Prius uncomfortable to hang upside down from...

I would use this accident as an example of what occurs when changing lanes without a mirror or warning device to alert the driver (of the Chevy Lumina in your case) that they are trying to occupy the same space as another vehicle. My niece just purchased a 2010 Mercury Milan that has an amber warning light that appears in the Mercury's outside mirror if a vehicle is present in the blind spot. Hopefully other car makers will follow suit. Personally, I use small 'Blind Spot' mirrors as an alternative on all my vehicles. They have kept me from becoming causative of a crash as your 'the lady in the Lumina' on many occasions. (I have to ask, was this woman on her cell phone at the time ?)

I am glad you and your wife are safe. Surprising how sturdy the old secind generation Prius turns out to be, and in a Roll-Over crash no less. Many people mistakenly feel the Prius's light weight makes it unsafe. I say you just proved them wrong. Better luck with the 2010 !

 

After seeing this rollover accident, made me think of something. I'll see if I can find a pic of seat re-bracketing ....

Here it is .... take a look



Above is a right rear driver's seat bracket (1 of 4) designed to place the seat about 3" farther back. Ok. What's the problem?

The bolt shown in the pic only goes through the plate and the seat rail, not the chassis. There is another bolt 3" forward, obscured by the seat rail that goes through the plate into the chassis. In a rollover crash, the seat rail will act as a lever and that plate will rotate counterclockwise. The seatbelt latch is hooked to the right rear of the seat frame. The seat with its seatbelt will let go, putting a driver on their head maybe to end up with a broken neck or worse.

If you have any mod like this in your car, you really ought to remove it immediately (mine was in the car less than 1 week last year).

And, this modification was done by a licensed handicapped retrofitter in Berkeley CA, Mobility Systems. He proudly said he had done this mod on a number of other Prius.

And here's the catch ... Mobility Systems or any licensed handicapped retrofitter has no liability for your injury or death as you sign your rights away with the job.

Bottom line - the mod in picture in complete junk and very risky to use in a car.

That's it.

 

Good one Cycle. I see what your saying if the car flipped that bracket would bend like a "knee" right at the clamp bolt yes?
Seat coming loose on a rollover is disaster.
If people want to add extensions to the seat rails they need
to take that rail out and weld that junction together.

Not an issue till you roll. But as we see it happens all the time.

And to the OP glad your ok and don't mind the poster who
wants to lecture you after the fact. Pretty easy to say do this and that at home in front of your computer.

And I bet the girl who cut you off was on the cell phone was texting all the way over the lane changes and never even saw you. I hope they outlaw that across the country. Its epidemic here.

 

The plate will rotate about the obscured bolt which is 3" forward in the original chassis hole. Bolt shown in pic above not secured to chassis. The floorboard below the plate is not solid, only soft carpet, so the plate will cut through by force, rotate CCW putting driver on their head into the roof.

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That said, Gen2 door pillars said to be 'Ultra-High-Strength Sheet Steel', minimizing roof damage.

 

Re: Prius uncomfortable to hang upside down from

Perhaps we should send this photo to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
IIHS-HLDI: Toyota Prius

Bob Wilson