Bobcat survives traveling more than 50 miles in grille of a Prius

i'm especially impressed by the change in conversation by comment #6.

 

Yes that's grille-block Virginia style with active shutters. Who knew we had bobcats?

I went to post that story the other day, not sure why I was not able to, so thanks

 

Anyone know what model of Prius?

Toyota has an interesting grill design:
Coyote Survives A Short, Strange Ride In Toyota Grille

Bob Wilson

 

[waving hands]
I did.

@ "Prius" comments: ......Hmmmm.....hitting a 40# object on the road and then driving another 50 miles without stopping to investigate??!!
I wish it has been a Honda driver instead.

 

Quote of the day.
"We are all just trapped coyotes, riding in the fucked-up grille of a Toyota that is life. Maybe, someday, we, too, will be lucky enough to be set free."

I doubt she knew how heavy the actaully cat was at the time, and if the car was still driving fine with no warning lights, why stop.

 

I'm going with a post-facelift Prius v:

 

Isaac knew how heavy it was.....

I've got nearly 140,000 miles in type, and have accounted for my share of contributions to the Road Kill Cafe, and I simply cannot imagine that a person could strike an object that large, in a car that small and either not notice it, or not stop to investigate it.
Whenever I roll over an object that I cannot (or did not) avoid, I do a mirror check to see if that object cleared the undercarriage of my car - because - even something as light as the unofficial state bird in many areas (plastic grocery bag) can actually cause some mischief if they FOD out your air intake, and the temperature gauge is awfully hard to read on a Priuses' instrument panel.

OK....
So, kitty cats being demonic, nocturnal, and nearly indestructible creatures usually go skulking around after hours and it's possible (even probable, given the outcome!) that said driver never even knew that the cat was in the neighborhood.
I still maintain that an object striking the front of the car with enough force to punch through the grill should have awakened the driver's curiosity enough to investigate when conditions warrant - and I'm not aware of any part of the Commonwealth of Virginia where it would take 50 miles to reach those conditions, although I only lived there for 18 months.

Sorry.
Not buying it!!!

Sometimes?
Stereotypes are rooted in a bit of truth.

...Juuuuuust sayin!

YMMV

 

Read again. Link sent me to a foxnews page. Had I known, I wouldn't have given them the click ($) since nearly all their news is basically click-bait fodder anyways.

 

I'm thinking the fact that the cat survived with minor scrapes means that the plastic grill absorbed most of the impact force, leaving the driver with the impression that is was smaller. I've hit things that did make a loud noise, without any visible evidence that contact happened. Plastic flexes and can pop back with a bang. Then we don't have the exact time it happened. It is still dark in the morning now.

The only time I stopped after hearing noise of impact was in the Mercury, and that was because I thought a lost wrench had fallen out of the engine bay. It was the lower coil of the strut spring rusted off. I didn't stop after bumping a deer with the Taurus, nor have we for cats, 'coons, or 'possums. i do check the rear view, but if there aren't any car pieces in the road, it is likely safe to get where I'm going.

 

WARNING: old man rant.

I remember back in the day of cross bias tires driving through Arizona and seeing road-kill, antelope jackrabbits. At a truck stop, we asked and it turns out anyone foolish enough to deliberately hit one was just as likely to have a bone-flattened tire.​

Bob Wilson

 

...probably that Bobcat was looking to snack on the mice in the air filter

 

What was her gas mileage like for that 50 miles?

 

Fur grill block.
My bet, improved.