Mildly funny. Was cruising up US 1 in Edison, looked up a quarter mile, and there was another blue Prius, just like mine. Cool. A bit closer look - there's something hanging down under the car, right of the centerline. Ha! Another failing oil door! About an inch above the pavement, so it hadn't quite touched down yet. Zipped up, had the wife roll down the shotgun window, attracted some attention, and told them, "There's something hanging down from your car!" They pulled over in a nearby parking lot. I apologized, but the guy in the car cut me short - said he'd had a zip tie on it, just like they called for in the forum. Looks like one of the zips fell off, I guess. Smiled and left. More people read this site than you'd think! KBeck.
Kinda reminds me of our '91 Accord. A few years and miles later pretty much every one you saw had a power antenna stuck, halfway up/down, or an aftermarket antenna. Regarding the "oil door", the Repair Manual makes no mention of this door in the oil change description. Instead, it tells you to pull the whole panel off. It's actually not that much more effort, and results in better access, to boot. OTOH, this door was obviously designed for quick access to the oil pan drain bolt and oil filter. But, if you do stick to pulling the whole panel off (or can convince the dealership or third party mechanics to do so), it'll last.
Ha, yep, my parents' '92 Accord definitely wouldn't go past halfway up... After finding out from their mechanic that the list price for a new antenna was something ridiculous like $150, they replaced it with a manually-telescoping one.
