Prius Prime parts vs Regular Prius parts

Do you know the parts # of items you are looking for? Maybe @Elektroingenieur can help you with specific parts compatibility. I hope he will chime in here.

 

Thanks for thinking of me. I may know more about the parts catalog than some here, but I hope I don’t have a monopoly on finding information using parts.toyota.com or on websites that publish the catalog unofficially.

There are many parts in common, but it depends on the part.

Keep in mind that Toyota’s parts catalogs are meant to answer only one question: given a particular vehicle and a needed part, what part number should be ordered from a Toyota dealer? Any inferences about whether parts salvaged from one vehicle could be used on another vehicle are at the user’s own risk. Indeed, in the Repair Manual (more info), Toyota warns, “Never use SRS [Supplemental Restraint System] parts from another vehicle. When replacing parts, use new parts.”

Let me also emphasize the importance of the warnings in the Repair Manual about how to avoid personal injury or property damage when working on the SRS. Among these:

• Before doing any work on SRS wiring or parts, disconnect the negative (–) terminal of the auxiliary (12 volt) battery and then wait at least 90 seconds.

• When handling an airbag assembly, set it down with the airbag deployment side facing up, so if the airbag were to fire, the assembly won’t become a missile.

Airbag assemblies must be shipped as hazardous materials (dangerous goods), which can be costly.

For the steering wheel, only one version of the horn button assembly (which includes the airbag), part number 45130-47221-C0, is listed for all fourth-generation Prius and Prius Prime cars built for the U.S. market.

Similarly, there are only two versions of the lower No. 1 instrument panel air bag assembly listed for these cars: 73900-47050-B0 in neutral warm gray (not used on Prius Prime) and 73900-47050-C0 in black.

Another part that may need to be replaced is the airbag sensor assembly. As Toyota writes in the Repair Manual, “When the SRS parts are deployed (including when only an airbag or pretensioner is deployed) due to a collision, be sure to replace all sensors in the damaged areas (anywhere in need of repair) and the airbag sensor assembly.” Third parties offer the service of reconditioning these parts by clearing the computer memory, but that might not be a good idea: the airbag computer has to supply a relatively high current to fire the airbag squibs, and it may have been designed and tested to do that job reliably only one time.

For model year 2019, the same part is listed for Prius and Prius Prime cars: 89170-47860. This is for cars built from December 2018 through August 2019; it isn’t interchangeable with the parts for older or newer models.

Prius Prime cars use a heat pump system with a design that has some substantial differences from the air conditioning system on fourth-generation Prius cars, and the receiver/dryer is also different. See Figure 87-18, Heating & Air Conditioning - Cooler Piping, to find the part you need.

 

Thanks for chiming in. No monopoly here. We just feel your expertise on the subject matter to be invaluable to the community. I would have searched those sites if the OP gave us parts#. But no parts #. Alas... ask the expert.

Thanks for this info. I have known that some parts are interchangeable, or I should just say "compatible" even though it is not for the specific vehicle. I gather, just like there is always a risk of aftermarket parts not fitting correctly, OEM parts from other models must be regarded similarly.