While driving on a flat road last night my prius felt like it hit something - the car looks fine and no warning lights came - it felt like I hit a massive pothole and then nothing. Has anyone experienced this ?
lol We are probably gonna need a little more information. Was the engine cold or had you been running it for a spell? How many miles? Are you sure you didn't hit something?
You were driving at night, hit a pothole, and it felt like you hit pothole. Afterwards it was all smooth and quite. Sounds to me like you hit a pothole. Are you sure it was not a possum? In the summer I routinely have to stop for beaver as they drag fallen trees across the pavement. But what we hit is more often possum or porcupine.
Engine was warm, running for 15 min. Road was clear, verified no road damage or debris(dead animals as well) car has 12k on it as is well taken care of by the dealer.
How fast where you traveling? Do you recall if the engine started at that point (i.e. you were going say 35 in EV and the engine started)? Or was the engine already running?
I was at a light and accelerating to 40mph so I was probably going ~20mph. The engine was running as I was accelerating and could hear it.
No loss of power - the steering wheel felt like the tire hit something and bottomed out on the rim. However the sound sounded more like it came from the center of the car - not the wheels. Upon inspection of the car no damage or signs that I hit anything - the road dirt on the bumper was not disturbed.
OK, well I don't think it was mechanical in nature and must have been an animal or a branch like FB mentioned. As long as there isn't any visible damage, I wouldn't worry about it. You could always have the dealership inspect it.
I had a similar incident. Tire blew out. I inspected the road for anything I could have hit but saw nothing.
Had it happen to me once, and I believe it was a pothole. Loud thud followed by some sort of electronic buzzing noise which I believe was the traction control engaging temporarily. No lights on for me. This was a few months ago and no problems yet.
The OP is lucky, there is a thread on inverter failure that stated that the there was a loud BANG then the car died on the spot with a lot of warning lights.
