I noticed something particular today that I never noticed before that may be on steering wheel the whole time. Right behind the actual steering wheel - where the steering wheel scope attaches to the car - there seems to a plastic fiber mat cover that seems to loosely sit on top of the steering wheel telescope. What's it used for - and why is it there? I just noticed it cause I was dusting my Prius, and found it...
It's to catch food that misses your mouth and cigarette ashes that miss the partially open window. I don't know what the actual purpose was, but it was also on my 2010 Prius III.
I may need to get back to my car to further take a look. But just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, it looks like a little fiber mat flap of some sort on the telescope. Can I clean under it or remove it from the telescope for cleaning?
It's just a flap. You can clean under it by carefully placing a cloth beneath it. It's pliable and won't be damaged if you're careful.
A better name for it is, "curtain". It just hides the exposed workings down, inside the steering column.
I see - so is it advisable to dust under the "curtain" or would I just risk putting dust into my steering column innards? And why make it a curtain at all - and not just have it a completely solid plastic steering column (which was what I kind of assumed all along)?
Maybe the engineers felt there were enough rattles/squeaks in the plastics that a piece of rubber would be more pleasing to the user. You're reading way too much into this flap. Rub it clean and forget it
