Rear spoiler, is it glued on?

Mine has some flexibility and I'm a bit concerned about running it through a car wash, which I will have to do once the salt hits the roads here in the Midwest. Unfortunately, I don't have any touchless car washes around here either.

 

Mine has a lot of play as well, and I have wondered about how well it's attached

 

Mine is relatively tight. At most there's 1mm of play at the back edge.

 

I noticed the same thing. Definitely made me think it had more play than it should have. Glad at least to hear it's not just my car...

 

It's active aerodynamics. When you drive faster, the spoiler is pushed down by the downforce to reduce drag.... just kidding. Mine has some give to it also. Afraid that I might break it one of these days when I'm polishing it.

 

Both of my 2010 Prius's (IV and V) have the same play to it, yes it does feel weak and a click sound (or something, when moved enough). So I think they are all like this.
Don

 

It is held on with clips and screws.

 

However the scarcity of posts telling of spoilers breaking off seem to support it. I guess it is "strong enough".

 

Is it easy to tighten the screws?

 

It shouldn't need tightening. Don't use the spoiler as a handle to close the hatch, it isn't mean't for that, I push on the Toyota emblem, it never lets me down.

 

What is wrong with using the handholds on the inside?

 

Nothing wrong with that. But at some point your hand will have to touch the outside, so that would amount to two steps. Most people, if they're tall enough, prefer the one step of pulling down on the outside somewhere. Either way, it's not a good idea to use the spoiler as a grab.

Personally, I like to use an L shaped handle that attaches to the bottom two holes of the rear license plate. These L shaped handles were first made for European wagons and hatchbacks like Volvo, Saab, BMW and Mercedes. Here's a picture of one:



Among the places you can get it is Ultimate Cupholders for $16.50:

SAAB Trunk Handle for BMW - Ultimate Cupholders - Cup holders for 5 Series and 7 Series BMW, Z4, Porsche Boxster / Porsche 911 996, Mercedes, Audi, Acura NSX and other fine cars. The ultimate cup holder / cupholder!

 

I close it by pulling down on the handhold on the inside halfway and the door/gravity does the rest of the work. Try it. Works every time once you get a sense how hard to pull, which isn't much. No need to touch anything on the outside.

 

I had tried that on my Gen II when I first realized there was an inside handhold, and it didn't seem to work or work easily (maybe the Gen III hatch is better for closing that way ).

But I will try again per your advice, so thanks.

But even if it works like you said, I suspect I'm going to prefer pulling down the hatch from the outside because I think it's easier and I've been doing it that way for the past 36 years.

 

Maybe it doesn't work as well on the Gen II. Perhaps someone who has both can tell us if it works better on Gen III than Gen II.