Has anyone else noticed pits and blemishes in the plastic covering over the center display? Mine has black imperfections (like dark water spots) across most of the plastic covering.
What the h***?! I will have to add this to my ever-growing list of weird Prius Oddities. Was something sprayed towards the dashboard? Accidentally splashed? Smoking? Vaping? (I've never seen that "Ignition ON" sign).
I haven't noticed the "IGNITION ON" either - but the Manual says: Yes, I wondered if it might be a chemical or cleaning compound. I remember splashing something on a plastic gauge cover and it left a permanent mark - can't remember what it was, but remember the stain.
Are the spots on the inside, or the outside of the plastic? If they're on the inside, that's pretty disturbing.
If it's on the outside I would use ScratchX(more aggressive) or PlastX(less aggressive) to buff them out. On my Prius there was some type of residue covering my plastic screen that I could not get off any other way. It didn't quite look like yours though, it was just "cloudy".
The dark spots appear to be on the inside of the plastic - or at least there is no tactile feeling on the outside. I tried cleaning the plastic, but no change. I think that I will take it to the dealer before I pass either of the 3 years 36,000 mile lines.
I fixed my typo. Living in a tropical rain-forest with high humidity could cause condensation inside the display and leave water marks when dried.
Nope, I live in a desert. and I use the windows a lot more than the air conditioner - humidity is not an issue.
The only thing I could describe mine as were excess condensation from petroleum gases in the plastic dash evaporating onto the screen. Either that or the dealership spilled some type of chemical that left a cloudy residue on the screen. Unfortunately for you, mine were all on the outside, but I did have a scratch on the inside of my screen right in front of the speedometer that I never bothered to have fixed since changing the glass out requires almost a complete and total disassembly of the dash area.
I took my Prius in to my dealership this morning asking for them to replace the "blotchy" plastic cover over my instrument panel. My car has 33,000 miles and is two-and-a-half years old so I am figuring the if the cover does need replacing it will be at Toyota's expense. The more I examined it the more certain I was that it is entirely on the inside of the plastic panel (my best guess is that it was scarred by off-gassing). I rode the dealer shuttle home and am waiting for a call to discover their decision. This dealership has been generous with other issues I brought cars in for, so I expect that they will "do the right thing".
Is it a "cover", or integral, the whole unit. Just thinking they'll put up more of a fight if it's the latter.
It is just a plastic cover that can be removed, it just requires you to take almost the entire dash out to get to it.
And the verdict is: “INCONCLUSIVE”. The dealership wants a Toyota Corporation opinion on the issue. So I will pick the car up and wait for them to arrange an appointment.
I sure hope they find out what caused it. (I should take my car there, and see if they can flush out that dang cat!)
Great when they design cars like that. My old VOLVO 244 was like that when the blower fan for the A/C started making a noise. The VOLVO guys on BrickBoard suggested it was a 10 hr job - in a workshop, double that for DIY. Their suggestion was that in building a 244, they START with the blower motor and assemble the rest of the car around it. [P.S. - I put up with the noise]
