What the heck is this?!

[Bob The Builder]

Thank you all for the replies. Some of you have good reading comprehension, others I fear have been failed by our public school education.

As originally stated, the truck is over a year old and it never had anything applied to the steering wheel. Heck, I don’t even touch the airbag cover with my hands. They are on the wheel of the steering wheel in order to steer! I’m going to go with your suggestions that it is a substance created by the manufacturing process that was then affected by heat, light, temperature and humidity. Interestingly this discoloration was on the backside of the cover as well which rules out transfer from my hands or a chemical applied without my knowledge. Furthermore, this supports the manufacturing theory

I also took other’s advice and cleaned it with soap and a damp cloth.

It cleaned right up.

Ouch! Glad I kept my mouth shut and went to 16 years of Catholic School.

Sponsored

 

[40caliber]

Take a dark cloth and dampen it just a bit and gently wipe over the plastic surface. Check the cloth to see if anything came off on the cloth.

Funny

 

[Tim d]

As the title says… “What the heck is this?!”

I got in my truck today and it looks like the plastic on the steering wheel (just the center piece) in my Mav aged 15 years overnight! To be clear, this plastic, like the rest of the interior, looked fantastic yesterday. The truck is a year old and it is (was) pristine. Additionally, before anyone asks or suspects it, I’ve never applied any cleaner, protective treatment, or any other product or chemical to this plastic.

Anyone have any ideas?

I posted about this recently on our 4 month old maverick but concerning the black plastic bumper covers.

 

[son of a ..sven]

Pastor...do you talk a lot when driving? Like Sermonizing ? Moisture from your breath...O , never mind.

 

[Rojo]

Mine did the same thing a few weeks ago, no idea why, I was actually going to try and clean it this weekend to see if I could get it back to normal

 

[NJBob]

Looks somewhat like mold release from the mfg. process.

Yes definitely could be. I worked in plastics for 45 years mostly medical. Automotive is known to be very tough standards even higher than medical. Try not to use any mold release it's usually used when there is an issue with the mold.

 

[WhiteMaverick12]

I'd have tried to clean it first.

 

[Pastor_Zatx]

Pastor...do you talk a lot when driving? Like Sermonizing ? Moisture from your breath...O , never mind.

Nope, in the truck I listen to other pastors sermons to get my material for my next sermon! (I’m joking, of course)

 

[Hank573]

Guys, I just ran into this on my 2022 F150 this morning...keeping clean until MY23 Maverick Hybrid is built, production date week of 10/9 ....I used some Turtle Wax Ice Interior cleaner on it and it seems better for now...I do not know the cause. I live in Florida and we have had multiple 100+ degree days so I believe it maybe heat related...Truck won't be a year only until Nov 2023...use to see it years ago and I believe they called it off gassing of the plastic again caused by excessive heat....Just my thoughts...

 

[son of a ..sven]

Nope, in the truck I listen to other pastors sermons to get my material for my next sermon! (I’m joking, of course)

IF you use someone's outline or capture a few powerful and well-written statements probably would not be considered plagiarizing...mayben when you straddle the line and use to much of one, your steering wheel get embarrassed and changes color...just a thought...Ha.

 

[brielee3]

Everyone here understands this part of OP's post, right? This isn't a brand new truck. It's a year old.

As for me, I'd start with a damp microfiber just to see if it wipes off at all..

It should not look like that after a year. Walmart flower pots have better longevity..

 

[Sergio]

As the title says… “What the heck is this?!”

I got in my truck today and it looks like the plastic on the steering wheel (just the center piece) in my Mav aged 15 years overnight! To be clear, this plastic, like the rest of the interior, looked fantastic yesterday. The truck is a year old and it is (was) pristine. Additionally, before anyone asks or suspects it, I’ve never applied any cleaner, protective treatment, or any other product or chemical to this plastic.

Anyone have any ideas?

Just try with peace of wet rag to see it goes away.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

That looks like a victim of some cleaner.
For all my cars I stay away from any "shine" products on plastics.
Just some mild soap and water does the trick for cleaning.

This, I've seen multiple photos of the plastic airbag cover dried out and cracking, not sure what the heck people are using to clean their interior but damn, just stick to some soapy water if you have to. That's clearly chemical induced damage, if you're using alcohol on your interior you are wrong....

 

[lajlmt]

Are you sure someone at the dealer didn't give it a once over? Definitely looks like some kind of improper cleaner application, almost like a solvent was used to get that kind of oxidation.

That is why I told the Stealership “Don’t clean my car” our 2016 Mazda 6 black paint was ruined when the 16 year old wiped it while we were closing the deal with a dry cloth and scratched the hell out of the paint. We should have just walked away from that car…

 

[JOEDDY58]

Clean it with the appropriate preservative and never ever ever ever worry about it again until the next time

Sponsored