rangers share the same dash as explorers. what that vent is used for is the electronic air controls and it monitors the interior temp the probe sits behind the cover

 

vent, because the radio gets warm

 

haha no...

 

typical shi#ty ford design if thats true. the radios put out so much heat i cant see it being that accurate

 

if you ever been in an explorer with it or ranger converted it actually works really nicely.. wish i had a newer dash so i could do the swap

 

See my Cardomain page on the EATC (Electronic Automatic Temperature Control) mod swap. That is for the temp sensor. That little vent couldn't move enough air behind the dash to help anything, lol. In the mod, it needs a tube down to the fan inlet to force it to aspirate air through the sensor.

So, no use arguing: it was put there for a single purpose, and economy of scale dictated using the same dash everywhere in the derivative models.