Hello,

I bought a Toyota Prius four months ago after having owned a small SUV. The Prius is a lot lower to the ground that the SUV. The other day a car was stalled in the middle of the road and I drove partially off the road to get around it. Something tore off a piece of the plactic covering under the car that protects the hybrid cables but the cables themselves are fine.



In order to replace a $5.00 piece of plastic the Toyota dealer told me that I would have to replace all the hybrid cables which cost $700 as well as pay around another $700 for labour. This is so totally outrageous, I can't believe it. Look under your car and you'll see the plastic converings I'm talking about.

Has anybody else had this problem? If so how did you replace the plastic covering(s) that protect the hybrid cables? Right now a tie wrap is holding one piece of plactic and a second piece is missing.

Thanks for any advice you might have to offer.

Sandy

 

I would also be inclined to piece together a substitute plastic cover. Another alternative is to see what the salvege vehicle dismantlers want for the part.

Or look up the autobeyours website; a fellow in Indiana who rebuilds new model Prius from such salvage vehicles. He may be able to supply just the right part.

Please don't be crawling under the car without real jack stands. The supplied Toyota tire-changing jack is a bad joke.

DAS

 

Owch! Although I didn't do any damage, before sunset of the first day, I too discovered how easy it is to scrape bottom while making a u-turn in a pot hole filled lot.

Doug's suggestion is good or alternatively, while you figure out the permanent solution, you might get some plastic sheeting from a home repair store and a good epoxie, JB Weld comes to mind. See if you can find a shop that will work with you to cut and form the plastic to fit and then epoxie it as a new cover.

I want to encourage you to get some form of cover or protection for those cables even if it isn't the original Toyota part. There are other road hazards and those cables are equivalent to the fuel line in importance. Worse, if you ever develope any sort of short or even a high resistance path, the car will throw a code and you are likly to be immobilized. If they salt your roads, I'd recommend something done before the first snow.

Although no one likes to make an insurance claim, you might discuss this with your insurance company. It sounds like it might be covered under 'road hazard.'

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a neighbor who is a car mechanic and I'll get him to lift the car up on his jack and between the two of us we'll discuss options for protecting the cables. I agree that protecting the cables is essential since they are so vital to the functioning of the car. I haven't contacted the insurance company, but I will just explore all my options. Meantime all Prius owners beware. The cable coverings on your Prius for the hybrid system is in a very vulnerable area under your car. Any damage to them is extremely expensive to repair. Toyota should be urged to place the cables in a less vulnerable area. Or make it easier and less expensive to repair the plastic coverings. In the meantime drive carefully over smooth surfaces!!

 

Just wondering if the Toyota technicians saw something that you didn't see, and are just being cautious since the integrity of the cables may have been compromised? Did the techs even mention to you why a replacement of the cables were even necessary? If not, try asking them. I wouldn't want to second guess something so vital to the car as the power cables.