I guess I buy the excuse that there's no room for a spare because of the battery. There was probably a way to incorporate a compact spare somewhere, but I'm actually glad my car doesn't have a spare. My Gen 3 didn't have a spare either, but I never had a flat in the whole 12 years I had it. I didn't even have to use that goofy air pump/sealant injector at all. Besides, I have full roadside assistance, and a cellphone, so I wouldn't have to mess around with a flat tire, even if I had one.
I can’t recall a statement like that from Toyota. The 5th Gen Prius owners manual even has a section on the use of the spare, with the proviso “if equipped” or another, similar phrase. The plug-in version does encroach on spare tire well IIRC, but not so for hybrid version, including those with AWD. My take: the reason they cut the spare is much $impler. Best case scenario, assuming you’re within cell phone range: tow truck (eventually) arrives, gets you and your car somewhere, sometime. It’s almost certain to delay and inconvenience you, considerably more than 1/2 hour to swap in the spare.
When the 4th Gen Prius came out, there was actually room for a full size spare because that was sold in Israel, IIRC. I wonder what Toyota sells there for 5th Gen. I do not recall what they sold there for the Prius Prime.
I never heard that from Toyota. It was probably something a reviewer said, and it wasn't clear how they got that assumption. But when you think about it, where would they have put a spare? I guess it's obvious to most of us that there's no room for a spare when you maximize the battery size.
Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. Especially where there's no cell service in the middle of nowhere.
I don't know how familiar you are with the Gen 5, Prime, but there's not much room under the hatch floor, and they don't make good use of it in my opinion.
I believe there is a satellite link when you press the button on the upper console. Kinda like OnStar, I think.
To make room under the hatch floor could be as simple as making the floor higher. I agree that the space beneath the current floor doesn't appear to be optimised. Yet cars far smaller than the Prius have had spares historically, so leaving the spare out of the equipment can't be just a matter of insufficient room.
I have a hard time visualizing how they could manage to squeeze a wheel and a jack into a car such as mine. Much easier to offer roadside assistance, as they have done. But I've never done it that way. I had a Dodge Ram with roadside assistance, but I found it easier to call in a favor from someone I knew.
Yeah you could have a blowout or nick a curb and ruin the tire on the road, and then you need roadside assistance. But the most likely scenario is a leak from a puncture, in which case the TPMS will go off before you actually get a flat. Having a tire inflator that plugs into the cig lighter will allow you to top off tires till you can get to a tire place to address the leak. Such as Slime 40051 - look it up on Amazon. This is different than the provided repair kit, which shoots gunk into the tire, and I would not recommend.
I believe on the RAV4 PHEV, the traction battery is located outside the passenger compartment. I think it is liquid cooled.Engineering always has potential solutions.
I don't worry much about unlikely events. Flat tires are very rare for me. It's been over 15 years since I had one.
I've had a couple of flats with our 2010. First was a slow leak, due to finishing nail. Dealership said it was too close to edge of tread to patch. I believe they're only allowed to do inside/outside plug repair, which does need more room. I got-and-used a plug repair kit (old-school, outside-only), used that tire for maybe another 8 years. Then maybe a year later, parked at a mall, noticed a tire near-flat: it had picked up a small bolt. This was snow tires, without TPMS. Put on the spare, drove home, plug repaired the flat indoors (it was near-zero that day), aired it up with bicycle pump. Drove on that one for another 7~8 years as well.
Complete flat tire on the road without warning - unlikely. That's why I'm also fine and happy to have no spare. Slow leak that sets off TPMS before your tire goes flat, requiring topping off your air - way more likely to happen at some point. It's happened to me at least 5 times over the years.
It would be nice if they just offered a spare in the parts department for a reasonable price, instead of making customers search high and low for the correct size at a decent price
I wouldn't want to rely on that air pump/sealant injector contraption. I have 2 cans of puncture seal in my car. Side note: Tire shops claim that tire sealants will deteriorate the tire. It says right on the can that it will not damage tires.
