What is causing the driver-side dash to bloat just under the front windshield edge?

Water intrusion?

 

Did the two white Velcro® patches identified below with red circles ensure some heavy object didn't stray from the area indicated by the red rectangle? Perhaps the postulated heavy object created pressure on the dash and when sunlight heated the dash that pressure re-shaped the dash surface.

 

I can see that the left edge of the black part of the dash is sinking below the white edge. Perhaps something mounted underneath the bloat held up that part of the dash when the rest of the dash began sinking due to heat from the sun. What does the bloat feel like when you press down on it?

 

Or maybe it was to disguise that there's dash damage. Did you get this car recently?

 

I can't press my hard-plastic dash down below the edge of the A-pillar trim. I can't imagine anything pressing up could make a bump rather than raising the entire dash.

 

Did you just put your own heavy object theory in the turd heap?

 

It looks like really bad heat damage. But it would have to be extreme.

 

No, verifying the dash is a stiff piece of plastic reinforced my diagrammed heavy-object + heat theory. Because the dash plastic is not soft, no object could press up to make a "bloat" all by itself. Instead, heat was necessary to deform the dash and a heavy object shaped the deformation. Those mysterious Velcro patches are very suspiciously located above the sagging part of the dash. I'd be surprised if it was the dealer who installed them.

 

I concur. My guess is that whatever was there caused the damage (either some device, or perhaps a document holder that focused the sun's rays so that it melted the dash?) , but when the dealer saw the damage they put some sort of document holder there to disguise it while they were trying to sell the car.