Edit** Title suppose to say. "Prius ate a bird!" Well the title says it all. It all happened when I was heading off to work in the morning, during my commute I saw a small bird flew very low right in front of the left mid concerned of the car, i was amazed at first but then something dawned on me that bird never flew back up...like they always do, thats when panic and fear sets in. After getting to work i did a quick inspection maybe it hit the bumper or something but theirs no evidence of biologic stains marks or scratches so i though it may have flew off i quickly forgot about it, and I moved on............ 4 DAYS LATER So every week i do a weekly inspection of the engine compartment of its fluids, oil level ect ect, I decided to clean the engine bay a little as i seem to get lots of sand and grit all over the engine compartment so i begin to remove some trimming out of the and i begin to smell something that was ripe, VERY VERY RIPE, i was begin to think what was that smell i look and followed my nose and it pointed at the left front bumper....(some internal mental processing later) .....panic arises, Oh ****! I quickly removed top rubber cover that is located near the condenser and radiator (With all the yellow warning signs) and quickly looked down and saw what is left of a bird...Since ti was a hassle to remove the front fascia/bumper i grabbed a coat hanger made a fancy hook/loop and got that sucker out and cleaned that hell out of area and yelled at my Prius for eating a bird! .... on the bright side no damage was done on the car lower grill, but R.I.P poor bird.
Yuck, one more reason to put a fine wire or plastic mesh behind the upper and lower grill openings. Main reason is to protect the inverter and ICE radiators from rock damage. SCH-I535
A couple years ago I was driving at highway speeds with the windows down. I heard a loud 'thud' and couldn't figure out what it was. Later that day my daughter drove my car. She asked me, "Did you realize there is a dead bird in your back seat?"
You should have replied with, "Thank God! I thought that THUD came from the wino who stands at the corner of 4th and Main."
And the AC condenser which will cause expensive repairs sooner (IMHO) than a leak in one of the coolant systems
Good story to encourage weekly engine bay inspections. Watched a documentary once where it was revealed that crows have an amazing capacity to remember the face of someone who has scared or harmed them. Coupled with the ability to communicate this to other crows, and across generations. Hope it wasn't a crow.
No it was a sparrow, yeah I made it a habit when I had my first car as squirrels seems to love hibernating/living in my air vents.
Once I drove fast in south FL (about 90 MPH) and killed a crane with a windshield. It cracked entire length across. It was very scary. It wasn't prius it was subaru. In my entire life I killed 2 dears and several birds, bunnies, squires, and other small creatures. All by cars, I don't hunt otherwise.
In other words, you have "a License to Kill" eh? I hope you meant to say you killed 2 deer and a squirrel, not girlfriends or spouses, or a young nobleman.
I've hit so many small woodland creatures with my pickup, I thought I should start putting decals on the driver side door like jet pilots have/had under the canopy to their cockpits.
I'm still glad I did this over the holidays last year. If a bird hits the grille - that's where it stops.
But you could still have the deer carcasses processed for venison, right? According to Wisconsin law at least, if you kill it with your car, you can keep it. Might be healthy as it would be range fed with no growth hormones, added antibiotics, etc. I hit a deer with an old Toyota Corolla, but I had locked up the brakes and was almost stopped. When I got out to inspect the damage, the deer jumped up and ran away! Hitting big black dragon flies up in Alberta this summer has made a mess on the front if our Prius.
I hit a deer once in a snowstorm while driving my old '88 Buick Estate wagon. Caused a lot of damage but the car was still driveable. Don't think the Prius would have stood up as well as the old Detroit iron did. To install the mesh behind the grill; do you have to remove the entire bumper to do that? My car has those parking sensors at the sides and I am leery of pulling it off in case the alignment is as picky as the radar sensor is behind the front Toyota logo. Roland
Putting them in front looks pretty nice it seems. I wonder if it does any kind of interference to the radar system.
Isn't the radar sits right behind the toyota emblem? It shouldn't cause any interference unless you obstruct it directly.
