2010 Toyota Prius Touch Tracer Display
There I was checking out the all-new 2010 Toyota Prius, the most hybrid of all hybrid cars around, and one feature surprised me more than anything. No, it wasn’t the solar panel roof or the remote start for the A/C. It was the Touch Tracer Display.
What? You haven’t heard of the Touch Tracer Display? Neither had we.
Every Prius comes standard with steering-wheel-mounted buttons that control the stereo, climate and display functions for the hybrid system. What the Touch Tracer display does is pop up a digital overlay on the center-mounted gauges showing what button your finger is on before you press it down to make your selection.
Ever turned the volume up instead of down? Ever hit the “channel up” button instead of “volume up”? This negates those blind presses with a useful display right in your line of sight.
The Touch Tracer display is standard on all 2010 Toyota Prius trim levels.
We’ll have more on how the system worked on the road later this month. Manufacturer supplied images of the Touch Tracer are below.
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When Ford copies this idea, Sheth will blog about how Ford thought of it first. This idea, along with the solar photovoltaic roof and most importantly the magic 50 mpg EPA figure will put the 2010 Prius in the "Car of the Year" zone for sure. The Prius is a bright spot in a truly dismal automotive year.
Give it a rest already. The Prius is a well-designed vehicle AND the Fusion is a well-designed vehicle.
So the point of steering wheel mounted controls is to minimize disturbance from actual driving...so what's the point if you're going to look at the gauge display to check to see if you pushed the right or wrong button. You are still taking your eyes and concentration away from driving for a split second. And yes the gauge display may be in line of sight but you are still looking away from the road.
agree with H -- seems like an extra step to have to coordinate what my hand is doing with what my eye is seeing. how hard is it to remember which button does which?
it does not take that long, nor does it matter that much, to push the button next to the (wrong) one that you are pushing to correct what you are doing. certainly faster and safer to try one button (oops! turned the volume down instead of up, now i'll have to take the extra millisecond to move my thumb a few millimeters away to push the correct button!!! ... dang! moved to the next station up, now i'll have to traverse TWO stations to get to the one i want!!!) life is soooooo hard
10-4. I like the Fusion too. You're right -this is not a revolutionary feature, but I think will add to the "car of the year" buzz for the Prius. The last generation Prius took that prize and a few others.
do the buttons light up at nite on the steering wheel?
Current generation steering wheel controls do light up, so I assume the new one will have the same feature.
steering wheel buttons help because they keep you from taking your hand off the steering wheel and your eyes from straying -- presumably a safety feature.
if you have to look at a display now, might as well centralize the functions ... wait, this idea already exists as MMI/COMAND by Audi/MB etc etc
and i hope the little button on the right just below the circular buttons isn't the horn! if i need to alert someone who is about to, say, back into me, i don't know if most people have the precision required in such an urgency to sound the horn?!
Honda and others had this stupid idea before of buttons for horns ... please let it go the way of flip-up headlights, permanently!!!
For a minority of people like myself with peripheral neuropathy (numbness in the extremities), having a visual indicator would be nice addition but certainly not a key feature. More useful would be logical layouts with distinct and _pronounced_ tactile surfaces/separators.
As for a visual indicator in the dash display being unsafe, I guess if you never monitor your speedometer, it would be.
The Ford hybrids use Toyota older generation hybrid technology. It is a deal Toyota and Ford put together a few years ago. So let's make sure we give Toyota the attention it deserves.
Your point of view is very interesting.
@looknow12 - I think Toyota and for make a good work together - referring of Toyota Prius. And the price is only $23,500 - after all this work.