It happened. Flat tire. No spare.

Neither one has a good chance of success.

 

It's not easy to get good statistics on flat tires. However, I've dug up some things.

The average US driver will experience 5 flat tires in their driving lifetime.
Of those 5, 75% are either slow leaks caught before the tire is undrivable or caught in parking lots before driving.
Of the remaining 25%, the most common causes are improper tire inflation pressure (mostly low pressures causing excess heat leading to blowouts), rubbing and sidewall damage caused by hitting curbs and other objects on the road, and wearing the tires down beyond the wear bars until they start to leak. The causes of the slow leaks are usually different (punctures, leaking valve stems, etc.).

In other words, if you properly maintain your tires (proper pressure, replace at 4/32 tread remaining) and drive carefully enough not to hit things, you stand a better than even chance of making it through your entire driving life without a flat leaving you on the side of the road.

Thinking back, I think I've had 6 "flats" in my life. Two were caused by improper tire maintenance. One was low pressure, one was worn down beyond the wear bars (neither were my job to maintain). Of the other 4, 3 were punctures by screws or nails which led to slow leaks and one was a defective side wall from the manufacturer leading to a slow leak through the bead.

 

Tons, because it's just me!! I fold down the seats. That's why you hear me bellyaching about wanting a coupe Prime; I don't WANT seating for more than 2 people. If you had to accommodate 4 or 5 people, with 3 months' worth of luggage, and guitars and amps, it might get a tad tight! I just hate buses (SUV's)! In that case I just rent an appropriate Land Barge!!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

That is not unreasonable for the traction battery. Perhaps $1K for the spare hardware is not that unreasonable either. And that is the real reason manufacturers are deleting the spare. It's a rather large chunk of savings for them.

So is there actual room for a spare in the Prime? I though they used the space for the spare for more battery and adding spare was only possible by taking up some luggage space.

 

The spare tire well in the unibody is below the battery and unused, but per @Lee Jay, it's not deep enough to hold a spare still.

 

Wait, what? There is a well for the spare that is not big enough for a spare? How does that make sense? Is it just wasted space? Or is there no space for a full spare? Is it big enough for a doughnut? A doughnut spare is better than no spare.

 

They reused the unibody from the Gen 4 on the Prime. Some Gen 4 trims have a spare tire.

 

Seems like an afterthought, not real design. I am surprised at Toyota, but I understand that it saved them a bundle in engineering work by reusing the unibody. But still, it's just comes off as half-assed GM of the 80's kind of car building.

 

There's no room on the the Prime, because it continues to be essentially a regular Prius, with a bolt-on Plug-in kit. It's a compliance car. If they wanted to they could get a spare in there, at the least a drop-down truck style spare. But it would take engineering, a rework of the bodywork.

 

An aftermarket mini-spare was the only thing that worked for my sidewall gash in my Energi I discovered after work. Items 1-3 & 5-7 were useless in my situation. My #4 was to call the house for someone to bring the spare from the garage and I was on my way a few minutes later; road trips, the spare comes along. A new, matching tire wasn't available locally so I drove on the spare for nearly a week while waiting on shipping.

It's always best to move off the road to a safer area. I have standing instructions to all my family that's it's OK to ruin a flat wheel/tire in doing so; that's what the spare is for. The same goes for a minor wreck. My wife has a co-worker dealing this Christmas with a son who was seriously injured by another vehicle while standing next to his wrecked car on the highway.

 

Thanks Mendel, your response is very helpful.

Wheels for 2017 Toyota Prius | Toyota Parts

In the above link, can someone please tell me the difference between:

42611-47440 Wheel, Alloy (15, TYPE A)
42611-47450 Wheel, Alloy (15, TYPE B)

 

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Well, a rework of bodywork not just in the spare whell department would behoove Toyota in this case

 

The G4 with spare is shown below. Note that the tire is thicker than the recess so they surrounded the tire with about 3" of foam.



This is the area below the Prime's battery. Note that the battery is sitting on the pan at the same place where the foam sits:


And this is my arm in that location. This is nowhere near thick enough for even a compact spare:

 

Doesn't the Prime come with cargo tie downs like Gen III's?

 

Interesting. But, yes, that is "somewhere" near enough space. I just measured my mini-spare @ 6 inches and my hand (5ft 10 in. frame) at 5.5 inches across so if your hand is approx. the same size, there appears to be enough room. Now getting to it easily would be another can o' worms. Let's see, Step 1: Loosen battery connections. Step 2: lift battery up....

Besides the battery being in the way, I suspect another big reason for not making room for the spare would mean an intrusion into gas tank capacity to gain the necessary clearance.

 

They didn't want to give up cargo space...which is a selling point.

 

It's not. My hand is 3.5" wide in that direction.