They don't have this on Prius in the US. Maybe it's a feature specific to EU market? But I suspect it's just something the previous owner did.
You might find its picture in the owners' manual, near the instructions for installing the compact spare tire (if compact spares are also used in the Netherlands). For transporting the damaged full-size tire inside the car, that strap may be shown securing the tire/wheel to the tie-down D rings in the cargo space, so it can't become a missile in a crash.
IIRC it's for holding down a full-size wheel/tire combo, if you had a flat, and swapped over to the temp spare. Addendum, yes for flat tire hold-down, see attached. Our Canadian spec 2010 still has that belt, but with it rattling around in the back easy to lose. Maybe they should have sewn a label on it, with the attached diagram.
I'd agree with you if it was a standard OEM tie down strap with standard hardware on both ends for safely storing a flat tire wheel via cargo tie down loops/hardware. But look closer at that strap, it looks nothing like something Toyota has included in a vehicle unless maybe if you go back to early 90's or 80's and even if it was OEM there's nothing holding down that carpeted panel to carry the force that the cheap strap is designed to handle.
the car came without a spare tire, but with a repair kit including a compressor. Immediately after the purchase, I bought it as second hand, I requested the dealer a compact spare tire included in the purchase price. The toyota dealer in Schoonoven agreed, but with my surprise at the first corner the spare flew away to the left and right side of the cargo, they never fixed the spare to anything they just placed it under the cargo floor panel, the manager said it' s not going anywhere. Later I bolted the spare myselfand modified the repair kit cutting it, so that could fit under the cargo floor with the spare. The compressor actually could fit in the belt, but I wondered if that was his official function
New purchase? In North America spare was standard on 3rd gen. That said, ever since: Toyota's becoming the poster corporation for passive-agressive syndrome: most everybody wants the spare*, and yet, Toyota's "continuously improving". * Seriously, if you conducted a poll, I don't think a single sole soul on this planet would say "No skip the spare, give me a pricey compressor-with-goop, so I can play with that, then sit by the side of the road waiting for a tow, to somewhere...".. Assuming you've got a cell phone, aren't out of range, and so on.
I also would never own a car without at least a compact spare tire, but here in europe, the repair kit became the standard since the early 2000 and the first euro emission norms. Since then Manufacturers shave everything they can, to reduce weight, emissions and costs, I believe the volkswagen group is dying for that, first the falsified mot tests, then the super thin timing chains to reduce friction , but lasting no more that 120k km, then the direct injection aggravating and speeding the chain wear. Who would buy a VW after paying an engine rebuild after 130k km, these cars are designed to die in 5 years so you have to buy a new one, but people start understanding, bye bye vw
