2017 Air Cabin filter

For the minimal amount of maintenance needed on the Prius I would just go ahead and buy the OEM (Toyota) parts (cabin/engine air filters, oil filters, etc.) Not worth trying to save a bit of money for how infrequent these parts need to be changed. This is, of course, assuming you do your own maintenance, where possible.

 

Toyota wants 50-55$ for the incabin filter, elsewhere they are 6-20$, so evey six months, I'd rather buy elsewhere, same with ice filter, oil filter,etc.

 

Just coming up on 8 years ownership in Vancouver, 78K kms, I've yet to change either the cabin or engine air filter. Windshield wipers, OEM tires*, same story.

* The tires do get a break every winter, I swap over to snow tires.

 

You're doing it wrong then. That is over twice MSRP!

I have found may 3rd party automotive air & oil filters, especially FRAM to be inferior.



From Metro Toyota Parts

 

$50 is probably installed price. Nobody should pay to have this done! Root canals yeah, where's my check book, but cabin filter, c'mon...

 

Putting a time or mileage limit on something like a cabin air filter is useless unless you are a dealer in my opinion.
Take it out and look at it, if it's dirty change it.
I have a 2004 Hyundai with 15,000 miles on it, should I change the cabin air filter? I may someday.
Some sarcasm intended.

 

The cabin air filter too: is really a peripheral item, no where near as critical as the engine filter. Cabin filters didn't exist 15~20 years back, and we all muddled through, somehow.

I think one reason ours has gone so long: we rarely use AC through summer, just leave the system off and ventilate the cabin by opening the windows. We run the vent system mostly through winter, when there's a lot less dust.

 

It's not just about saving money, it's about buying higher quality while also saving money... Charcoal impregnated cabin filters work much, much better and are around $12 on Ebay. Of course certain things like Trans fluid is best to buy as OEM from Toyota. As in part of responsible ownership is figuring out what's best for your car in every instance, not letting someone with a conflict of interest telling you what's best.

Don't ever give a car stealership money for car work... If you have a warranty get as much as you can from them for free and then go some where less corrupt, less costly and more honest for regular maintenance or repairs.

 

Ask 30 different owners, and you'll get 30 different answers. Comes down to personal preference. Best thing to do is pull the filter out, and make your own determination as to "how dirty" you think it is. (I'm in a very dusty/dry area.)

I'm picky.
Every January I change the cabin & engine air filters.
Get the oil changed.
Put a new battery in the FOB.
Take a bath.

Some people wait much longer, like several years; And some never do it. I buy the original filters from various Toyota dealers on eBay. This time I am trying the more expensive charcoal cabin filter. The first thing I noticed is how much it stinks! Took about 3 days to de-stink itself. (It's a factory Toyota filter--who knows where it's made.)

Here's one of many videos from YouTube:

 

If it's similar to third gen, an alert comes up on the dash when the fob battery is low. I do usually change both when one of the fobs triggers the alert; it's maybe every 2~3 years?

 

A lot of these crazy guys keep running out of gas!

Do you think they will see a Low Fob alert? I just make a list and do everything in January, otherwise my old brain might forget.

I wish there was a "Low 12V Batt" pop-up. I'm at 3 years already. If this was my previous Camry, I'd be stranded somewhere by now.

 

You'd probably have more friends if you take a bath more than once every January... Bet you start smelling real ripe this time of year?

As for you charcoal cabin filter smelling... Take it back!

The whole purpose of that filter is to keep the air in the car as clean as possible and if it smells it means its substandard filter that's been sprayed with chemicals for some stupid reason, probably an anti-microbial (aka: poisonous neuro-toxin)

And because decreasing exposure to dust, smells and chemicals is the primary purpose of a cabin filter, buy an $11 one on Ebay that's only paper and charcoal and nothing else!

 

The filters I bought are original equipment, genuine parts from Toyota. Bought from a Toyota dealer right here in California. The stink finally went away. I'll post a photo in a couple minutes.



Maybe it's old? Been in the plastic too long? I'd suggest putting it outside for a couple hours, and letting it air-out before install.

 

OEM is only the best choice when it's higher quality or better match than aftermarket...

Keep in mind that when you mass produce vehicles you have to keep costs down and almost always a much cheaper, lower quality part will be used. That's why a good DIY car owner is always on the look out for everything that can be upgraded to a higher quality more reliable design. Every time you take something apart to do maintenance you can find an opportunity to upgrade to higher quality.

I mean OEM is great if you want your car in a museum in 100 years... But if you want it to last for 1/2 a million miles you gotta upgrade so much stuff!

 

$50! Surprised it was that low from a dealer. Maybe they're trying to gain back service revenue that your Prime will never need, compared to a 100% ICE car. Both the cabin filter and engine filter are super easy DIY's. There are high quality filters available 3rd party aftermarket - just ask at an auto parts store for options, of search online.

I expect the cabin filter will get dirty at the same rate as my old Gen3 Prius, which means probably every 1.5 years for my mostly urban use. When I first changed one of those it was unexpectedly filthy. The engine air filter never looked dirty, but I replaced it anyway every 2 years, or in my case every 18K of use.

I have yet to replace either in the Prime, now at 10K miles. I really should at least look at the cabin filter sometime soon.

 

One thing good about that charcoal filter, is you can't see the dirt.
Now I can leave it in there for 8 YEARS, like Mendel.

 

The fancy charcoal cabin filter was $24. And the engine filter was $12? I could have shopped around longer on eBay. I've seen Toyota filters cheaper. I just wanted to try the charcoal one time. No big deal. I'm good with the regular $16 filter, too.

I'll probably sell the car before it needs any more filters. I need a truck.

 

At that price you could of bought four higher quality ones on Ebay...