I noticed the other day that the rubber mat installed by the dealer partially covers the vent underneath the passenger side rear seat. I'm assuming this is the vent to cool the hybrid battery and I'm considering cutting the mat so it doesn't block the airflow at all. I'd rather not take the mat out completely - it's easier to clean out the beach sand with them. Thoughts?
Pic attached. I adjusted the mat a little bit (he'd installed it crooked) and now it comes up to the first row of the vent. So it's really only one row of the seven rows that's blocked. Still not great in my opinion, but not as critical as it seemed looking down at it. My mat is stamped PT908-47230 if anyone wants to compare.
The battery intake vent is on the driver's side of the rear seats (not the passenger's) and is elevated from the floor. See page 77 of the owner's manual and maintenance (cleaning and filter replacement) starting on page 441. I've attached a pdf and a picture of the vent from my car. I don't know what the passenger side is for. As far as I can see, the manual does not reference it. In my car, the mat comes up to its bottom.
I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the vent on the passenger side is the cooling output. The driver side vent is absolutely the cooling intake. It takes the air in and runs it under the battery. I suspect after the air goes under the battery, it comes out of that passenger side vent.
@aforkosh Thanks for the info and pdf link - good catch. I won't worry about it then. Curious to know what the other venting is for if anyone knows. Could it be to cool the 12v battery? Good to know that I need to clean the filter, and nice of them to put it somewhere accessible. I only cleaned the battery cooling fan once on my '05 because it was such a pain to get to. Since I didn't carry animals around and was usually the only one using the car, there wasn't anything to clean so it really felt a like a huge waste of time & effort. @bisco I wonder if the passenger seat cooling fans pull in that air. Kinda defeats the purpose of a butt cooler if it's sucking in hot air!
Wait, you guys have vents in the back for the battery on the 2023? I have a Prime and I didn't see any vents in the back
They're on the lower-front of the back seats. Non-primes just have one on the driver's side. Never block your vents! My all-weather mat is well below my battery vent btw.
The Prime doesn't have a vent. The main traction battery on the HEV Prius is cooled by air from the cabin pulled from under the rear seats. The larger battery on the Prime is mounted underneath the car and requires much more cooling, so it's got its own liquid cooling system that runs from the engine compartment. I believe it's also capable of warming the battery up before use(driving or charging), but I don't know if that heat is generated from the engine, heat pump, or something else.
I’m afraid to ask where these vents are on a 2009. I know about the vent on the seat. Did a quick check and couldn’t find anything along the base of seats.
