air infiltration -But Baby It's Cold Inside

There is a cold draft near the floor at every climate setting including off, in my 08. Most noticeable at highway speeds, but always there.

I found the dealer installed the center floor plugs in the lower glove box. I assume to increase service life of the component. (I would hate to think they were lazy or unconcerned with doing every thing they could to assure proper delivery.)

I checked the weather strip around doors but they are probably ok.

The front dash near the steering wheel is cold to the touch even after 90 minutes on the road at 70 degrees climate setting.

My 05 did not have this problem.

I assume the problem will go away when it warms up here, in Colorado Springs, but I suspect it indicates a correctable defect somewhere.

No obvious voids or openings in the firewall, so I would appreciate hearing if you have similar issue or know a solution.

Kind Regards,

 

Well my toes are warm and my temper is a bit hot.

"foot air leak" sounds like it is broken doesn't it? Well I feel like Toyota and the dealer took a leak on my shoes. Dealer flashed the ECU e-proms for foot air leak and auto A/C compressor power. Claims it took 45 minutes of shop/tech time to accomplish closing two "doors." Of course it became my cost because it took them so long that the promised "free" fix became discounted customer paid shop time. They were in mock shock I had any notion that the change would be free.

The explanation for them charging me was that the change was a customization not a correction of defect. It finally became worth my $40 they charged, to forgo, forgive, and forget their nonsense. Shame on Toyota though. This is as ridiculous as a Bill Gates undocumented feature that MS will customize at a charge and not support.

This is my second Prius. I did not have them change this stupid setting on my '05 last time because a different service group persuaded me that it would harm my gas mileage and battery performance because the batteries would overheat and the e-prom would only take so many changes without having to charge me to replace it.

It is all nonsense of course, like the EV mode voiding warranty, it is simply a user preference not re-engineering and buying a car has become much like an adhesion contract to maintain the limited protection of warranty.

$22,000.00 U.S.D. for a car that pours untreated air on driver and passengers feet no matter what the climate control setting is silly. If it turns out that my car fogs up with five passengers and flow through air, I'll open a window I guess. I don't want to mess with it again.

 

It makes no sense or I have the wrong idea about what is really involved.

I am sure I too have the wrong idea and do not know what is really involved. Forgive me for pointing out , there may be a universal move to not make "sense" for a few cents, when dollars can be made instead (bottled water, processed foods, U.S. patents on living organisms)

As I understand it in the Prius there is a programmable controller that can be "flashed" to a new settings. It is not a simple press of a button, like the recirculate button on the steering wheel (but it should be, I think) The "firmware" of the body electronic control unit is reprogrammed by erasing then rewriting all of it's information I believe, (and there are at least 3 pages of optional instructions in the PDF I got from this site. The tech does not retype everything but the car's logic chip is rewritten by the hand held device, and it is not instantaneous.

The procedure is done with a special tool called a hand held tester. It would cost me about $6,000.00 USD to buy my own Toyota hand held tester. Independant devices that may, or may not, work cost as little as $2,500.00. (did I really type as little as???) The US government requires all vehicle manufactures to make the devices available at a "reasonable cost to independent repair facilities" that are similar, and control emissions. I doubt the EPA gives a hoot about one that can plug intentional cabin air leaks.

I wish I had looked for the leak and stuck a sock in it. I was tempted to use that approach with the service manager too, but assault with a cold sock, might be more time, than I could do for such a crime.

There were many varieties of blocked front grills to help keep the Prius engine warm, (supposedly, - - highly doubtful to ROI for the price of time and materials at subzero temps, I suspect) in this site, but I have not seen any owner mod that would have kept my tootsies warm. I would have looked in the cabin air filter area myself if I had done the EV modification as I had planned but I am not willing to void my warranty as has been threatened just yet.

$40 bucks is nothing really. Anger comes to me because I feel like I am dealing with a local mob boss, through various layers of lackies, not like a valued customer surrounded by a support structure. (here is a quote from my son - 10 seconds have just past and sadly someone has died, but don't worry 3 new customers were born in those same 10 seconds)

Unfortunately I first tried to take care of this during the holidays and the demand for service was a lot higher then the supply. Even though I waited until after the New Year, I spent over 10 hours finding someone that knew what I wanted. I had to go to the dealer ask the "service manager" to speak to the "prius certified" technician, and then keep walking toward the repair area before the service writer (called "managers" now) would go check for me.

Before I did this bold assault I was told various forms of "I don't know what the @#$!& you're talking about, but leave the car with us and for enough money we will tell you later we still do not know what the @#$!& you are talking about.

Depending on the e-prom it might take almost an hour to do this intuitively easy thing. The person that actually does the work does not get paid unless there is a "charged" customer. It can be another department like sales, or manufacture warranty, or us. In this case it was me. I caved.

I think it is as silly as having to pay for a customization to open or close a window. (Ssshhh!!!!, Toyota might plan "head air leak" as a future "feature customization!")

 

The plugs were supposed to be installed in the underside of the car by the dealer prior to delivery.

The two plugs go into holes in the chassis in front of the rear wheels to fill the void left when the shipping hold down ties are removed. They are about 1L x 1/2W x 1/4D inch and press in easily.

The plugs were not actually installed, still in their package, and tossed into the glove box. I jokingly referred to that toss as "installed."

I apologize for any confusion. Please forgive my apparently lame attempt at humor.