Does anyone know what the round cap is for on the left side front bumper?

 

Towing eyelet, from page 373 of my '06 manual:

"...If towing is necessary, we recommend you to have it done by your Toyota dealer or a commercial tow truck service. If towing service is not available in an emergency, your vehicle may be temporarily towed by a cable or chain secured to emergency towing eyelet inside of front bumper. Use extreme caution when towing vehicles...."

 

Thanks, People ask me is that where you plug it in? lol

 

There is more too it than a "tow eyelet." First off, how many domestic vehicles do you see with this feature, not including pickups. Very few and it is usually a perminantly installed item that is way underneath the bumper or very hidden away. Prior to the Prius, I have never owned a vehicle with this "tow eyelet."

Rather, go to your hatch and take the eyelet out of your jack kit and look at it. It is all scratched up. Why? The eyelet is used during transport on the car ship to keep the car attached to the deck and to prevent it from moving around in heavy seas. The vehicle is attached to the deck at other points, but this is the front mounting and secureing point for the vehicle in transport.

When the vehicles get into port, as part of the the protocols in port, the staff there remove the eyelet, put the plug into the bumper and place the eyelet in the hatch with the rest of the jacking and service items.

 

The classic Prius has the bolting point uncovered, all set to get filled with road mud. First modification I did to the car was to put a wine cork in it.

DAS

 

I seem to remember both my minivans and my acura and hondas having chain/tow strap attach points. My bronco came with no tow hooks, but now it has 6. It sometimes takes more than one truck pulling to get that beast out of the gumbo mud here in the Gulf Coast.