I have a dead Prius and a Prius with out a spoiler that I want to trade in. So I'm wondering if this is something I can easily do? Haven't had luck with YouTube tutorials.
It's easy as far as jobs go... I repaired one once but don't remember the details. Pretty sure you pop off the interior plastic panel on the rear hatch and that gives you access to the nuts that hold the wing down.
Generation 3 has 2 types of spoilers, for 2010-2011 and for 2012 thru 2015. The difference is in the location of the bolts. The holes in lift gate are in different places.
What he is saying is that the spoiler for a 2010 and 2011 Prius is different from the 2012 to 2015 Prius. Toyota did a "face lift" starting with the 2012 model year. A spoiler from a 2010 Prius will not fit on a 2012 Prius and vice versa. Are you saying that Toyota should not have made design improvements during the Gen 3 five year manufacturing time frame? Part way through the 2014 model year, Toyota changed from low tension piston rings to more standard tension piston rings. Was this a good design change made by Toyota? I would say yes, it was. Should Toyota have waited until 2016 Gen 4 to make this change? I would say no.
The point @ASRDogman is making is the hassle it creates if you're trying to replace parts. The real question is why change the bolt positions? If there's a known problem and its an improvement for reliability that's one thing. But if its just an arbitrary change that could of waited till Gen4, then the change makes it way harder to buy the right replacement part when it comes to availability or people to sell the part and not lose money because the wrong vehicle owner bought it.
I've worked on a lot of cars, and it pissed me off when they "improved" something that didn't need to be improved. Changing the bolt pattern wasn't needed. "MAYBE" it was, possibly.... FIXING a problem, is not an issue, like pistons and rings. Of the hundreds of thing different manufactures made, only a few were NEEDED....
