I had some coins in the little shelf on the dashboard above the steering wheel. While picking them up, I dropped a quarter. It fell into the space behind the steering wheel. I keep it in its all-the-way-down position, and that leaves a good-sized gap above it where it goes into the dashboard. With engine off and key removed, I peered around with a flashlight, and fished around with my fingers the best I could: nothing. Neither did the coin fall all the way through everything to the floor. That was yesterday when I had parked at home for the evening. Everything worked fine in this morning's commute. Should I be worried? I have visions of it shorting some wiring to the airbag, or getting jammed in the steering mechanism or something. Kind of unrelated, but what do you all use that little dashboard shelf for?
I'd be concerned about a mechanical jam as well. I use the shelf for whichever glasses I'm not wearing while driving.
This is a perfect reason to spend some coin on getting your car professionally detailed. Not only will your car be easier to take care of in the long run, a car detailer has lots of ways for you to get your money back!
Thanks to all of you for your comments, especially Leadfoot for actually taking me seriously, but everyone else too for the True Statements about frugal Prius drivers, of which I am one. Everything is on YouTube, including something close enough to this to be useful, namely this clip, where a guy is replacing a Gen 2 steering wheel. My guess is that the Prius C is very similar. About 4'20" into it, he removes the lower covering of the assembly, which is easily done (but the airbag and steering wheel have to come off first, from the looks of it). The inside of the lower cover has a lot of boxlike structures (which you see very briefly at 4'28", and a few times later in the video). My guess is that my quarter landed in one of these "boxes," just like a ball rolling into a pocket on the roulette wheel. I just hope it was a lucky number.