Argh! I found it. Okay, nevermind. I am actually a moron.

 

My biggest complaint about dumb attacks is the insistence on making all alerts override the normal MFD display in the odometer area.

If you forget to reset the 5,000 timer after you changed the oil, at 5K, you get a RED triangle along with the "MAINT RQD" alert that is always present. OKAY, you pull over, break out the user's manual to find out what it means and how to do the reset because, hey, you ONLY do this every oil change and/or 5,000 miles! Today, I got the LOW WIPER FLUID alert. (Yeah, I knew I had to be getting low. ) Display? RED triangle along with the "LOW WIPER FLUID". Oh, yeah, and it constantly overrode the normal display!

Come on, I think a beep and display the warning for 2 minutes every 30 minutes or 15 or 30 miles would be sufficient. And change the triangle to ORANGE since the car won't blow up if you don't respond immediately like low oil pressure, HSD problems or things like that.

Looking at the "big picture", if this is the only things that truly upsets me, the TCH must be pretty good.

 

Just guessing, but the longer and more annoying the warning light, the more likely you are to not forget to perform the maintenance.
Yes, it's annoying, but I'll bet people are more likely to change there oil on a timely basis (even if it's over the magical 5,000 mark) when the warning is continually on, than they'd be if it was only on for a few seconds. It's human nature and designed specifically to help the end user keep his or her car in sound running order.
When the MAINT REQD light is on, you still have access to your screens. They will display for 5 seconds, which is probably longer than a driver should keep their eye on the dash (and not on the road) and then revert to the warning.
When the warning indicator is on, simply click the DISP button to view the specific item, or run through the items, that you want to see. Really not that big of a deal.

In case someone needs to know...
Resetting the reminder...
Switch to the A odometer
Turn off car
Hold odometer reset button
Turn on car, wait for the minder to reset.

 

From Smilin' Jack's list of the 25 dumbest things about the TCH:


Number 21: There is no accessory power outlet in the rear seat area.

In a car with enough spare electric generating capacity to light up a good size building, not having a 12-v outlet or two in the rear seat area seems inexcusable. Anyone who has taken a long car trip with a tween- or teen ager or two knows that they absolutely need their own individual electronic entertainment - and plenty of (individual) charging power.

 

Here's one I didn't see posted. What about the rear window antenna. It is the worst! I live in a hilly area NW of LA and I'm on the fringe of many LA stations. I lose most of the stations much earlier than the other cars I have.. Many newer cars are using the "Shark Fin" design mounted on the roof at the rear with the antennas for radio, satellite, and cell external to the car. Even the Pruis has an external radio antenna (although it looks really silly).

 

From Smilin' Jack's list of the 25 dumbest things about the TCH:


Number 20: The driver's (left) side rear seat folds down with no apparent purpose.

The right side seat folds to reveal the trunk pass-through opening, but with no opening behind the left side seat, what is the use of having it fold down?

What would have been more useful would be the reclining seat on the left side in combination with the folding seat and pass through on the right side -- best of both worlds !

 

Folding down the rear seat(s) make room for larger footprint objects and protect the seat(s) from damage.

 

From Smilin' Jack's list of the 25 dumbest things about the TCH:


Number 19: The Lateral layout of the big battery and associated stuff.

With the limited trunk space, a larger pass-through to the folding rear seats would be worth a lot. Possibly if the battery equipment were laid out lengthwise instead of laterally, we could have had both more trunk length and a much bigger pass-through. for my money, i'd be happy to give up some trunk width to get these plusses.

 

Actually, what you see poking up is mostly the cooling air intake for the battery - not the battery itself. I agree that the packaging could/should have been better. I suspect that the cooling ducts were dictated by their heat soak reliability tests. Also likely that the other choice (spare tire well) would have required more work on the rear crash structure, as well as the cooling. I'd think they could have gained considerable packaging advantage by bleeding the air from the rear A/C vents and running it up the hump. Might have made the A/C a bit more model-specific, but would have eliminated that package shelf hood scoop and the plumbing underneath it.

Giving back the full pass-through as a bonus.

Personally, I'd see the Li-Ion batteries (the next gen) going to liquid cooling, and gaining packaging advantages with their higher energy densities.

 

The fold-down seats are probably a carryover from the standard Camry. No harm having it, and the cost to engineer an alternative for the hybrid along with training of the assembly line of another different option probably outweighs the benefit of having one specifically for the TCH.

As for the trunk, yes, I'd like more room there as well, but I for one would not be interested in a narrower, deeper trunk. If the trunk was narrower, my golf clubs would not fit in it. Granted, a bigger pass-through might allow me to fit them with the seat folded down, but that would make it impractical to carry them on a regular basis.

Not disagreeing that there are parts of the design that could be tweaked, but each of us has our own preferences about how things should be laid out that work best for us as individuals, not necessarily for a majority of the population and ease of assembly.