What is this part of the interior called?

[Bosscav]

Hey all,

Question: what does this little vent do? It looks like it has a hose or tube that runs away from it into the dash. It's full of dust and I'd like to figure out how to clean it

 

[Dave]

Pretty sure that's a small return line with the interior temperature sensor in it.

 

[Bosscav]

My thoughts too. I wondered if this might be the mic for Sync/Bluetooth but apparently that's on top of the mirror?

Any idea how to clean the darn thing out?

 

[SHOrod]

Yes, that's the driver's climate control temperature feedback thingy. As mentioned above, there is a thermocouple just behind the dash panel and a plastic tube that routes back to the HVAC housing to pull air across the thermocouple. Similar to the MAF/IAT sensors, if these get covered in smutch they can be slow to respond or cause abnormal response from the climate control. I cleaned the one in my wife's MKT a couple months ago and it made a rather noticeable difference in the performance of the climate control.

On her MKT I was able to snap off the little cover, then disconnect the sensor assembly from the dash panel. The plastic tube is somewhat threaded on to the sensor assembly so be gentle when snapping the dash piece off. If you pull it off the tube the tube might retract in to the dash and be a bit challenging to retrieve. I sprayed the thermocouple with MAF sensor cleaner (gentle enough to not attack the plastic) and wiped it gently with a cotton swab to get the lint and stuff off it.

-Rod