Hello all, quick question... I haven't had to do much work to my 2010 prius, luckily. One thing I had to replace were the original failing hatchback struts. I put new ones in (aftermarket) that are much stronger and harder to close. But my question is...If I were to tie a rope to keep the hatch open, but not fully open (to make it level with the roof) for about 8 hours and 8 hours over 2 days...Does this cause stress to the struts/possibly causing them or more prone to failure? sorry, i'm not much of a car person, but I thought I read somewhere about the effect of having struts open, but not completely open...I just wanted to get your opinions. Thanks!
I think you are over thinking it... after all, in the closed state, the hatch is keeping the strut cylinders fully compressed. Therefore, keeping them tied off in any other position will put less stress on the seals.
I don't think the strut cylinders are fully compressed when closed. There's a point where the hatch will stop holding its position and will just fall to the close position, indicating that the struts are no longer supporting the hatch (i.e. the air is released)
That behaviour results from the geometry and kinematics of the hatch-strut-body system. It's unlikely that "the air is released," especially since gas struts are filled with nitrogen, as far as I've heard.
Correct. Most here are victims of our Public Education system but Pascal's Law s always in force. Having been a 4 cyl Toyota owner and a professional aircraft mechanic for almost 30 years I would recommend replacing the struts with the factory part.
