Aha! Another Easter Egg backdoor trick to mod the Prius.
Lots of people have been bugged by the way Prius limits your interaction with the computer system while in motion — while a driver should not be distracted, there’s no way for a passenger to enter an address into the nav system when moving more than 5 mph. One company has been selling a rather pricey gadget that, when installed somewhere in the dash, removes this restriction. But why spend your money? The Prius already has the ability to override this restriction, and here’s how to do it:
When viewing the map, press the MENU button.
On the menu screen, touch VOLUME.
In rapid succession, touch the following points on the screen: top left (the speaker icon), bottom left, top left, bottom left.
This will bring up a GPS Nav technical menu. On the left side, you’ll see a button marked “Override.” Press this button and hold your finger there until it beeps.
After it beeps, press the BACK button at the top right of the screen, then at the next screen, press OK.
That’s it!
And it was free.
Caveat: not every function will be available while moving, but you should be able to enter an address. And this doesn’t remove the restriction on using the telephone dialpad. And this is specific to the 2004 and later Prius.
Do me a favor: don’t play with the navigation while you’re driving. I might be on the road with you.
