No spare tire and a blow out in 2017 Prime

welcome to prius chat!

sorry to hear about the major hassle.

i keep a spare above decks in my car.

some here will tell you they've never had a flat, and care not for a spare. others will link all the tools necessary to fix your own flat.

i think it's a royal scam. call toyota customer service and lodge a complaint, maybe they'll reimburse you, it's worth a shot. all the best!

 

yes, my car came with tie downs on the deck. however, most people load up their hatches with all kinds of stuff, without thought to projectiles.

 

lol, nope, just an ordinary 2012 PIP (sorry @bisco I couldn't resist)

 

Before I got my Prime I had a 2012 PIP of which I drove to New York to trade in my Corolla. My Prime is of the Advanced version so I have safety connect which connects me to Toyota service

 

Tires don't just blowout. What caused it?

 

Naaaahhhh, it suddenly realized who was driving it, and just burst with pride¹!

¹ ©1922 Dornford Yates - "Jonah & Co"

 

The percentage of new cars without spares is increasing, but I don't think it's half as yet. Well I hope not.

If you strip out plug-ins, I would think that percent falls: plug-ins seem to have entitled themselves to skip the spare. The one way I can see to stem this tide:

don't buy a car without a spare.

But that's not helping you. In your shoes, I would purchase a temp spare, throw it in the hatch and cinch it down securely.

 

What I get from this story is that the Toyota Roadside Assistance that comes with my Prime is a scam. For the dealer to state that they couldn't drop the car off at the dealership unless he agreed to purchase a tire that they didn't stock is arrogant and greedy. I wonder if that is actually Toyota USA's policy or Larry H Miller Toyota of Spokane policy and how could we find out before something similar happens to us?

 

What I get from this story is that the Toyota Roadside Assistance that comes with my Prime is a scam. For the dealer to state that they couldn't drop the car off at the dealership unless he agreed to purchase a tire that they didn't stock is arrogant and greedy. I wonder if that is actually Toyota USA's policy or Larry H Miller Toyota of Spokane policy and how could we find out before something similar happens to us?

 

Hi Dan,

Sorry to read about your problem. Some road hazard took a bite out of rear tire a month ago in our BMW i3-REx and BMW roadside service is no better. Just I'm curious:

That price, $243?

The BMW i3-REx rear tire itemized list:

• _$35.00 - labor
• $178.82 - Ecopia EP600
• __$3.00 - fees, disposal and tire tax
• _$16.09 - sales tax
• $232.91 - total

So I ordered a spare wheel and tire which Firestone balanced and mounted. I then put it on a rear wheel to make sure the slightly oversized, full-size tire would not hit the wheel well:

• _$35.00 - Firestone labor to mount tire on wheel
• _$74.00 - 15x6.5 wheel (alloy I think)
• _$96.25 - 205/65R-15 BRIDGESTONE ECOPIA EP422 PLUS (H- OR V-SPEED RATED) XL
• $205.25 - total

FYI, I also replaced the locking lug nuts with plain ones and carry the spare in the rear. But I'll put some tie-down straps with the tire to hold it down in the future. I've already carried the spare on a trip to Knoxville.

Bob Wilson

 

I got a mini-spare for my Energi and had a similar sidewall blowout from a pothole thus no chance of repair even with my personal tire repair kit I developed for use with my motorcycles (the original no spare option transportation). Also like you, no one locally had the correct replacement so I had to order one and through a not-so-comedy of errors it took 7 days to arrive. The costs of the used spare, jack, and wrench were quickly made back the first day by not having to get a rental.

I keep the spare in the garage (95%) which my wife brought to me in the above scenario and only take it on really long trips when the inconvenience of it taking up interior space is outweighed by being stranded. TIP: in case of a front tire failure and there is still a lot of driving to do (especially highway), put mini-spare on back and move rear tire to front since the front tires on a FWD car do the most work.

Yes they can from defective construction.

 

I am really sorry to hear your trouble. It seems Toyota’s and other manufacture provided road side assistance seems to be worthless in a pinch, especially if they allow tow to the nearest Toyota dealer only. That’s why I still keep my AAA membership. I have no problem with not having spare tire with a new car, as long as I can call out AAA. Good thing is that they will tow to anywhere you choose, and your AAA membership stays with you not with a car. We have three cars in our house hold, and two of them don’t have spare tire. For the price of buying two sets of spares for them, I can pay 10+ years of AAA annual membership.

 

Maybe you should just get these to replace the tires with.

 

I have had AAA almost as long as I have been driving, the annual cost is minimal for the peace of mind. Thankfully I haven't needed to use it very often but it sure has come in handy at times. And I sometimes can get a 10% discounts on hotels and attractions that offer a AAA discount which helps offset the membership fee.