need advice: fix it or wing it?

[fortheanimals]

hi all,

i hit a large dog (already dead) on the freeway last night. it looked like a golden retriever lying lengthways smack in the middle of my lane. i didn't see it until the last moment because i was totally distracted by the cops parked directly across the freeway. they were scurrying about their car (seriously, running around the car and digging for supplies), and it looked like they were "taking down" some suspect.

i've attached pictures of the damage done to my front undercarriage. i don't even know how to describe the damage. the flexible plastic-y covering was torn on the right side. it somehow popped out of the metal holding border. one of the screws is gone in the middle.

i can easily just push it up and it will be held up by the metal border again. i actually pulled it back down today for the pictures. it stays in place just fine for regular driving.

do i need to get that replaced? it has that torn hole on the right side. what exactly does that thing do?

side note: the dirtiness is from a couple days of driving through rural areas and the scratches are from a few years of curb-loving.

thanks for reading.
RIP dog.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/...a80fa42c_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2537/...a38fb19e_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3467/...8b797cb3_b.jpg

[Patrick Wong]

Your photos are showing the LH side of the engine undercover. If you can push it back into place, then no worries.

[spinkao]

Same thing happened to me recently (I hit a kerb at a parking lot). My cover was torn worse than yours, so I removed it completely, as it was just hanging on three bolts at the bumper. No other damage was done. After removing, I discovered there is actually another plastic cover underneath. I asked at my Toyota dealership and a technician confirmed to me that this is just an aerodynamic part with no other function and it is completely safe to drive without it, which is what I did. I had it replaced when I was driving by the dealer a couple of weeks later, but it was probably just a waste of money, as the car was perfectly fine without it. Should it happen next time, I would just remove the cover completely and live without it. Replacing it costed me about 3000Kc (that is approx $150), which is not worth the money in my opinion. Driving without the cover did not affect my MPG or car's handling in the slightest way. So in your place, I would remove the cover completely and forget about it .