back cleaned inside and out.  I never paid for a wash at all during that time!

[thecaretaker]

I got to know what unreliability was when I owned British Layland cars, Mini, Metro (Vanden Plas), Allegro, Maestro 1.3, Rover 213... It was a case of sell it quick before it rusted away. I had almost forgotten those good old, bad old days. 6 monthly services in those days and had to pay for a list as long as your arm for replacement parts each time.

I just remembered the oil leaks too. It was happy motoring in those days. Tools and oil kept in the boot at all times, just in case. At least it taught you a lot about how cars worked (or didn't). No such thing as a Carista in those days. (Hell, I'm showing my age up now)

EDIT: Just to add, my Rover 213 had a Honda engine which was a revelation. The bodywork rotted in a few months, but the engine is what made me look at Japanese cars and I've never looked back.

[Mike169]

Hi, I have a 2012 Rav and in the rear tucked up high is a tiny round switch and so if I want to turn the reversing bleepers off it is literally flick the switch. I do not know about your car but I am assuming Toyota fit this switch across the range so you may have the same switch. It's a small round switch no more than 1.5 cms and I feel Toyota make it this small so it doesn't get switched accidentally say by putting shopping in the rear so to speak. Mike.

[PeteB]

29 minutes ago, Mike169 said:

...I want to turn the reversing bleepers off it is literally flick the switch...

different beepers.  Yes the Prius has this if it has factory fitted reversing sensors.

However, since the 2nd Generation, the Prius has had a beeper that sounds all the time reverse is selected, just to let you know you're in reverse. If the car has sensors, then you get 2 lots of beeps.  Very annoying either way.

The Gen 2 had no way of disabling the beep (except, as some owners figured out, with wire cutters!).  On the Gen 3 and 4 there's a setting accessible via the OBD port to disable the beep (you just get a single beep as reverse is selected).

[QuantumFireball]

I was able to disable the reverse beeps using a generic OBD-II bluetooth reader and the Torque app, though it's certainly not as user-friendly for making configuration changes - you're basically polling the PID and hoping for the best...

[ExInsight]

Can someone tell me where the obd2 port is situated on a right hand drive Gen 4 Prius. I have a bad neck and the less I have to grovel under the dashboard the better!!!

Thanks in advance.

[kithmo]

2 hours ago, ExInsight said:

Can someone tell me where the obd2 port is situated on a right hand drive Gen 4 Prius. I have a bad neck and the less I have to grovel under the dashboard the better!!!

Thanks in advance.

As you sit in the driver's seat, it's in front and slightly to the right of you just behind the bottom edge of the lower dash panel. There's no cover or anything on it so you should be able to feel it when you run your hand along the bottom of the panel. As with all cars fitted with OBD sockets, it must be within reach from the driver's seat.

[ExInsight]

Thanks very much Keith

I have just ordered the Carista obd2 from Amazon so when it arrives the weekend I can have a play with it.

Roger

[Catlover]

Re RWaggers very informative post showing all the Carista settings for a Prius Gen4, I am coming to the end of my free trial (19th ie Monday) and whilst I find it interesting I dont want to be paying a yearly subscription. However I have applied 3 of the tweaks - my indicator clicker is now louder, my indicators now flick for 7 times then cancel if I only move the stalk a small distance, and also auto headlight activation threshold - I need some clarification please on the latter. There is Normal, Darker, Darkest, Lighter and Lightest.  What I want to do with the Auto Headlight Activation Threshold to do is auto switch to main beam when the road ahead is darker then the normal setting.   Is it a case of pure logic to say that Darker or Darkest is my choice to do that? Sometimes the main beak comes on when I am still in a lighted up area, albeit not the modern bright road lamps.  Logic tells me to go Darker or Darkest..... confirmation my thoughts are right or not.    Do I go Darkest or Lightest?   Hope I explained it ok.   

[Phil T]

I would have thought this is turning on the dip beam when you go through a tunnel etc. On mine it would activate if I went into the shadow of the hedge, and evenings they would come on even though I was driving into the sun. I would go for darker if not darkest, knowing how little settings affect what happens!

