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MFD failure in High humidity

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by prof_keen, Nov 17, 2005.

  1. prof_keen

    prof_keen New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2005
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    Hello everyone,

    I just wanted to report something I've observed about my prius.

    I just bought a 2001 prius and had it detailed.
    When I got the car back the rugs were very damp. The engine was on with the heater on full blast which I guess is how they dry the rugs after shampooing them. I'm not sure a Prius generates much heat in park, however.

    I parked the car at home for the evening with the windows up (due to possible rain).


    The next morning my MFD didn't respond to any input to the touchscreen though the display itself booted up and worked fine.

    I noticed heavy condensation on the insides of the windshield and other windows.
    This condensation cleared once I started driving, but returned whenever I parked the car.

    I called the detail shop to complain that they had broken my touchscreen and they said that they never spray anything directly onto the touchscreens. Everything sounded proper.

    After a couple of days the condensation cleared out and the touchscreen input started working again.

    It appears as if the high humidity caused by the wet rugs disabled the touch input.
     
    #1 prof_keen, Nov 17, 2005
  2. tdi2prius

    tdi2prius New Member

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    Sep 10, 2005
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    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    There is a member who posted about replacing the MFD in his 2004 Prius (I think it was 2004.) and he lives in a desert climate. It cracked. It appears temperature and humidity extremes may be an issue with these MFDs.
     
    #2 tdi2prius, Nov 19, 2005
  3. jeromep

    jeromep Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2004
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    Location:
    Eastern Washington State
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    LCDs and, to a lesser extent, touchscreen LCDs have been used in industry in some really nasty environments for many years now. Those nasty environments included damp and humid, dry, very hot, terribly cold, dusty and dirty conditions. I can see how an LCD in an environment that isn't supposed to be that damp (inside the Prius, therefore an LCD with high tollerances for humidity was not used) would not necessarily work that well if the environment had increased in humidity drastically. The detail shop didn't intentionally break your LCD, however they did do something I would have been really annoyed at which would be the installation of essentially wet floor mats inside my car.

    Dampness in side a car that isn't fully vented to allow proper evaporation could easily flare up a mold issue that is dormant. Sounds to mee like they didn't do nearly enough water extraction out of the matts before they were replaced in the vehicle.

    I have a detail done to my car about twice a year, but I never have a shampoo done. I'm most intersted in exterior detail. I'm competent enough to do inside detail, but for some reason my detailer does a really great job with inside windows. I don't get the carpets dirty, I have all weather rubber floor mats which contain water and dirt.

    I hope your problem does not crop up again.
     
    #3 jeromep, Nov 20, 2005
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