Bracket sticks out of rear fender wells

Heres a larger photo. That piece sure is odd, isn't it? And what's that sideways "L" shaped thing just above it?

I have a great respect for designers and engineers. They are blessed with a very special brain.

 

i drank all the beer, time for bed!

 

And the darn donut shop was closed last night!!

 

It surely has a function we don't understand yet. It is not a mistake, or something "forgotten" but there for a purpose. It is on all Priuses sold worldwide. It really seems it has to do with airflow (the comment about the side sensor is not a bad idea).

 

Normal. Don't go shaving it off with a file ;-)

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Keeping thread alive.

I searched for (for) parts 2016 diagrams on the 'net and found no info.

Referring to a part number as available; does this part have a name/ Toyota Part description?

 

I reckon Bisco's got it right, I think it's designed to create a small eddy of air to lessen the impact of road muck from the wheels. It does appear on several different makes of small cars over here in the UK.

 

I just picked up my 2016 Prius a week ago manufactured in 4/16 and has this too, I thought it was a defect.

 

Now I have to walk out to the car and check.

Indeed it has it and a tag that says,"leave alone or your car will fall apart".

It needs that extra bolt since it was added after the engineering team forgot to attach two panels.

 

Some one needs to start a thread for the night drinkers, "how many pink 2016 Priuses did you count on the road".

 

I've worked with a lot of 'em, and trust me: they run the gamut, lol.

That long rectangular shape of that bracket looks too big for the fastener, the ends are just along for the ride. Not sure of the intent of that whole area, some sorta break-away in event of collision? It looks to me like an oversight, that little bracket is too big, and protruding into the air stream.

 

It looks to me like something that was the result of a conscious decision to fill some purpose. That odd geometry was selected for a reason, and the overlap out into the airflow cannot be an oversight. Each component of the car is modeled, and checked carefully by the computer and designers for gaps and interferences.

We can guess forever about what it is. Until we hear from Toyota (or someone in the know) we'll probably never know.

 

The addition of this "fin" inside the wheelwell (appearing at a 45* angle behind the tire in the photo) suggests that some aerodynamic tweeking may have been done to this area of the car.

 

I wonder if it's to break up the water spray?

Ford Focus has it - but actually part of the rear bumper (unlike Fiesta which is a piece similar to Prius).


Mazda Miata/MX5 too:

 

I'm sure they are there to improve aero, but not too much. Remember back in the 90s it probably was, you had cars running around again suddenly with fender skirts? Similar idea. Control the airflow around the rear wheel well. GM had a few cars with them. Turns out GM is right, they can be a big help toward improving fuel economy. Problem is, fender skirts are also quite annoying (try changing a tire under one in a snow storm), they tend to mean you're going to run a more narrow tire giving up some handling performance and they dramatically increase tire pressure. Ford and Firestone made everyone so flinchy about tire pressures that I don't think you will see full fenders again anytime soon. But throw a small fin on there and you can still make a measurable difference without the risks. If you could get a tire maker to mold tiny fins on the inside sidewall of a tire that would also be a big improvement.