iPhone charger tip broke off in Prius 2 cigarette lighter

Yes it's safe... There might be some tiny sparks you can avoid by making sure the vehicle is turned off. And if you can't get it out head to a local wrecking yard and pull one off a wrecked Prius, they're easy to remove.

Also what's that photo of? It doesn't look like anything I've seen inside of a gen2 Prius?

 

If the car is turned off there is no power to that socket. If the OP is really worried just get access to the 12V battery and unplug the two positive cables (easier than taking off the grounding strap, no tools are needed.) Just remember to write down the radio settings. Or figure out which fuse it is and pull it.

Anyway... That little ball on the side is spring powered, if it is possible to get to that spring and disable it the rest should be easy to pull out. If there is a substantially large piece stuck in there and nothing solid to grab with some needle nose pliers, perhaps mark off a drill bit (so as not to go too deep and hit the actual socket), drill into the fragment, then thread a screw into the hole and grab onto that to yank out the piece.

 

Should be majority plastic drill into it 1/4 inch or so a lil hook from awl set .yes reach in you could never get hurt it's a tool going in not skin.

 

Concur, incomprehensible pic of the day.

 

That's the charger the dude pulled out of his cigarette lighter receptacle hopefuly the under dash . This is a charger he pulled out you see it's not complete it's Missing the side grabbing metal and the positive center piece usually blk plastic. because it's not part of a Prius

 

The side grabbing metal is a ball in this version. Looks like it's still there. The positive tip that unscrews for access to the fuse, that's missing. So is the fuse. I'd try to use the tweezers to pull those out of the Prius socket.

Maybe the tip wasn't completely screwed on, last time this got plugged in.

 

If that's the case try sticking the charger back in the hole and making a turn to the right or two and pull

 

Yep; 12vdc isn't going to hurt you. Anything 50+VDC may cause harm. I believe with the car OFF the lighter plug is disabled.
Once you fish the tip out of there, you may also want to check the fuse for the lighter, to see if that's blown.

Hope this helps.....

I've accidentally arc'ed a 36VDC backup power system once. That really woke me up and took a good chunk off my screwdriver. It ate halfway though the shaft. It's still in my tool box, as a reminder to be careful around power systems.

 

A high amperage arc driven by a 12V DC battery can be bright enough to burn your retina. Don't do that - the resulting blind spot never goes away.

 

There won't be any 12V there if the car is turned off.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for "slide it back in and twist" to engage the threads and pull it back out. The fuse in there will have dropped to the bottom; it's not just going to naturally align with the hole and the spring and slip right back in.

I'd just use the tweezers and pick the left-behind bits back out. None of those bits should be a tight fit in the socket.

 

Had a baseline retina scan done about 8 years after that. Started working on lasers and the company wanted to cover their assets...... Nothing to write home about.....