*IMO Don't buy a 2K4 Prius and if you own one don't drive it

I found the following in the Prius Classic (not '04) Emergency Response Guide (revised). Don't know if it's still true for the '04 Prius or not, but thought it might be of help.

"" numbers refer to the diagram mentioned at the end.

It comes with an electrical diagram of the High Voltage Safety System following this, but I haven't figured out a way to upload it.

 

Yahoo is down at the moment, when it comes up I'll be able to access and post the '04 Prius Emergency Response Guide URL.

A photo would speak a thousand words.

If I understand Frank's description correctly, the plastic trunk tray was pushed forward and wedged "under" the bolted down tray (which sits over the battery) and as a result, the trunk tray dented the battery casing and risked "crushing" the internal battery modules.

Frank, please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm correct, the electical risk was between the heavy metal battery casing and the internal battery cells. Had the intrusion been sufficient, a cell could have been breached and contacted the "grounded" battery casing.

I wonder what has been "designed" to happen if this was to occur.

 

my brain just took a fresh look at the problem and, as my website says, i synthesized a novel approach to the solution (imnsho )...

first, i'll trust toyota engineers to have made the car safe under these collision conditions. i'll (dangerous move) assume that they thought of these failure modes....

on the other hand, taking a new view, rather than change the design of the floor plate so that it doesn't hit the battery case, how about a redesign of the battery compartment so that if it IS hit to the point of potential damage, perhaps it "breaks away" from its surroundings and falls or moves to a safe place where it can't be shorted or create a "hotwired" condition to the chassis, etc.??????

i.e, if you can't keep the battery from being whacked, control what it does if it DOES get smacked....

so, where are the TM engineers browsing this site????

 

I couldn't open the jpgs, but am I oversimplifying in thinking that a quick, easy ( and cheap) fix would be to replace the trouble-causing plastic cover plate with a material/thickness that had low shear strength and would buckle/fold/wrinkle or whatever rather than tearing loose or moving out of place, intact, to create further damage and hazard?

 

Emergency Response Guide for the '04 Prius is here...

http://techinfo.toyota.com/public/main/erg.html

 

I have several thoughts. We all run the risk of being tailgated. I had my perfectly fine 86 Escort tailgated by a woman who was on her cell phone. She rear ended me at a stoplight and bent the bumper down and crumpled the wheel well. The car was driveable, but the insurance company totalled it anyway. I bought it back from the insurance company for 100 bucks and sold it for 400 bucks to a friend who drove it for five more years. Point is, no car is going to be safe from this kind of accident. That's not a reason to not drive a Prius.
My second thought is that because of the scarcity of Prii, hinted at by the post I am quoting, it's unlikely that a totalled Prius could be replaced by another Prius unless the owner were willing to go through the whole horrible wait process again and assuming there would even be a Prius available.
I wonder about the scarcity issue affecting repairs, not replacement of the whole car. What about getting body panels replaced, etc.? Would we be out of a car for weeks while the dealer ordered parts and would the dealer be able to get parts for these rare birds?
I'm really saddened by Frank's experience and glad his wife was not seriously injured. After reading all these posts, however, I don't feel that the car is unsafe nor that I shouldn't continue driving it.
And, Frank, was the driver of the car that hit your Prius using a cell phone at the time? Several states and many insurance companies, consider cell phone use while driving as contributory neglience.
Good luck, Frank, and keep us posted.
Bob

 

AdminCoop said
2) In South Carolina, at least, if you hit someone from behind it's your fault no matter what the story is.


I know from experience in New Mexico that's not the case. I was exiting an interstate to a rest area when the car in front of me stopped on the ramp. I hit him hard enough to activate my air bag and break his rear window.

I got the ticket as expected. The next day the passengers in the front car went to the police and explained that the car I hit was a new car on a demo drive by the salesman, and he had just said "Watch how the ABS works" and took his hands off the wheel and slammed on the brakes.

My ticket was dismissed, he was cited for reckless driving. (I was in a rental, I had free collision coverage from my company plan, Hertz paid all my expenses including many chiropractor visits, had a replacement in under an hour. AAA paid for hotels and meals on the way home since it was over 100 miles away and I needed to not drive any more that day.)

So not every rear-end collision is the fault of the back car.

Fred

 

htmlspinnr,

I would be more concerned about people safety than car replacement. Cars and parts can be replaced but people or injury cannot!!!

If the plastic part is too weak then it will move and can slice into the battery...maybe the fix is to replace the single plastic part with a two piece bolted metal/foam piece , the metal would add more structural stiffness and foam part could add an air gap between the stiffened metal and the battery (crushable foam). Metal--->Foam---->Battery

It would be nice to get an official Toyota comment on rear end accidents and safety functions within the car (battery, crush zones, power cut-off or emergency power cut-off).

It would also be nice to have a covered emergency cut-off button next to the power button...that way any anyone could CUT power to the motor/inverter/batteries in the invent of an accident/emergency situation...hidden buttons or complex shutoff procedures become difficult.



Mike

 

Frank,

are you saying that there is an exposed (bare metal) battery terminal strip that sits just 3/4" under the metal battery cover, and that this strip bares 200+ volts !!

Isn't there any way that you can publish a picture, or a diagram?