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Dash vent trim

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Thomas Rose, Jun 17, 2022.

  1. Thomas Rose

    Thomas Rose New Member

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    I am putting in a replacement stereo in my 2004 Prius which involves removing much of the dashboard including the trim around the dash vents. Unfortunately, due to either my excessive force, or the deterioration of 18 year old plastic (car sat outside in the California sun for its whole life), three of the vent trim pieces broke. I have been able to find replacements for some, but not all of the vent trim pieces. Does anyone have a good source for vent trim replacements? If no one has a source for new vent trim, I will try a junk yard, but I assume their vent trim pieces will be as brittle as mine.
     
    #1 Thomas Rose, Jun 17, 2022
  2. Another

    Another Senior Member

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    #2 Another, Jun 18, 2022
    jerrymildred likes this.
  3. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Check the thread linked by @Another. The vent covers from Toyota are pretty dear. The Amazon ones are much cheaper. You will probably notice that, with the aftermarket ones, the dash panel behind the steering wheel doesn't fit quite perfectly agains the new left center trim, but it's better than a broken or missing trim.

    These things get unbelievably brittle over the years. Example The other day, I replaced the MFD on an '08 and the two center trims were both already cracked. (Those two are usually the worst.) I managed to get them off and back on without further damage. Takes lots of patience. Then I saw that, in my excitement over not breaking the trim, I forgot to reinstall the two 10mm screws that secure the MFD. I got them out again without further damage. As I held one of them in one had getting ready to put it back in, it fell into three pieces just under its own weight.
     
    #3 jerrymildred, Jun 18, 2022
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Most soldering gun kits come with a plastic melting attachment... Simply melting the broken plastic tabs back in place is least expensive way to fix this.
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Jun 18, 2022
  5. Thomas Rose

    Thomas Rose New Member

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    Thank you for the suggestions and the link to the earlier post on this subject (I tried searching "dash vent trim" and found a lot of other posts, but not that one). I found some replacement vent trim pieces on eBay. Used and kinda spendy, but I can't run around with broken trim pieces for long.
     
    #5 Thomas Rose, Jun 18, 2022
    jerrymildred likes this.
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