I’m not sure if you’re aware of this terribly specific bit of automotive minutia, but it seems that the third generation Toyota Prius, built from 2009 to 2015, had a unique glove compartment shape that seems to have been designed to hold a full-sized wine bottle just perfectly. This has been noted all over the internet over the years, but it’s never been adequately explained if this was an intentional design decision or not. This all made me quite curious, so I reached out to Toyota and just asked.
Before I reveal what Toyota said, let’s just take a look at the glove box in question and note the peculiarity:
It’s worth noting that this generation of Prius actually had two glove boxes, an upper and lower one (probably known as a “main” and “mezzanine”), but it’s the smaller upper one we’re interested in. Specifically, we’re interested in this little bit of volume here:
I’m just calling it “the notch” because, well, it’s a notch. And this notch is present in both the left- and right-hand drive versions of the car, which are just mirror images of one another:
The notch is a peculiar little volume; I applaud any carmaker for making every little bit of available storage usable for the owner, but this little extra alcove is a puzzling one. What, exactly, would you put in that little open-faced bit of space? A lone meatball? An Airpods case (which didn’t exist at the time this was designed)? A stress ball? A spare glass eye? A dumpling? There’s not that much I can think of that you’d want in a glove box and would use that space well.
Of course, what people did discover is that the notch made the glovebox absolutely ideal for carrying a standard, full-sized wine bottle:
これは永遠の謎ですが、プリウスのグローブボックスには何故か酒がぴったり入ります pic.twitter.com/puCRD5u3TJ
— ゲスコ (@gesukosu) March 20, 2019
I mean, look at that! It does fit a wine bottle strangely perfectly. Like perfectly perfectly. It really does look like it was made for just this purpose! And it would be fitting, demographically, I’d think: the Venn diagram of Prius buyers and wine buyers has to be pretty close to a lone circle, or at least a Garfield’s-eyes-level of overlap. But, then again, would a mainstream automaker like Toyota really endorse the carrying of an alcoholic beverage container right in the dash of a car?
Could there be a technical reason? We can see behind the glove box inner tub and see what sort of HVAC and other equipment lurks back there via this video that shows exactly what we want to see:
Here’s a still frame of the area in question:
I mean, I guess there’s some extra space on the left there, but it also looks like that plastic support panel could have been designed to allow more room below or block it off entirely with minimal changes to anything. I’d say this is inconclusive at best. So, it’s time to just ask the source; I reached out to Toyota product communications, who reached out to some designers and engineers, and this was the statement I got back:
“The glove box design is the result of a need to offer passengers storage while also accommodating vehicle components like electrical and HVAC. The unique fit of this bottle is purely coincidental.”
So, according to Toyota, this isn’t intentional. At least that’s the official company line. Personally, I think whomever designed this had to have had a bottle in mind when carving out that volume of space. It all lines up just too well and the notch is too useless in other contexts for this to make sense. So, while I believe that officially this was not the intent, I personally believe the designer who chose this three-dimensional volume of space did so with the understanding that the addition of that notch would at least make transporting a wine bottle possible, where it would not have been had that notch not existed.
It’s clever. Even if Toyota won’t acknowledge it, I salute you, Prius glove box designer, wherever you are.
Honestly it looks like it’s meant to fit the handle of an umbrella. Modern miniature collapsible umbrellas would fit right in there.
Toyota is no fun. On the other hand, Citroen designed the AX door pockets specifically to hold a bottle of wine, on both sides. That is so very French.
I came here to say exactly this.
I still miss my AX GT.
I miss my AX Spot… so that makes two uf us missing an AX.
Technically it was water or soft drink bottles… and it wasn’t the only Citröen to sport them.
Nor the only French car with that feature… If you look closely, you can fit a bottle also in the Clio doors for example it won’t be sitting upright, but it it fits in.
My AX only had water bottles in it’s door ( because I wasn’t much in drinking at that time, I was doing too much sport [ skiing, rock climbing, mountaineering, alpinism… living in Grenoble ] to waste time drinking. )… But I’m sure people put beer and/or wine bottles in it.
South Park easter egg about the bay area smugsters sniffing their own farts.
Liar. Why do you think Prius lady was all Prius lady-like???
The Dodge Caliber was a pretty lame car, but its glove box was deliberately designed to chill your beverages. They even had a name for it: the “Chill Zone.” Cool Feature. Lame Car. | WIRED
Citroen AX bottle storage in the door card has entered the chat.
Ah you beat me to it.
And me.
I really should read the comments before posting.
I’m pretty sure I could have fitted a bottle of wine in the door pockets in my Peugeot 206. (I don’t drink wine so I never tested it)
Probably, the AX door pockets were just pretty obvous at being bottle holders. ( and sold as such ).
Many Peugeot,Renault and Citroën had some form of bottle holder in the doors…
They tended to disappear when the cars got bigger/heavier and with more safety features in the doors.
This is the Toyota designer equivalent of the “Little Mermaid” naked boobs and “Aladdin” penis tower cels from those movies.
Inexplicably perfect compartment shapes are a surprising Toyota thing. The second-gen Matrix has a compartment in the cargo area that is the EXACT shape of a bottle of Tide.
Which was handy since I had to go to a laundromat in that era. Always had Tide storage and it didn’t slide around.
I like to think that little notch allowed them to round up for storage capacity comparisons.
Honestly… they probably engineered it for some sort of add-on USB jack or something on some models, which was later VA’d out, and they just left it open rather than cover it up. Happens all the time.
“the Venn diagram of Prius buyers and wine buyers has to be pretty close to a lone circle”
Same could be said for hackey sack players, yust sayin
And drum circle enthusiasts
Yep: I certainly thought of a hackey sack before a meatball.
