No Rear Axle

No rear axle? Hehehe, when was the last time you looked under a car?

Lots of cars don't have rear axles...and they're all front-wheel drive (though not all front-wheel drive cars don't have rear axles...ummm, you'll see).

When every car on the road had rear-wheel drive, you had a rear axle (and, didja ever notice, they didn't have *front* axles?). Consequently, there was a solid housing between the differential and the rear wheels in which the axle halves spun). These are called "live axles." But on a front-wheel drive car, the rear wheels are there pretty much just to hold the back end of the car up...and most of the time this is done with independent rear suspension (such as McPherson struts, which is what the Prius appears to have, A-arms, etc.). Occasionally, you'll see a FWD car with what's called a beam axle in the back. Since it doesn't have to carry any shafts, it's just what the name says -- a beam of metal (in an "I" or "U" shape) that ties the two rear wheel assemblies together. There are other types of rear axle, like swing axles and the DeDion axle, but they're not too common.

 

I'm not going on anything but just a general impression but for FWD cars I think the strut/coil suspension has been pretty much the norm for awhile now.