Two weeks ago my left quarter window was smashed by a thief, sending bits of glass everywhere. I just finished cleaning glass out of the last place: The cargo cover. I'm writing this for anyone who might disassemble their cargo cover in the future. It's easy to disassemble the cargo cover: Remove two Philips screws from either end cap, remove the cap, and slide the rolled up cover out of the aluminum shell which houses it. In my case, that's when you shake all the glass out. The rolled up cover is spring-loaded, kind of like a window blind which rolls up and down. When I reassembled the cover, it had no spring tension: The cover would no longer retract into its aluminum shell. Oh no! Here is what I learned. The two end caps are different. One cap has a small hole, in which the round shaft of the cover fits. The other cap has a star pattern, into which the other side of the cover fits. Older Prius' used a flat shaft instead of the star-shape, and the flat shafts tended to wear out. At any rate, you first roll up the cover and slide it inside the aluminum housing, with both end caps removed. You'll need an assistant. With the cover protruding an inch from the end with the star shape, you fit the star-shaped end cap over the cover, and then you slowly spin it clockwise to wind up the spring. Once I wound it enough to pull the cover in snugly, I turned it fourteen full rotations. This was my guesstimate; it's not a spec but it worked. If you don't tighten the spring enough, the cover won't fully retract. If you over-tighten, the spring can snap when you extend the cover. Anyway, after you turn the end cap about fourteen full rotations, gently slide the end cap over the aluminum housing and secure it using the two Philips screws. Make sure they're tightened; the cap must be fully in place over the aluminum. Next, you'll need to fit the other end cap over the round shaft of the cover. You might need needlenose pliers to get the shaft into the hole in the cover. Once in place, make sure the second end cap is fully in place and tighten the two Philips screws on the second end cap. You're done. Put the cover in the vehicle and test it.
A lot of times in parking garages and the like, I'll pull the cover over the hatch area, even with nothing in there. Maybe that's a red flag to a bull, better to leave it open? Like stores leaving their till drawer open, visibly empty, and/or in a front of-store-window.
Yes, if you have nothing in the hatch area, leave it visible so crooks can see there's nothing to steal
Mine finally broke after parking under the Sun for 2 hours. It softens the plastic star-knob where the spring-end L-shape hook into the pinhole of that knob. It came loose because the L-side metal bent the soft plastic groove out of shape and no longer holds the metal hook firmly. I needed to use a dental tool to hook the spring out and pull to get it able to hook back into the plastic knob. Then I needed to carefully wound it maybe not 14 times, maybe 10, just so that it won't pull too hard on that plastic and slip again. I ended crazy gluing the metal spring end to the plastic. If anyone has a metal 3D printer, print this back in metal would be a perfect solution. Anyways, thanks to Rebound info above, I'm able to fix this back instead of buying a new or used one. 20210611_213931[1] by samuraisd posted Jun 11, 2021 at 11:13 PM
