Does anyone have any experience with their engine cover breaking off underneath the car? Just yesterday, a part of the plastic cover broke off when I was driving on the freeway. I think the bolts got loose and the top half of it was dragging on the ground. The car is just a year old and now this sh*t happens?? I'm beyond pissed that it's not covered under warranty too. They claim that they aren't responsible for anything that happens externally to the car. SERIOUSLY???? If the manufacturer hadn't made the cover PLASTIC and so cheap, these things wouldn't be happening in the first place. The car rides low to begin with, it will scrape things on occasion since the world doesn't make driveways to cater to the Prius. Can't believe they don't make the cover more durable. Get this - since the broken piece is part of a larger cover, the dealer is charging me $375 (!!!) to repair. Wth. Please help if you've had an experience like this. I refuse to pay for the repair....
This seems to be a common occurence, due to too brittle plastic: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...bleshooting/89496-oil-change-access-door.html
If you mean front most cover, which is held up by 6 bolts in the front and some push pins, mine almost fell off when the car was new. When I did my first oil change at about 1500 miles I noticed that 5 of the 6 bolts were missing and the last one was only finger tight. Obviously sloppy workmanship at the factory. I bought some stainless steel bolts at the hardware store and have had no more trouble with that cover. The cover Mendel refers to is the next one back and has the oil change door on it. It is also cheaply made and poorly designed and the door breaks off frequently. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...bleshooting/89496-oil-change-access-door.html Unfortunately Toyota just doesn't seem to have their act together when it comes to quality and customer service any more. Fortunately the most important parts, brakes, suspension, hybrid system, engine, drivetrain, etc seem to be good quality and have given no trouble.
Thanks all....I've done some digging and it just seems like it's a combination of poor design and careless oil changes at the dealer (I had bought the maintenance package thinking it was safest to get it done at the dealer). Truly infuriating. It makes sense now b/c I had JUST gotten an oil change 2 weeks prior to this happening so I'm thinking they didn't secure it right. Or maybe they did this on purpose to make more money. Ugh I'm so bitter.
