Ran Over a Concrete Parking Block!

Oh, that figures. It is a lot of weight though, just sitting there. 99% of the time it just never gets used and costs you MPG to haul around.

A lot of people have AAA and or Fix-A-Flat onboard their vehicles. Also, now they sell Runflat tires that self-seal with an integrated gel for up to an additional 50+ miles of driving after they get a puncture.

I know I had AAA for the longest time and before I move to Florida in September I plan on getting it again. I also have brand new tires on my Prius (albeit not Runflats just Goodyear All-Season 65K mile rating).

 

Upon first-glance I actually thought what I had down there was a doughnut spacesaver, but I think its a full-size tire! Lol.

Its striking to me how much the Prius is a "real" car. I never even had nice things like that with my 2014 Nissan Leaf. I didn't even have cruise-control lol on it.

My Prius has stuff like a Spare tire, cruise-control, a little hook to hold the gas cap on while you get gas, a locking fuel door (releasable from inside the driver's area), 450+ miles of driving (even at highway speeds!), bright headlights (my Leaf had weak energy efficient bulbs you couldn't even see with), and it's even got All-Auto down windows (my Leaf only had the driver's window as Automatic).

Toyota really makes their vehicles with quality and gives you a lot for the money.

 

Ok well, I've driven it now since it happened and nothing has changed with it. It still rides the same as before it happened, still no warning or malfunction lights on the MID, no pull from the front tires, and basically nothing. Each day I get in it and boot it up, and drive it. I think it’s safe to say that there is nothing wrong with it and I didn't do any damage. Perhaps it technically might need an alignment (as one user previously posted about), but there doesn't seem to be any noticeable misalignment and or pull left or right. I'm just going to wait on that anyhow since I just got a darn alignment and all four wheels balanced, done a month or so ago for $90. So I really don't want to burn more money on that again soon. I'm saving to move cross-country to Florida. I'm loading my Prius up and taking only what will fit in it.

The only damage I can visually see is the plastic underbody cover is a little warped up. But, nothing too big-time. I haven't had the opportunity to borrow a jack to get a better look at the underside, and I don't own ramps. I took it to a Toyota dealer and they told me it was going to be a 45-60 minute wait-time to inspect it. So I just passed on that. I was there on a Monday at 1pm too! The guy that worked there told me that there will always be that wait-time since it’s their standard wait-time they tell everybody.

I personally think it’s probably fine, other than the cover being slightly warped-up. It’s not been leaking fluids or anything either. I routinely check it every day since it happened and so far no fluid leakage of any kind. I've observed it every day in the morning just after I pull back out of the driveway, and whenever I leave a parking space. In the morning I boot-up my Prius and let the ICE get into its warm-up cycle and then I pull back out of the driveway. That was I can an accurate idea if there were to be a fluid leak. The cover that got warped-up slightly, is even still seems to be just fine. It’s still on there with the plastic black clips; just the one corner is bent back. The exhaust I don't believe was even affected either. It’s not louder or anything and the Catalytic converter and exhaust are set into the exhaust tunnel slightly (as they are). So they're up a little more out of the way at least. I was able to crawl slightly under the car and snap a few photos of the underside to get a better look. But, I'll probably just zip-tie the black underbody plastic cover and move on.

 

Well, I do definitely plan on swinging around to O'Really's and buying some plastic fasteners. Correct me if I'm wrong though, but the black plastic cover is exactly that right? It’s really just a vestigial plastic cover to cover the underbody to improve aerodynamics, protect the underbelly against the elements, and etc right? It’s not essential I don't think. I've owned 3 cars now (1994 Dodge Shadow, 1995 Oldsmobile Eighty Eighty, and 2014 Nissan Leaf) and only the Leaf had a plastic underbody paneling covering the underside. My Oldsmobile did have a plastic paneling covering the front section from the front wheel to the nose, but it was more or less for aerodynamics and etc (a wind diffuser of sorts). I think you could remove it completely and it wouldn't affect the car. My dad even just said to not worry about it since to him it wasn't worth worrying about.

I could be wrong though.