If my eyesight ever becomes bad enough that it's not safe for me to drive then I will stop driving. To carry on driving with bad eyesight is irresponsible and selfish. I certainly wouldn't fit HID headlights in complete disregard for the safety of other road users, just so that I can continue driving with bad eyesight. I understand that giving up driving can cause problems in the US, since it is a 100% car-oriented culture, but in the rest of the world there are usually alternatives to driving. Perhaps you could ask one of your friends or family members to drive you if your eyesight is not good ?
The system in the Prius costs $2000. For $2000, Garmin and others will be HAPPY to sell you a touch screen, voice-activated system--with traffic reports--that has a large screen, larger than what the Prius has.
You can get a motorized unit that stores under the Prius radio and flips out on demand.
For $2k aftermarket, you get dead reckoning.
Are you in marketing?
The motorized unit mentioned above is wired into 12v under the dash. Bigger screen, more features, and you can take it out and install it in your next car. You're not throwing $2000 away.
Or you can get a smaller unit with the "messy" exposed power wire and get portability from car to car.
As is any installed system. Or as is the Garmin Nuvi, which fits in your shirt pocket. If it's that easy to put away and/or take with you, you do it.
In fact, you have to stretch REAAAAAL hard to find a $2000 nav unit aftermarket. There aren't many--and they cost that much because their screens are so huge and the units are so feature-laden.
I'm not trading in MY car every 3 years. But the norm for Joe Public is that he expects he's going to have a monthly car payment for the rest of his life, and he trades up every 3 years. He's bought into the car marketing FUD of "you don't want to be in a car that's out of warranty!"
If he's not selfish, he WON'T change his tune. He WILL recognize that (a) the only way for him to see at night is to use something like HID, AND (b) HID is nuisance and possible a dangerous hazard.
So because he's not selfish and because he doesn't insist on doing things that HE wants to do REGARDLESS of his impact on others, he will stop driving at night.
It's really quite simple. You're advocating "every man for himself, screw everyone else". He's not.
And by definition, you can't see his viewpoint. You explain yourself very well in that respect.
Easy, they do not want the hassle of removing and stowing the portable GPS for fear of theft. Second reason is the full integration of the built-in GPS unit with the other car features. I like the voice commands to the GPS by touching the steering wheel button. My first Prius did not have NAV. My second and third both have built-in NAV. Admittedly the price is high, but I don't think I will buy a new car without NAV in the future unless it is a kludge, like the On-star assisted one Buick offers with Pong-era graphics.
Well, for some folks, any headlights from approaching cars are dazzling and annoying.
Night blindness can be caused by myopia (nearsightness), cataracts, some glaucoma medication, a vitamin A deficiency, retinitis pigmentosa, injury, or birth defects... (Since I'm nearsighted, I've always had a bit of night blindness...)
I haven't found the NHW20 Prius' HIDs to be any brighter/more annoying than on any other car. (Some other car's HIDs, particularly the blue/ purple tinged ones, are much worse than on an approaching Prius w/ HIDs.) Traditional car's high-beams are much worse, as are improperly- aimed headlights, though.
There is a big difference in forward visibility between driving my
2001 Prius, and when I drove my husband's 2004 Prius w/HIDs. I don't know if the better visibility is from the HIDs, or because my 2001 is using older bulbs and more scratched coverings, though.
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