On my way to work today in our 115°F Phoenix heat, I noticed that the dash on the passenger side where it meets up with the upper glove box seems to be warping. My guess would be due to this lovely heat we have here. Most times I am able to use the windshield heat shield which removes most direct sun from it, however there are times where it's forgotten. Anyway, I tried to push down to see if it had just come unseated, but no luck thus far. The change in shape is also making the upper glove compartment difficult to open (they seem to be rubbing together). Worst part is I'm at 36,500 miles now which would put me just out of basic warranty where this would be covered (?). Any ideas on how to get this back into place? Any other experiences? Are we discovering the pitfalls of bio-plastic? I'll try to attach pics of this later on.
500 miles over...take it in an ask Rick. A good dealer will 'fudge' the mileage a bit to keep it under warranty.
OUCH! I feel for you man. By all means, go to the dealer. It may be considered a design flaw. (Believe it or not, there are hotter areas in the world . . . but Phoenix’s record of 122F ties Europe’s and beats South America’s.) On the bright side, lets all take this as a hard lesson learned, and be thankful we don’t live in these areas . . . and . . . that the Prius does not come with vinyl seats as standard equipment. HIGHEST RECORDED TEMPERATURE: AFRICA * Al'Aziziyah, Libya 57.7 C (135.9 F) on the 13th September, 1922 ASIA * Tirat Tsvi, Israel 53.9 C (129.0 F) on the 21st June, 1942 AUSTRALIA * Oodnadatta, South Australia 50.7 C (123.3 F) on the 2nd January, 1960 EUROPE * Seville, Spain 50.0 C (122.0 F) on the 4th August, 1881 NORTH AMERICA * Death Valley, USA 56.7 C (134.0 F) on the 10th July, 1913 SOUTH AMERICA * Rivadavia, Argentina 48.9 C (120.0 F) on the 11th December, 1905 http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/worldtp.html [all 13 of my PriusChat points donated to htmlspinnr]
Almost sounds like it is where the passenger side airbag sets. If that is true, I would definitely have the dealer look at it. I have a dashdesigns cover over mine to help prevent this....hope it works! Good Luck!
A dashpad cover would be a good idea in any hot climate, eg Nevada or Utah. A lot of cars/trucks there have cracked dash from baking in the hot sun. What I don't like to see is the dashpad cover that clearly covers the passenger airbag. If the airbag ever deploys, that could create a serious risk to the passenger and driver.
This is in the area where the passenger airbag sits. I'm going to approach it as a safety concern when I present it since I don't want the airbag to malfunction if the panel is no longer in the "right" location. However, if the airbag is attached to the panel, that won't fly. Perhaps I should invest in the pad - but I've always had the same airbag concern with said items.
I noticed last week that I have the same warpage as you do. I live in Los Angeles and the upper glove compartment is hard to open. Luckily, I have 25,000 miles on my 2004 and should have it fixed under warrantly. So it sounds like you are not the only one with a unique problem. I'll bet that a few more owners will experience the same thing as well now that the weather is warming up.
my plasticy thing where my speedometer is warped a little bit, and now it looks all distorted (my dash display) Could i get that plastic stuff replaced?
(edit 6/25/2006 to replace dropped pics) Attached is a picture of the separation. It's not extreme as in visibility, but it does cause the upper glove compartment to not open. Also, it seems the upper glove compartment pulls forward a bit too easily. I'm wondering if when my ECU was replaced back when they had SSC-40D (?) done, if they didn't put it back together correctly, and it compounded this problem? [attachmentid=3910] I'm at 36700 miles, but the car's only 1½ years old. This shouldn't be happening. As a side note, I tried to pull the part up, then reseat it. The plastic itself is definately deformed. Also attached for amusement was a really nice lightning shot I grabbed while I went out to grab pics of the dash. Sorta OT, but had to share. [attachmentid=3911]
Pretty powerful lightning to just have warped the dash a little. I'd say you got out lucky. I bet your battery is fully charged now. OK my sense of humor is lame. Good luck with the dealer.
I remember now, it wasn't the SSC, but the fuel gauge/filler TSB that they had to pull my dash apart. When it was put together, it was shoddy and half of my dash lights didn't work. They redid the reassembly the next day. I know I posted about it WAY back when it happened (hard to remember when your posts exceed 1000!). Thx for the brain thwap -Rick
I just noticed the same warpage today while cleaning the inside of my Prius. Let us know what your dealer says. I also had problems with the upper glove compartment door, which I thought was due to the spring coming loose. It's hot here in L.A., but not Phoenix hot.