Not that I’m in any way typical, though
That’s why they are always going ten mph under the speed limit.
You could also put a particularly large bubbler pipe right there if alcohol isn’t your thing.
It is a hybrid after all!
What if both are your things?
Or vodka
I shall henceforth refer to the lower level of EVERY SINGLE THING as the “mezzanine.”
well, there is this little detail…
NOUN
Mezzanine is typically used for the *upper* of two floors
but you do you
to reinforce this point, its often used in same way as “balcony”
Ah, but the balcony is above the mezzanine…
I always think of mezzanines being on the inside of a building, and a balcony being on the outside. I’m sure architects have their own specific usages though
You got to take the elevator to the mezzanine.
Chump change. And it’s on.
Super bon bon, super bon bon, super bon bon
Input is too short
I’m 100% on the side of believing it was indeed intentionally designed to hold a bottle of Sake (or grape wine or liquor).
My old Mazda3 hatchback would fit around 45 cases of wine in it.
Your move Prius.
Prius builders: Hold my oak barrel
Fit owners: Here’s my still.
Ridgeline owners: can yours also hold a 20 pound bag of ice to keep chilled?
Actually, the Prius has an underfloor storage area in the hatch (at least in my gen 2) that I’m guessing would work quite nicely as a very large cooler.
My Denali can fit a vineyard, the tasting room, and half the staff.
Prius designers installed storage for Soul Sucking Mitigation Elixir.
It does not only fit wine bottles. Glen Moray is not a wine; it’s single-malt whisky from Scotland.
The joke is on us, Jason neglected to share a crucial part of the reply he received from Toyota.
I’m including their FULL reply below for those (like myself) that are interested…
“The glove box design is the result of a need to offer passengers storage while also accommodating vehicle components like electrical and HVAC. The unique fit of this bottle is purely coincidental. (Wink)”
The notch seems like the perfect spot to stow a hacky sack. And considering the owners of this generation of Prisuses (Pries? Priusi?)…
Prii, pronounced PREE-eye. (Source: I am a lawyer.)
But proper noun that is not Latin. According to Toyota it’s a gaggle of Priuses not a pack of Prii.
But pack of Prii is much more fun to say!
Actual source: the survey of Prius owners Toyota did in 2018 (I think) that confirmed the plural is “Prii”, the result which got the plurality of votes.
Probably fits a pack of cigarettes, too. Or a pack of tissues. Or a little sponge to wipe your windscreen on a damp day.
You guys should do a where stuff can go segment comparison series – will a standard wallet fit in the door close? Where can you put sunglasses to be at hand.
That’s the kind of automotive design coverage Big AutoJourno™ doesn’t want you to know about
They could call the feature “Guess Where You Can Stick It”.
COTD.
Or,
Guess What You Can Stick Where?
(not tryin to steal your thunder—I just can’t not be pedantic)
No worries – the double entendre required a certain liberty in the wording. 🙂
My big Bentley has a cocktail cabinet in the back, and for the driver, a little cubby in the door for a whiskey decanter and two glasses (which it stil has) and a puzzling smaller space for something else. Of course, it is for a water carafe or small syphon, should one prefer to take ones driving whiskey with a splash. No ice though, the car predates domestic refrigeration by about 20 years.
Real American Heroes.
Today we salute you Mr. Prius glovebox designer.
Mr. Prius glovebox designer
Through injection molded plastics you allow us to safely transport wines and spirits.
Ooooh wines and spirits.
Make sure the do this in the style of the old BudLight commercials.
Thank you for reminding me of my favorite: Mr. Taco Salad Inventor.
*I don’t see no lettuce.*
“Is it healthy? Of course, it’s a salad!”
80s-90s GM would find that a mighty fine spot to put a trunk release button.
Toyota was on a big double glovebox kick in that time. The third-gen RAV had an upper glovebox that was opened and closed by the same button. Fancy!
I do think it’s more coincidental. The generation before this had a double glovebox too, and it sort of has a similar notch – but it’s more of an open space on either side below the hinges, found an image in this forum thread. Guessing the reshape of the dash when designing the 3rd gen meant it lost the outboard notch.
Prius v for reference too – maybe a handle of something would fit in that one?
My wife’s ’04 Sienna also has the double boxes. You might be onto something.
And after this they entered a shelf era – as seen on RAV4s and Highlanders, they added an open cubby that ran on the dash above the regular glovebox. Maybe just cost cutting so they didn’t have to cover and hinge the space. Don’t think they fit any beverages very well though.
Box wine?
Umbrella? Hazard triangle? Flashlight?
Fleshlight
Raise a glass to the brilliant engineers who snuck this one past the bean counters!
They were so busy counting beans they forgot to count the grapes.
My money’s on a clever mold design engineer who’s also a wine aficionado. Bonus points if it’s a Japanese mold design engineer whos’ also a wine aficionado. Because the purposeful attention to minute details in Japanese engineering is awesome and legendary.
Don’t forget, they could be a whisky enthusiast. A 750 of some Nikka Miyagikyo should fit just as well. A coworker sent me a pun once, “Even though she was just a distiller’s daughter, he loved her still.” Which made me think fondly of Rita, who was a Scottish whisky-maker’s daughter who married Taketsuru and moved to Japan, which was a lovely story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Taketsuru
Hmmm… I overlooked that. My bottles of Tenjaku and Hibiki are a bit differently-shaped and probably wouldn’t fit, so I didn’t think of that. On the other hand, there are many fine sake bottles which would nestle in there just fine, too.
We must continue to ponder where the Venn diagrams of enjoyers of fine spirits and Prius engineers overlap! Perhaps while sipping our favorite beverages…