Genuine Toyota removable cross bars

I wouldn’t have thought to try it if Toyota hadn’t listed as an accessory available on the 5th gen Prius with a phot of the 4th gen Prius. If you look at pictures of the roofs for the two cars they are very similar with the high point of the roof for the fourth generation closer to the front of cabin and the fifth gen the high point toward the rear of the cabin. For $300 I figured I would try it out. Thule bars with feet and fit kits start around $550 not on sale.

Only two modifications were cutting a tiny strip of rubber off the foot and removing the pins from the clamps which most Thule products don’t have anyway. They feel really sturdy and am happy with them so far.

As for the paint I will get a better inspection when I wax the car this coming weekend. I noticed one little 1 mm circular nick on one side which i am planning on using some touch up paint on.

I don’t have much to gain or lose if others purchase and install them. Just sharing my experience since I enjoy looking at what others have done to their cars.

 

I still see it on the 2024 Prius Prime configurator. Here is the link. I don't see it on the 2025 configurator but just the 2024 configurator. Here is a screenshot.

 

Another possibility is that they where looking for ways to sweeten the deal of buying the 2024 models possible due to higher than expected inventory. I am doubting I am the first person to try and fit the 2022 Prius Prime crossbars to the 2023-2025 Prime. It is also possible that someone at a Toyota in the US had some old cross bars lying around in inventory from gen 4 prius and tried fitting them to one of the gen 5 Prius.

Another possibility is that someone very familiar with both models specs knew intuitively that they would work. It is impossible to know why whoever running the Toyota web site put those crossbars on there without asking them. The bottom line is that I have them on my car, they fit pretty well and are a viable option if you don't mind making a couple of tiny modifications to them.

One detail I will point out is that if you go to the Thule web site and you look for compatible WingBar Edge crossbars for both the gen 4 (2016-2022) and gen 5 (2023-?) you will notice that the length of the crossbars they recommend are the same with a shorter crossbar of 95 cm for the front and a longer 104 cm crossbar for the rear. Both roofs on the two generations of Prius are narrower in the front and wider in the rear. The web site dimensions.com has some of those dimension for both generations along with a birds eye view of both models that I found very helpful.

 

Not much if any news. I installed them then installed the Thule Caprock onto them. One minor issue I had with the installations was I lost a bolt from the Caprock while driving at slow speeds which I replaced. Probably due to missing it when going around and torquing the bolts. Luckily there is redundancy in the support for Thule Caprock so losing one bolt was not catastrophic.

I haven't removed the Toyota crossbars since installing and don't plan too either.

One minor issue I noticed early on was a tear in the driver's door weather seal. I doesn't need to be replaced and I am pretty sure it is only the drivers door. Part of adjusting and installing the rack is adjusting how much space is between the roof and the rack supports. The driver's door has a little more space in between and is the door I use most so attribute the tear to those two factors. The tear is pretty tiny probably like a millimeter or two.

I try to check the racks regularly and it always has felt really solid.

I only drove a short time with just the Toyota racks on before installing the Thule Caprock. Some people with 4th generation Prii complained of wind noise. I bought a wind diffuser early on but returned it since the Thule Caprock comes with one.

If you are someone that is very conscious of mpg you may notice a couple mile per gallon decrease.

Can't think of anything else. Pretty happy with how it has turned out.

 

I would think so. I put it on and once I had it positioned far enough apart to mount the Thule Caprock that is what I did. I haven't had any reason to take them off so I can't really give much anecdotal experience. I did nick the paint at one point in the process of placing on the roof, positioning and tightening. Covered it up with some touch up paint. You may want to put some ppf on the painted part of the roof I bought a roll for that purpose but was too in a hurry to be bothered to do so.