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Hi, guys & gals,

I was in getting my 85,000 mile service done this morning (only $49.16) & the dealer had a 2010 Prius in the showroom. It was my first chance to really get up close to an open one to get a feel for the inside of it. I have one question for any of you new 3G owners that the salesman couldn't answer for me.

There appears to be a switch hidden deep within the dash below the steering column. It looks like a black plastic push button on a bare shiny metal surface in there. If I insert my hand into the opening between the lower dash panel & the bottom of the steering shaft shroud I can almost reach it. I don't know if you come up from below that lower dash panel if it's any more accessible. I wonder what use such a switch is (if it is indeed a switch), being so hard to find & get at. Does anybody know what it really is & what it's for?

Next time you're in, have a service manager pull up a drawing of the steering column on his parts computer.

Is it the tire pressure reset button?

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-201 ... witch.html

Well, in the 2G's it turns the Smart Key on and off. With the switch off, the Smart Key doesn't work and you have to push the button on the remote.

Hey, all,

Thanks for the replies since I posed this question 2 months ago, but nobody has really paid attention to where I said this thing that looks like a switch is located. It's visible through the gap between the bottom of the steering shroud & the panel that almost meets the bottom of that shroud. The gap isn't wide enough to put your fingers in to reach it, but maybe a new pencil would be thin enough & long enough to do the job. However, I would suggest using the eraser end [being careful not to let the metal sleeve (between the pencil wood & the eraser) touch anything.

I think the reason nobody has been able to give a definitive answer is because no owners of the 2010 model have looked at the location I've mentioned & as yet have not replied either.

Hi, all,

It's been a while since I posted here in this thread, but when I went up to my selling dealer last week for my 90,000 mile service (less than $54), I finally got a better look (with a flashlight) & an answer from a tech they pulled out of the shop & into the showroom. This time there was no shiny metal (only black all over) & the tech concluded that it was only a fastener attaching a wiring harness to a hard point under the dash (the push-button looking-like thing was just a clip holding a sleeve around the harness to some sheet metal brace under the dash). He also tried to push it before giving the final determination.

Thanks Ken. Now I can sleep at night.