Gen III Prius Cabin Filter Replacement

This is the original cabin filter after 1-1/2 years and 20K miles per the original owner. The OEM has an arrow and the word UP printed on the end that shows after you insert the filter into the housing. The only other thing I will add is that releasing the side tabs on the Gen III glove box was extremely difficult compared to my Gen II. The glove box is a lot more rigid, and the sides do not bend inward to release the tabs.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

 

The two types that I am familiar with is a regular cabin filter which I just recently put in my Avalon and a charcoal filter which I just bought and will start using in the future. The standard one at Toyota was $25.00. The charcoal was $35.00. The air is so polluted in Chicago and that is why I decided to go with the charcoal.

 

good idea.

 

Handy when you get behind a damned-diesel.

 

and even an undamned one.

 

They should all be damned to Hell as far as I'm concerned.

 

A very recent, damning report:

Diesel exhaust a danger after 2 hours, indicates UBC study - British Columbia - CBC News

 

I recently read an article somewhere that the air inside of your car is 6 times worse than the outside air. That kind of of pushed me to start using a charcoal cabin filter.

 

Depends where your car is, surely.

 

I'm sure that's correct. I live in a suburb of Chicago. My cabin filter is very dirty at 10,000 miles.

 

I remember the days when the operator's manual described how to clean an air filter. Ancient history, no doubt.

 

I wouldn't expect a vehicle's ventilation system to exchange all the air that enters a vehicle and contaminants are sure to build up. Add all the chemicals people use to keep things clean/shiny and I expect the inside air to be much worse than the outside air, especially before cabin filters, etc.

 

The current manual suggests to clean it with compressed air, or replace. That's actually a first for me, I don't recall previous Honda manuals saying that.




The first pic above obliquely explains the air flow direction: downward.

 

Wow! A blast from the past.

I wonder how this one got by the business analysts?

 

I took my car in for the first 5,000 mile inspection and when the Toyota mechanic checked the cabin filter he put it back in with the arrows and UP pointing down. Makes me wonder what else he did wrong. Now, I'm almost due for the free 10,000 mile oil change. I dread that.

 

Yes. The direction of flow is extremely obvious anyway, considering you can see the intake side of the fan directly below the filter.

 

Agreed, it is quite obvious, since when you remove the filter all of the debris is on the TOP of the filter, so we can safely deduce that the air flow is from above to below.

 

unless your filter looks like new, as mine did after 25,000 miles. or i should say, the same shade of grey on both sides.

 

Well, since everyone else is responding:

It's not that obvious to me. I don't think I even noticed a fan, the light wasn't that good. And fan location doesn't determine air flow, air flow through a fan could be in either direction.

I'd suspect the filter would work in either orientation when new, but obviously you don't want to accidentally flip later on. For that reason, an orientation label "UP" is better than "AIR FLOW", less ambiguous.

I find it hard to get worked up about a cabin filter. They didn't exist a decade back. It's not as critical as the engine air filter.