Cargo mat plus accessory: Is it worth buying

I find they're not flexible enough, for seat backs up vs down. I just use an blanket, and if something dirty/wet, a tarp.

 

Try these folks. A little on the expensive side, but mine covers the backs of the seats when folded down. With two Labradors, it was worth it...

Canvasback Custom Cargo Liners

 

love the canvasback.

 

Depends what you are carrying and how often.

I had a Weathertech cargo mat in my Gen 3 and it was great for wet muddy dog who had been frolicking in the river: raised edge corralled the muck and moisture. When it got dirty, cleaning it was a simple matter of spraying it with cleaner and hosing/brushing it off, easier than cleaning blankets or tarps. Raised edge was not a problem when seatbacks were down to haul other things like bicycles, etc. My only issue was that it did not protect the backs of the rear seatbacks. Still I was all set to buy one for my Gen 4 until I discovered that Weathertech will not have a version for the 2016 Prius for another 4-6 months.

At $99 for the Cargo Tray Plus vs $119 for Weathertech (for the 2015 Prius) vs $169 for the Canvasback (for the 2015, they don't have their 2016 Prius version ready yet either!), the Cargo Tray Plus feels like a bargain.

I got my Cargo Mat Plus last week. Thick rubber, fits the cargo floor reasonably well. I'm fine with it. And my cargo area is protected NOW, before said dog can saturate the underlying carpeting with muck.

 

I went to the Home Depot and bought black indoor-outdoor carpet and cut it to fit may rear cargo area. (full-length with the seats folded) Looks great, easy to clean, and protect the seat-back when folded down. Oh, and cheap!



Merged

 

Beautiful job.

However, I'd like you to meet my dog (she's nearest to the camera) so you can see why a rubber mat works well for me:

 

JohnF how long did it take to get your cargo mat plus? Did you order it from the Prius chat shop? I ordered mine Thursday or Friday and can't wait to get it!

 

Yes I ordered it from the PriusChat shop and it came in less than a week. But it depends on when Toyota gets the products to them. I'm pleased with mine and think you'll like it too.

 

I saw the cargo liner sold by Toyota US and it's five separate pieces that stick to the carpeting with a ton of Velcro. Not very appealing IMO and no protection for liquids. The five pieces are like a bunch of little islands.

Toyota Canada has a much better solution a friend in Canada told me about. They use a one-piece liner that goes all the way up the seatback and has living hinges to accommodate the seats going up or down. I did some web searching and Toyota Canada has a YouTube that shows this product in other car models, but they offer the exact same solution for Prius. Toyota Canada's website doesn't show the Prius cargo liner very well, but the YouTube video shows how it works:

The Canadian cargo liner offers complete, uninterrupted protection all the way up the seatbacks. That's a much better solution IMO. Maybe a Canadian member can arrange a group buy with a local dealer?

 

The OP asked about the Cargo Tray Plus, and that comes in THREE pieces, not five. The piece for the cargo area has a raised lip all around it. Two pieces for the seatbacks. The "hinge" area is not covered but for my usage I'm fine with that, based on my experience with a Weathertech that covered just the cargo floor in my 2011 Gen 3.

I agree that the Canadian one shown in the video looks great. Looks like you could haul dirt back there.

 

John F.: Actually the Cargo Tray Plus sold in the US is FIVE pieces, not three. The cargo tray is one piece, the seatback covers are another two pieces, and there are another two small pieces that cover the hinged bridge panels. Ridiculous. The Canadian tray is one contiguous piece from the cargo area all the way up the seatbacks with no gaps. PriusChat Shop carries the Cargo Tray Plus and there's one review from Kenneth H. that confirms the five piece solution. Kenneth also reports that the Velcro is inadequate to hold the seatback pieces in place. His review follows:

"The rear cargo tray is great- good fit, thick and durable, and does its job admirably. The seat back covers also provide protection, but the hook and loop disks that "hold" them in place are inadequate when the seats are in the vertical position. The covers (two setbacks and the two gap covers between the rear deck and seat backs) tend to ripple and not stay flat. Overall, the kit is worth it for the protection when the seats are folded down for cargo."

 

I bought my Cargo Tray Plus through the Prius Chat Shop and got just the three pieces I described. My Model 2 ECO came with two carpeted "slats" that slide down and shield the gap between the seatbacks and the cargo floor as the seatbacks are laid flat. As you pull the seatbacks back up, there is not much clearance between the lower edge of the seatback mat and the forward edge of the slat, so fitting another piece on top of the slats could be a problem. And is unnecessary for the things I haul in back, based on 5 years experience with my 2011 Gen 3 with a Weathertech tray, which covered only the cargo floor.

