Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Prius Accessory Tray, Floor Mats, and Seat Covers

Time for more reviews. This concerns three items I have added to my 2012 Prius that seem to have made a difference to me.

An insert for the accessory tray, heavy duty floor mats, and seat covers.

Early in my ownership of this Prius, I purchased an insert for the lower front center console. I didn't like just having the open space for things to roll about in down there. So I ordered this:

It is pretty simple and provides two cup holders and a storage bin. Now, there is little space over the tray to place a beverage in the cup holder, but the cup pockets are fine for collecting small items or coins that you may want to contain and easily find at a later time. I have a cleaned out "Go Cup" from KFC that fits perfectly in one of the holders and I keep a small pocket knife, gum, OBD-II Bluetooth connector, moist towelettes, etc. in there. The other side can easily hold a cup-holder sized 12 volt "two-fer" and USB charger or a power inverter if you so desire.
The main portion is sized for holding items such as my hairbrush, a can of Ozium, and such. On the side of the tray, I have found the slight space good for accommodating membership and club cards at the ready so that I don't have to keep them all in my wallet.

Another purchase was a set of heavy duty floor mats.

We purchased a second Prius recently, a better runaround for my wife than the minivan when she didn't need to be hauling around all of the grand-kids. It did not have the floor mats when we purchased it so I ordered these and split them between the two cars. I gave her the factory front mats from mine, and the heavy duty mats for the back. Where I put the heavy duty mats in the front of my car and left the original in the back, as I don't usually carry people in the back and she does. The all weather mats are Toyota factory produced and retain the proper mounting holes for the driver's side mat to prevent slippage and have the Prius branding. The all weather mats are holding up very well and showing no signs of wear after 4 months of daily use. I am no longer worried about wearing out the carpet of the original mats or the floor carpet of the car.

Finally seat covers:

I am a person of generous size, an understatement to say the least, and I know I put a lot of wear on the upholstery in my vehicles. So I picked up these seat covers for the Prius as well.
They are easy to fit and it took me only about 5 minutes each with no tools. The main advantage to having a seat cover for me is that it is much easier to replace when it starts showing wear than the seat itself. When the cover wears through, I replace it, instead of adding the cover to a worn out seat. A preemptive strike you could say. Being black, I know that they will be hot when I get into the car, but they cool quickly enough for me in the summer. I no longer have to be concerned with a spill staining the seat or my wearing through the seat back on the left side as I get into the car two or more times a day. The seating surface is the "wetsuit" material whereas the sides and back are a much lighter weight spandex. The back of the cover is open and does not prevent using the pockets on the back of the seats.
The fit is a little sloppy, as they are generic covers, but it really doesn't look that bad once he adjustment straps are in. due to the molding on the bottom of the seats, you have to put one of the bottom straps below the slider rail, and the forward strap will be in front of the slider rail. I expect that they will not last more than a year with my daily use, but that would be acceptable for me.

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