I hate it when things are “hidden” by manufacturers, especially to “protect me”.  Thank you, Big Brother, but I’ll make my own decisions.  Thanks to the folks over at PriusChat for posting these at various times. Also, another handy reference is this eaa-phev wiki.  I just wanted to get the ones I use most all together into one handy reference.  CoastalTech has a selection of hardware hacks that you can install to do some of these automatically.  I installed their nav hack and it’s quite nice, though it doesn’t give you any more functionality than the manual hack below.

This hack lets you key in a destination while the vehicle is in motion:

1)Push MENU Button on bezel
2)Tap the VOLUME soft button
3)Tap top left of screen (where the speaker icon is), then the bottom left, then top left again and finally the bottom left again.
**Perform these taps in rapid sequence. Do not be tentative or it might not work.
4)The Service Menu should appear.
5)Press and hold the OVERRIDE soft button until it beeps and is highlighted.
Full NAV function should now be available until you shut down the car. This can be engaged while in motion but must be repeated each time the car is restarted.
Be cautious experimenting within the Service Menu as you could cause yourself some problems with your Prius is you push the wrong combination of buttons.

This hack lets you turn off the “engine service” reminder light:

• Power on car, Cycle ODO/TRIP, stopping on ODO, Power off car.
• Power on, while holding the ODO button.  Wait for reminder light to go out, then release ODO button.

This hack lets you disable the “Reverse Beep”.

This is the annoying beep INSIDE the car which cannot be heard outside the car.

• Power on the car, Cycle ODO/TRIP, stopping on ODO, Power off the car.
• Power on, within 6 seconds, hold ODO for at least 10 seconds.
• While still holding ODO shift into Reverse and back into Park.
• “b-on” shows on speedometer display, press ODO to cycle to "b-off".
• This also works for the seatbelt beep, replace shifting with buckling/un-buckling (yes, physically buckling the belt).  Seatbelt beep allows you to enable/disable seatbelt reminder beep for the driver+passenger, and enable passenger only.

This hack lets you access Touch screen diagnostics (for 2004 or newer):

Use of this information might result in disabling your vehicle, use it at your own risk.

This hack allows you to disable the traction control:

This one is very controversial, and actually makes me angry.  For those of you who have never experienced this “feature”, you probably think it’s a good idea.  You also probably think it’s implemented similar to traction control systems on other cars.  Sorry, but it’s not, and it’s not.  In that order.

This inane feature detects the slightest wheel spin and then KILLS THE ENGINE briefly.  So if you are pulling out of a driveway onto a busy street, and your wheels happen to slip slightly in the water puddled by the curb, your car protects you by removing power, stalling your forward progress, and then allowing other safety systems to further protect you when that moving van you were trying to pull ahead of slams into your drivers side door.  I feel very protected.  This also has the additional feature of causing a laundry problem every time it happens.  This isn’t traction control, folks, this is a joke – a dangerous one at that.

I have seen warnings on this one that you could damage your transmission if you actually use this.  Perhaps hair will grow on the palms of your hands too, I don’t know.  Mostly from what I’ve seen, this is a hysterical hand-waving discussion with the majority of alarmists completely unable to back up their wild assertions of trashing your car with anything more than “well I think it might do that” or “well Toyota wouldn’t have put it in there for no good reason”.  Er, yea, well those of us who think with our own brains can and do use the following to great advantage when in traction challenged situations (snow/slush, etc).  I don’t normally enable this, but when I am in problematic conditions, I do.

My wife and I call this the “traction control dance”:

• Follow the sequence below (quickly – within 60 seconds)
• Set Ignition state to ON, not READY (Power button twice, no brake)
• While still in "P" fully depress the gas pedal two times.
• Select "N" fully depress the gas pedal two times. (parking brake may be applied prior)
• Select "P" fully depress the gas pedal two times.
(LCD display will indicate a red !Car! in upper left corner of screen)
• Start the engine (brake+start button)