[Urgent] Bottom of car (not trim) was heavily scraped

Might have crushed part of the exhaust system. Gas motors don't like back pressure.

 

It needs to be placed on a lift and looked at. It may be as simple as a loose under panel - it's acting like a parachute when your traveling down the highway.

 

I don't think there are any plastic panels in the middle area between the front and back wheels, which is what would have scraped if it high centered on the hump. Also possible though that the hump hit something before the front wheels, and there are all sorts of plastic panels up there.

 

May have bent something on one of the rear wheel suspension - that model is 4-wheel independent suspension; correct..... Everything else is routed up and out of the way except maybe a emergency brake cable.

 

There are pictures of the bottom of the second generation Prius here:

Gen II Prius underbody photos | PriusChat

It does look like all of the exhaust is normally too high up to have been smashed by dragging the bottom. Normally. If any of the exhaust hangers were broken then it could have been low enough to strike. In the section between the front and rear wheels there are some high voltage cables visible on one side, and what look like brake or fuel lines on the other.

Was the hump/bump all the way across the road or only a few feet wide? If the former it shouldn't be able to smack any of the suspension, but it would be possible for a section where one or both wheels can go around rather than over it.

We can speculate all day, putting it on a lift and actually looking is the right move. If the OP has a regular mechanic they would likely be willing to crank it up for a look and not charge anything. Well, unless something was broken that they needed to fix.

 

I'm gonna suggest that there isn't any damage to the car because cars slowly driving over "...a huge lip/cement bump/ridge" will scrape as designed without damage. The symptom of it seeming "like the engine is trying harder" is simply the result of driving on steep hills when the hybrid battery is worn down more and depending on the gas engine.

Had you actually done damage to your vehicle the object you slowly drove over would be jagged or sharp in some way and you'd have to hit going faster than you were.

As in my friend who owns a cab company of hybrid cars that are on the road 24/7 occasionally has a cab driver hit the underside of the car really hard and the only time it's a problem in need of repair is if they get warning light on the dashboard, the car is making a strange noise, or the car no longer steers correctly. If you don't have any of those symptoms then you don't have a problem.

 

The Gen 2 has very nice under covers that hug the under seat area like a glove . You might not notice them.

 

Is the combination meter working? Asking because I agree with PriusCamper that damage that made the car drive funny would probably throw a code. The OP might not see it though if the combination meter was out.

 

Unless that mount is damaged such that one end or the other is disconnected, you are clutching at straws.

I'm struggling to understand how it has any effect that "supports recuperation."

Look up force charging and charge the battery up to 8 green bars, then go for a drive. See if the feeling that there's something going on with the acceleration and battery charge/discharge is still there.

 

I'm in the middle of changing an engine and transmission now I have this part on ground . Torque strut on bottom instead of on top think dogbone. Put hand on valve. COver . Try n rock engine front to back ?

 

Maybe damaged inverter wires under plastic tray that covers .it's a big stretch though.my MFD gas don't reset I push odo/trip or such. How I get my numbers to know mpg. Doh!..

 

If you ever “get to the bottom of this”, consider going after the city for compensation?

 

any trouble lights?

 

Right. When this car runs badly it will usually throw a code. Heck, it will throw a code when it thinks it is running poorly and the driver has not noticed yet.

Banging up the exhaust system won't make the car run poorly. Actually poking holes in the exhaust system, at least downstream of the last sensor, won't either. Only crushing some part to the point it significantly restricts flow will do that. That sort of damage should be really obvious - a tube will be flattened or bent at an extreme angle.

There is a sensor that goes to the catalytic converter. If that was damaged the car might run poorly, but there would absolutely be a code. Maybe if it was just a little damaged, reading slightly off? I'm referring to the one whose dangling wires sometimes short out after a cat is stolen, don't recall the name off the top of my head. That would be up behind the shield. If the OP has a borescope perhaps snake it in and have a peek at that. That said, this seems really unlikely to me.

Does the OP have a copy of Dr. Prius and an appropriate OBD2 dongle? Run the capacity test. If the pack scores poorly that is the problem. If it scores well, then there probably is an issue - somewhere.