My new Prius v door sill shown some water stain or dirt around the sill when I open the door, as shown on the picture below. Is there any way to prevent the dirt stay along the door sill when it rain or after the car wash?
Yes, I knew every time when it raining on that day or two, I have to wipe it and it's a kind of poor design. Toyota should put a weather strip underneath the door panel, just like other car maker.
We see the same thing on our V and I suspect it's merely because of the positioning of the weather strip. If the strip were to be placed nearer the outer surface of the car it would probably prevent the dirt from entering. But ... then water could be trapped behind the strip and ultimately we would have rust. Now that would be a bad design!
Whew, we have some lazy folks nit picking the mundane. One swipe with a damp paper towel does the job, but dont forget to wipe off the bottom of your shoes and floor mats at the same time....also the fenders, wheel wells and front bumper from the splashed rain water. Love my V...shows 44.5 avg. mpg.......hard to believe!
If the Prius had 2 weatherstrips and if the outside one had a one inch notch in it on the bottom that allowed water behind it to flow outward, not only would the Prius be quieter but the dirt would be kept out. One of my last cars used this notch notion and never collected the dirt the Prius does. The sill area is one that receives the most anti-rust treatment and so is not an area we typically see rust in in modern cars. I just cleaned my sills the other day and the rag was filthy and that was from just a week's accumulation. Just because we like the car shouldn't make us blind to its weaker areas. No car is perfect.
i never had a car that didn't have dirt there! in my life i've had over 50. dirt? water and what not in the T model! thank god they don't make that car anymore!
We also think that it's a bad design. None of our other cars has this problem, but they are older, at least 10 years old. We clean it up religiously in those areas, but it takes as long to do this as it does to wash the whole rest of the car. The hatch area also gets really dirty and it takes extra time to clean around that area too. We've thought about installing some weather stripping around the doors to see if it would help.
Seriously? I've never had a car, truck or SUV that had this problem. Don't get me wrong... I love my Prius however, this is my biggest pet-peeve about this car. It rains a lot in Florida and unless you carry a towel around in your car to wipe it clean before you get out there is always the chance of getting the back of your legs wet and stained by road grime when the roads are wet.
I agree. I live in the Northwest, vehicles see a lot of rain. But NO vehicle I have ever owned hasn't had dirt there. They all have gotten the usual dirt, wet inside the sill. To me? Not a big deal. Doesn't show when the door is closed. Occasionally I wipe it off or down, the rest of the time I ignore it. Kind of like dust or dirt in the engine compartment. It happens. I can wipe it off, but I don't consider it a design flaw. I've owned lots of vehicles....and I can't remember one that didn't get dirt in that area.
You will find dust on the B pillar also along with inside the back door. Get a good Super Shammy for $20 and keep it in the storage under the rear floor. A quick wipe down after a run through your favorite Car Wash to keep it looking clean. BTW, I would also highly suggest getting the Weathertech mats if you live anywhere it can snow.
To my surprise, the other day after the rain I happened to look on the door and noticed that the door molding that I installed to protect the door from being hit by the others also has the side benefit. It protects the road wet spray on the top part of the door! Even at a mere 1/4" thick, it really did a good job as you can see by the 4 untouched pictures below: And yet when I bought it, there was nowhere that they mentioned this feature. I guess when they designed the molding, they never thought of this.
I like your door moldings with the chrome inserts and the chrome at the bottom with the hybrid writing. Where did you purchase these products, how much we're they and are they all seperate purchases?
I also noticed the chrome door handles and I like them too. Where did you get them, how much and do they interfere with the smart key-touch that unlocks the doors?
It's just the design of the door sill. On vehicles like the Highlander, the door is part of the door sill and so the part that is sticking out and covered in dirty water spots in the OP is integrated into the door. There are several reasons that I can think of for Toyota going with the design they did with the Prius 1. The door is lighter 2. Structural integrity - having the sill as part of the frame rather than part of the door for side impact reasons I'm sure you've noticed that the doors no longer include part of the roof and now close within an enclosed shell (the body of the car). Look at the old Camrys for example (e.g. Gen 4 from 1997-2001). Notice how the top of the door includes part of the roof and the front doors cover the A pillars compared to the newer designs.
@@ Stainless moldings for doors' bottom @@ | PriusChat See the thread above. prius chrome door | eBay As for the door handle chrome covers, I got them from ebay and the SKS is "somewhat" awkward to use because in order to lock the door, in stead of touching the handle like before, I now have to grab the whole front part of the handle to activate the lock. I did cut open the hole to expose more ribs but didn't help with the sensitivity. I now use the remote most of the time to lock my doors. Unlocking is no issues though.
