The tin panels under my 2012 pruis rattle when I go over rough road. Now they c are rattling while I am driving down the road. When the wind blows I hear it and am afraid it will blow off. Do I need to go to the dealer to have them secure it or could a mechanic tighten it up?
welcome! anyone can do it. you have probably lost some of the fasteners, and they will need to be replaced.
yes, you can buy them at any toyota dealer, or even some auto parts stores. i think they are just plastic pushpins with ribs.
It'd be best to get the right fasteners, there's a lot of variations. Unfortunately they're not cheap. Perhaps research, get the part numbers, and then search online sources. Step one though: Get under with some light, see what's going on, what if any fasteners are missing, what location. The fasteners vary. Whenever you have them off, wash them out with hot/soapy water. This will help float-out accumulated grit, which often causes them to fail: the mechanism jams due to grit, and they get broken during removal. A few tools that will help with fastener removal: (slim blade screwdriver) (paint tin lid removal tool) (trim removal tool) The panels are plastic, btw. There's multiple possibities as to why you're hearing rattles: 1. There's a flap on the engine bay underpanel that can bent back to access the oil drain bolt location. Unfortunately it's poorly designed, subject to breaking after a few oil changes accomplished thus. It's safer to remove the entire panel, helps with inspection, but most dealerships won't do this. 2. It's possible you've bottomed out, or run the front/back over a wheel stop or curb, or some sort of median, or road debris. Minor scrapes are inevitable, but if it's worse you may have lost a fastener or two. Inspection will help determine that.