[Phil T]

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[Phil T]

On 5/30/2018 at 12:45 PM, PeteB said:

different beepers.  Yes the Prius has this if it has factory fitted reversing sensors.

However, since the 2nd Generation, the Prius has had a beeper that sounds all the time reverse is selected, just to let you know you're in reverse. If the car has sensors, then you get 2 lots of beeps.  Very annoying either way.

The Gen 2 had no way of disabling the beep (except, as some owners figured out, with wire cutters!).  On the Gen 3 and 4 there's a setting accessible via the OBD port to disable the beep (you just get a single beep as reverse is selected).

That beeping drove me bonkers, having to maneuver up my narrow driveway, what with the side alarms going off as well. I got the dealer to turn mine off when I had to return for a recall. Thankfully the PHV was set to one beep by default, Toyota actually took notice of complaints! 

How much is Carista subscription?

 

[Catlover]

Cost of Carista subs :- £33.91 per year, or £9.99 for a week.  However you get 1 month free trial (you sign up for annual subscription and have to cancel it before und of 1 month to stop payment). Not all aspects are available on all car makes/models. Carista adaptor cost £15.99   https://caristaapp.com/pricing

[Monarchjock]

The Dr Prius app, which is mainly for monitoring the Battery, will turn off the reversing beep and is free.

[Ten Ninety]

23 hours ago, Catlover said:

Re RWaggers very informative post showing all the Carista settings for a Prius Gen4, I am coming to the end of my free trial (19th ie Monday) and whilst I find it interesting I dont want to be paying a yearly subscription. However I have applied 3 of the tweaks - my indicator clicker is now louder, my indicators now flick for 7 times then cancel if I only move the stalk a small distance, and also auto headlight activation threshold - I need some clarification please on the latter. There is Normal, Darker, Darkest, Lighter and Lightest.  What I want to do with the Auto Headlight Activation Threshold to do is auto switch to main beam when the road ahead is darker then the normal setting.   Is it a case of pure logic to say that Darker or Darkest is my choice to do that? Sometimes the main beak comes on when I am still in a lighted up area, albeit not the modern bright road lamps.  Logic tells me to go Darker or Darkest..... confirmation my thoughts are right or not.    Do I go Darkest or Lightest?   Hope I explained it ok.   

As Phil noted, that setting is for the automatic dipped beam coming on, not the auto main beam. I don't believe it has any effect on the main beams. Not that it appears to have much effect on the dipped beams either - I've set mine to darkest and the headlights still insist on coming on at the slightest hint of shadow!

As an aside, on the PHV you don't need Carista for this setting - it can be changed on the infotainment screen.

[Chris Dance]

On the recent electrical harness recall the tech at the dealers must have got fed up with the reversing beep as it was turned off when the car was returned to me. It does not worry me if it is on or off.  

[Phil T]

Sitting at a particularly slow set of traffic lights I noticed how annoying the indicator noise is and regretted the technicians offer of turning down the  sound to low. I'm sure I can live with it.  £33.91 and £15.99 for the adaptor make a noisy indicator warning tolerable! Even with the free trial period.

[Catlover]

But for the £15.99 for Carista dongle, yes you get 1 month free trial, during which time you can turn the sound of indicator clicker dow (I turned it up!) but as listed by RWaggers you get access to alter loads of things and back again if you see no benefit.......... but also Carista dongle works with a load of other software available, some free, some you pay for, which will identify faults and clear the light. Some are available for Apple, some for Android, some no doubt for both. Monarchjock quoted Dr Prius as one, and I just found it on Apple store, maybe on Android as well.

[Phil T]

That makes a difference then, but in 6 years of Toyota ownership it was only minor niggles that I found, most of those were not adjustable anyway, and the dealer looked at any fault codes. My only real issue with the present car are those screen buttons/touch controls either side of the sat nav/radio screen, which remain bright despite turning down all the other brightness settings.