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Pulled the air filter out of my wife's '02 Jeep Wrangler, and discovered the one from the factory has a piece of foam glued to it. Visited my local dealership, and had the parts guy look up the filter. He brought one up to the counter, and it didn't have the added foam. No one at the dealership could tell me why the foam was added from the factory, other than the fact that the new Dodge trucks come with them too. Can't be good for gas mileage. Anyone know why the foam was added? Help solve the mystery.

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You mean the factory filter hasn't been changed since 2002? That's not good for mileage either.

Maybe it was some packing material that was accidentally not removed from the air hat prior to the filter being placed in there. Are you the original owner? Maybe it was something the previous owner did.

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Not the original owner... reason for it not being changed until now. Since it's the original Mopar one, I don't think it was done by the first owner. Just wierd. I'm waiting to see if the dealership was right, about the Rams coming with them too. Hopefully someone will chime in.

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It could be an extra dust catcher. Maybe the original owner lived in a really dusty area and added it for extra insurance. Not great for mileage I'd image though. I've seen similar things for cone style filters, but it looks more like a net. I know in some buildings during renovations a similar foam can be placed in HVAC intakes or heat recovery systems to reduce dust particles in the building.