I've had my 2012 Prius since March and I love it. I just hit 8k miles. I'm a territory sales rep so the car is my office. I've tinted all the windows 5% and put 50% of the full front windshield. The tint does a good job of keeping the heat out but it doesn't help with the dash board. The sun beats down on the dash and heats it up and in turn heats up the car. even with the interior environment of the car at 74, putting my hand on the dash brings a bit of pain. The AC is basically running to combat the heat given off by the dash board. Now my question is this, what are my options to eliminate this? I could do one of those reflective shield deals but considering that those only work when the car is parked and I spend most of my time driving it, that won't help. A carpet? Looks ugly. ideas.......
k.s.c., although you mentioned that you tinted your front windshield 50%, you didn't mention with what "type/brand" you used. I've heard that ceramic tint is pretty good at rejecting heat. I would suggest contacting the luxury car dealers in your area and ask them who they send their customers to for window tinting. Just be ready to spend alot more as the ceramic film is much more (2-3 times ?) expensive than the conventional tint. A word of caution - Don't know what the law in Florida is regarding tinting the entire front windshield but I'm guessing it's illegal so be prepared to pay a fine + pay for it to be removed. Just my .02.......
Do they have Dashmats in SW Florida? They can help to dissipate the heat that beats down on the dash. I've never seen one for a Prius though.
I honestly don't know what brand of tint I have. Obviously not a great brand which is unfortunate. I read about some sort of clear blue or blue view or something with blue in it that is clear and blocks out heat. I might need to look into that. This car has the mildest of all my cars. Most have 3% (a double layer of tint) and 25% on the windshield. With Florida heat, it is common to see the illegal tint. Most police have the 5%/50% in my area. is this a company with a retail store? I should look into this.
I found this link: DashMat Carpet Dashboard Cover, Original Dash Mat | Car-Truck-Accessories.com If they have one for a G3 Prius and you order it, don't use the adhesive tabs to stick it down or they could ruin your dash plate.
To combat heat soak you'll need to get a lighter color mat. The advantage of the mat is it will combat continued heat soak that occurs while driving like you stated. I use a sun shield and it keeps the dash/steering wheel relatively cool but once I remove it and start driving I can feel the steering wheel heating up so I assume the dash is too.
I have 3M Crystalline 90% on my windshield. It rejects ~45% of the heat coming through the glass and >99% of the UV. It makes a significant difference when driving --- the dash now gets warm instead of blistering hot. Steering wheel too. I don't recommend a light colored dash mat because it will cause glare on the windshield --- more so than would a darker colored dash mat. A thicker mat would help insulate the dash a bit, but I would stay away from the lighter colors for that application.
I was able to visit the 3M Innovation center in Minnesota (basically it is where they bring companies to see all the crazy stuff they make and are coming out with, it is all bragging rights) and they had a window film for residential/commercial windows that blocked out all the heat. They had this heat light and you would put it over normal glass and your hand would burn, then you would put it under the glass with the special tint and it was like the light was off. Not sure why they don't use that in all auto glass.
The tint shop where I had mine installed had a very similar display. They had 4 heat boxes (an infrared bulb, probably 100 - 150 watt behind a tinted glass pane) showing no tint, and the various brands / versions of 3M tint. The cool thing (no pun intended) was that you could remove the tinted glass pane and see that the bulb was putting out just as much heat as the no-tint box, and see that there was only one layer of film on the glass. That sold me on the Crystalline tint. While the Crystalline 90 on the windshield doesn't block as much heat as the Crystalline 40, it really knocks it down quite a bit. Plus the windshield doesn't look tinted, and the head-up display is not affected. I agree that they should use this in the manufacture of the auto windshields, especially since most auto glass has a sandwiched layer of film for safety.
