Plastic panel lower right footwell - "floating"?

[pakitt]

A friend of mine, pretty tall, noticed when putting the feet up the footwell in the passenger's side of my 2010 Prius, that there was something "plasticky" moving and making a rattling noise when he touched it with his foot.
It was night, so the following day, I looked underneath and found that nothing really looked broken, but rather there is a plastic panel, with internal fabric lining, connected to the dashboard to the front with 3 quite strong plastic clips (all OK a firmly in place), and behind it simply a plastic extension that inserts into a rear "socket" on the "wall".
The rest of the panel seems to be left "free floating" (left and right) with free space, holds the LED for the footwell illumination and covers what seems to be the recycling fan for the AC (?) - there is a fan there!
Any idea if that is alright? why the apparently "flimsy" build? Any reason to leave gaps between the panel and the rest of the lower dashboard, instead of maybe putting some grill for the air to flow freely and keep the panel snug to the rest of the dashboard?
It does look a bit "cheap" or more like a "last minute" solution...
The panel does not make any rattling or similar noise at all when driving.

[Tideland Prius]

That would be the vent for the feet mode.

Yeah mine is floating as well and doesn't seem to be held very securely. I agree, it does look very very cheap.

[kermityfrog]

it is a design. The Lexus IS also has the same design if that what u referring to. I actually not suprise to see the soft cover underneath as it protect your feet from going up during a colision. It is not design like you want but the purpose is there. I actually a little disappointed with the soft cover the first day I test the IS and accidently kick the cover when I get into the driver side.

Back in 30 years ago, I noticed my parent's car (based trim) do not have the cover, but the second trim has the same design without the fabric insulation behind, while the top model has all the goodies plus more plastic plug around the cover and the cover also seem more thicker. You will going to miss the pass as thing built today is kinda different then back then.

[schoolchef]

I thought this might have been the source of my rattle. I pointed it out to the technician and he secured the panel. It didn't alleviate the rattle, though.

[fjpod]

I noticed this floppy panel as well. It doesn't rattle in my car, but it does seem "cheap". Although, I must say, that removing it and the glove box and the panel to get at the cabin air filter is easy...and that's worth something.