I've noticed this every time I've washed the car and I'm wondering how to deal with it. On the edge of the rear doors, I'm noticing what appears to be some kind of clear edge protector, about an inch wide, that goes down along the bottom edge of the door. The reason I really noticed it is that the driver's side had a dirty edge and is starting to peel off. And yes, like an idiot I started picking at it and making it look worse before I realized it might be something that was put on there intentionally. You can see in the pics that the right side still looks pretty good. The long shot shows the area I'm talking about and the close-ups are just so you can get a better view. I'm wondering: A: what is it? B: should I try to trim and clean the driver's side to get it looking as good as the passenger side? C: remove it from both sides so they look the same and to make it easier to keep the door edges clean? D: something else?
I'm guessing you get it off with gentle use of heat gun and some patient peeling. We've got similar on our hatchback, and our bodyshop has replaced them after "encounters", both sides I think, lol. Once you get it off, your call: I'd be inclined to leave it off.
Well, I said 'to hell with it' and just peeled it off both sides...slowly. It came right off without too much effort and looks a whole lot better. I'll be leaving it clean. Thanks.
I don't have that on my 2012, and I don't recall anyone here mentioning it before. Perhaps something the dealer added?
I have them on my car, factory installed. They are for protecting the paint, either from stones or ingress and egress to the back seat.
Regular Prius has another triangular patch too. These were put on by bodyshop after repair, it's a stock item though, they were there pre-accident. Had both sides redone now, lol. Still: seems a bit pointless, prone to snags, wax build-up.
OK, correction here! I do have the edge strips (but not the triangles) on my 2012 c, so I agree it's a factory option. Mine are much less visible than in Mendel's photo above.
Ours aren't original, were put on by bodyshop after I got hit in that corner. They are per original tho.