"No protection for liquids"? A nice high lip corrals liquid spilled in the cargo floor portion, and that will be fine for my uses, again based on my experiences with a Weathertech mat in my 2011. I'm not planning to flip the seats down and flood the entire rear with liquid.

"Complete uninterrupted protection"? The Canadian one has a gap between the two seatbacks that liquid could flow into, for full hermetic protection it probably needs a flap covering that?

I saw Kenneth H's comments before I bought mine. The Velcro discs hold the pieces securely so I don't think it is "inadequate". With the seatbacks in the "up" position, the mats flex outwards just slightly in a couple areas in between the Velcro discs. Yes it would have been tidier if Toyota had integrated rubber or plastic sheets into the seatbacks, but they didn't. I imagine the Canadian one sticks on in a similar way. This is a cargo area, not my living room, so it doesn't need to be cosmetically perfect (OK, my living room isn't perfect either).

Judging from the pricing for their version for the 2015 Prius, the cargo mat from Weathertech will cost about $20 more than the Cargo Tray Plus. With no seatback protection and a lower lip in the cargo area. When it finally comes out in 4-6 months: by then, my cargo area would be filthy thanks to my dog.

I agree with Kenneth H. that the Cargo Tray Plus isn't perfect but is worth the price, and that it adds protection when the seats are folded flat and one is hauling stuff. And I'll say something similar when I'm asked to review it.

If you can wait (from your sig it doesn't appear that you actually own a 2016, so all this may be theoretical?) and perhaps pay more for the concours appearance of the Canadian one, then by all means do so. I do wonder how well the hinge areas of the Canadian one will last if it is flexed frequently. And point out that liquid spilled into the "hinge" areas will have to go somewhere, probably trickle down under the seats. But none of that is my problem....

P.S. I just checked the Toyota Canada website: the Canadian liner sells for CDN$140, or about US$108. Plus shipping, duty, etc. Go for it! But first buy the car!

 

Thanks: be interested to hear your impressions/experience with the Canadian cargo liner. A one piece solution seems to make better sense for load floor protection.

 

View attachment 107013

My faux pas not to have validated my vehicle purchase intentions with you prior to posting to determine if I'm worthy. If you must know, my 2006 has 245K miles on it now so the intention is to replace it with a Gen 4 after Toyota works through the first year, but that really has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

I had to go back to my local Toyota store to take a photo of the multi-piece cargo tray I'd seen that is Part Number PT908-47161 for Gen 4 with spare tire. Toyota lists another part number for cars with tire repair kit (P/N PT908-47162) but the dealer didn't have one of those to review. At any rate the dealer was unaware that the cargo liner was intended to go up the seat back - (surprise!).

The cargo liner described is indeed five pieces as shown in my photo. The four pieces intended for up seat-back affix with a total of 21 (approximately 3" diameter) circles of Velcro, plus 2 full length strips of Velcro. The up seat-back pieces are essentially flat so that any liquid spills run off the 4 'island' pieces. This is a key point for why I expressed that I felt the Canadian solution offered superior protection as one piece rather than five. The main load floor tray has a raised edge for liquid retention as shown.

 

Mystery solved. I phoned the parts guy at my Toyota dealership and he checked the listings in the parts book. The two versions of the US market Cargo Tray Plus for the 2016 Prius have different part numbers because they are in fact DIFFERENT. PT908-47161 has FIVE pieces and is for cars WITH a spare tire, which means they have a flat surface when the rear seatbacks are flipped down. PT908-47162 has THREE pieces and is for cars WITHOUT a spare, which means that the cargo area at the back is about 2" lower than the surfaces of the seatbacks when the rear seatbacks are flipped down. It deletes the small pieces that would cover the slats between the setback covers and the rear cargo area. Surprising that your parts guy didn't tell you this.

Apparently there are two reasons to omit these small pieces:
(1) as I said, they would interfere with the motion of the slats as the seatbacks are flipped back up
(2) the slats are nearly vertical when the seatbacks are down

I thought perhaps I had missed them in the carton and thrown them out with the box. In any case, I don't need them, am perfectly happy with my Cargo Tray Plus, and think it was worth buying in terms of both price and function for my purposes.