Okay, I bought an 06 with 30k miles on it and it took me a few months before I noticed, but there is yellowing above the ashtray so I'm guessing a smoker owned it. If so, they cleaned it damn well and I can usually pick up any hint.

That said, how can I remove the stain? I tried stainless steel cleaner and CLR, no luck yet. Thanks

 

this is a known problem and not due to smoke.. i forget if theres a solution but try searching

 

Okay, not due to smoke would explain why I didn't notice right away when I got the car. Just seemed like a logical assumption based on location. I'll do some searching.

Update: Found some threads, but no one's posting whether the dealer fixed it or not. It's pretty terrible. I need to take some pictures, bothers me quite a bit.

 

had the same problem Went to the dealership and they are going to fix it under warranty. To this day, i have no idea what caused the discoloration but i am guessing that it has to be some heat problem. So just take it to the dealership and you be fine.. Good luck.

 

yup. Same thing happened to me. I didn't replace it though since it didn't bother me too much. It's almost like the adhesive used to attach the aluminum finish or the plastics didn't cure fully and so as it evaporates it reacts with the aluminum to stain it.