A few months ago I got a 2015 Toyota Yaris. I love it! I’ve never had a car this new. Usually I buy 10 year old cars and keep them for another 10-15 years.
The inside light on my dash is red; meaning when I look to see how fast I’m going I’m looking at a red-lighted panel. Can that be changed so that light isn’t red?
Change the LED glow light in the rear of the cluster.They are available in many colors.
Some dashes have configurable lights but on a lower end Yaris I doubt that option is available so in other words there is no easy way to change the dash backlighting color .
Unless you change every single/bulb, no. Best option is to dim the lights.
Why is red a problem? Is it that you’re not accustomed to it or another reason?
May I suggest that you give it a try for a while?
Having piloted airplanes, I can tell you that for a long time, aircraft have used red illumination for instruments/gauges. There is a reason for that.
Red lighting does not interfere as much with one’s night vision as most other colors do. So, a pilot can use red lighting inside the cockpit and still be able to see well when looking outside.
Whether flying or driving, good vision for inside instruments is important and good vision outside the vehicle is critical.
CSA
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Yup!
That is the same reason for red illumination in US Navy submarines prior to surfacing at night.
And, in case anyone doesn’t call this fact, Studebaker’s fabulous Avanti featured red illumination of its instrument panel for the same reason–e.g. better vision at night.
Used to be - and it was better for night vision - the light that indicated headlights were on high beam was a small, not-too-bright red light. Very effective, and far less hazardous, than the bright blue light now used on my cars. Is big bright blue the new norm?
It might just continue to be blue because it’s what people expect these days. Not sure.
Yes, it’s because I’m not accustomed to it. Barring me totaling it, I’ll become accustomed to it somewhere in my usual decade of owning a car.
Thank you everyone.
I’ve no idea what kind of driving you do (mainly start/stop or cruising) on what kind of roads (mainly city streets or highways).
May I make another suggestion? If you don’t often use cruise control when possible then perhaps you could become more familiar with it and use it often when travel permits.
I consider cruise control to be one of my vehicles’ best safety feature. I use it as much as possible. It’s my co-pilot.
Once set for conditions, it frees the driver up from constantly having to monitor the speedometer and allows more attention to be paid to the road. And once set, a particular speed can be recalled without having to take eyes off the road.
Also, when cruising highways at night with the cruise control active I’ll often turn the dashboard/instrument lighting way down so that I can see outside better. I find it less fatiguing and more relaxing. That’s another safety benefit of cruise control.
Used properly, cruise control can help avoid unintentional speeding and the citations that can result, too. Feel the magic!
CSA
I mostly do surface streets, with taking a couple-hour freeway trip three or four times a year. I don’t have cruise control, but wow, I wish I did!
The whole, “red light won’t spoil your night vision” is kind of a gimmick unless you’re in the habit of driving at night with your headlights off.
My neighbor changed the lamps in his but more extreme example as those were incandescent lamps changed to LEDs. Here’s a post on the subject, you can see what’s involved:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2928&highlight=LED+instrument
That was really interesting, thank you!
I was in my friend’s older car the other night and realized she had was what I was used to. The back light (if it’s even a “light” – perhaps it’s just the “background”) is black, the numbers are white, and the gauge needles are red.
I realized that’s one of the things bugging me. The back light is red and so are my gauge needles. Obviously they aren’t the exact same color but they’re still the same.
Another friend has a 2019 4Runner and she said her back light color is a pale green and she loves it. I have hopes up again that it can be changed. Not by me <!!!> but I’ll ask my mechanic. It’s not worth spending a lot of money on; again, I’ll become accustomed to it, but certainly worth asking.
There are exceptions but a mechanic wouldn’t normally do this kind of electronics work unless there was a direct swap out there, one cluster for another. You need an auto electronics kind of expert, perhaps at a place where they replace radios etc. I’d start asking there if you do not have an acquaintance that has an electronics repair background…
They probably got away with using red for the brights indicator because it was better to standardize on red lights for warnings (that need immediate attention) and orange lights for notifications (less immediate attn). A red brights indicator, which is really just for information like the blinkers, could mask you from noticing something important like the low oil pressure warning.
But I suppose having all the dials red defeats this human-centered design improvement anyway…
Looks like I’ll just have to become accustomed to it, which I will. I’m going to contact the auto stereo store here. Thanks again…
Mr. Obvious, here…
…but, you did find the control for dashboard lighting, correct?
And one last thought…
When I’ve been in stores, including WalMart, back in the auto lighting area, I’ve seen little LED interior “spotlights” that can be projected where one wants/needs more light. I’m not sure if any of them plug into cigar/power outlets or not (or if this car has one), but that’s a possibility.
I also don’t know if they’d help or hinder your instrument viewing pleasure. I think you’d have to buy one and try it to find out.
CSA
