Styrofoam in side panels?

[drunix]

Inside the rear side panels in my 2010 Yaris LB there are styrofoam blocks, 2 per side; a big white one and a small gray one. Any idea on what they are there for?

The stock speaker in there is the cheapest I have ever seen, Toyota would not put those foam blocks in there without a good reason.

I am installing sound deadening materials and the blocks just seem to be in the way to me.

[ezhacker1]

They are there to hold the shape of the panel. WHat i mean is, if they werent there, you could push on the panel and it would cave in.

[Lil Abner]

Actually, I think they are crash foam. When you get hit on the side, those foam blocks push on your arm/shoulder to push you AWAY from the impact, glass, and flying debris. They are there for safety, not panel strength. Adding ribs to the panels would give them strength at a much LOWER cost than adding those foam blocks.

If you are adding deadening to the panel, just remove the foam blocks. If you have people ride in the back, then put them back after deadening.

[derickveliz2]

.:wink:
First I trim them to fit all the layers for deadening, later I end up taking them out!

.

[drunix]

My idea was crash protection too.

I have permanently removed the back seats so I will be taking the blocks out. As part of the sound deadening installation I removed the three rear seat belts and I've now covered over most of the rear seat / seat belt mount points with MLV. I will use a couple of them for mounting a rear deck.

When I shopped for a new car in the spring I decided the Yaris 3 door should really be a two seater after riding in the back during a test ride. Actually -- it was getting OUT that convinced me. Felt like climbing out of a barrel feet first.

[Lil Abner]

Yeah, my backseat is quite useless as well!