Grill Below Arm Rest

[Blathering1]

Has anyone removed the forward facing plastic cowl below the arm rest? How do we remove it?

Thinking that we might be able to mount a tiny M-SATA SSD harddrive behind the cowl and connect it via the USB socket. It would be easy to then add a 128GB or 256Gb storage drive for a heap of uncompressed music.

Do we know what is behind the 'speaker' grill?
Pic is sideways, top to the left.

 

[Thumper]

Why not just stick with a high capacity thumb drive?

 

[FlasherZ]

Do we know what is behind the 'speaker' grill?

That as I understand is the internal temp sensor. My car doesn't have it.

 

[mknox]

That as I understand is the internal temp sensor. My car doesn't have it.

They added an aspirator (tiny fan) to the internal temp sensor a while back for a more accurate read of air temp. I think the original design was prone to inaccuracies due to heat or cold soaking of its surroundings. My car doesn't have it either.

 

[Blathering1]

Thumb drive (in a high capacity such as 128GB capacity) sticks out quite a bit. You can see one in the picture. I am sure that woudl get bent/sheared off at some point.
I could get a right angle adapter to reduce the distance that the unit came out.

An SSD would be reliable and discrete... both not prone to easily disappearing, and not besmirching the interior. I could get a much smaller/more flush USB connector for the SSD. I might even be able to attach to the USB behind the cowl.... if I could get in there.

 

[radinator]

Does anyone know if there are plans to retrofit the aspirator for cars built before the change?

 

[staze]

Not to take the thread off topic but that piece is my least favorite of the entire vehicle. Most of the vehicle has great finishes befitting a 6-figure sports car EXCEPT that cowl. When I have my arm resting on the arm rest my hand touches that cowl (when not on the steering wheel of course). Try tapping it (as if to music) and it sounds so cheap! It feels cheap! I don't mind them trying to save $ and weight but that is right where my hand sits and it just gets me. /rant

As for OP's question, it sounds hollow and could have space. I think the HVAC for the rear seats likely runs through there along with the recessed cup holders. An alternative could be to just use double sided velcro just below the USB ports with a neat right angle USB connector/adapter. It would look clean, be unobtrusive and easy to replace/update. I have the right-angle USB connector from Amazon as well as the Sandisk Cruzer Fit 32gb. They just released a 64gb in that form factor. It's so tiny I can barely pull it out. Very clean looking.

 

[jerry33]

Thumb drive (in a high capacity such as 128GB capacity) sticks out quite a bit. You can see one in the picture. I am sure that woudl get bent/sheared off at some point.

I wondered about that too, but it hasn't happened and it's been a year. I'm putting it in the non-issue bin.

 

[huntjo]

Does anyone know if there are plans to retrofit the aspirator for cars built before the change?

Hmm yes, I wonder if older models can get that? And how much it helps

 

[mknox]

I don't think cars can be retrofitted. I believe the original temp sensor is located somewhere in the vicinity of the steering wheel under the dash. The wiring harness is likely not in place. For what it's worth, the loaner I had with the aspirator didn't seem much better than my non-aspirator equipped car in terms of maintaining the cabin temperature.

 

[Blathering1]

Not to take the thread off topic but that piece is my least favorite of the entire vehicle....

I agree.. that piece along with the black plastic cover across inside of the sunroof. If I had gone with carbon fiber, I would be inclined to wrap those two pieces in carbon fiber material to dress them up a bit.