I have a 2006 Prius with 75k miles on it . I installed a trailer hitch on it last week for doing some light weight hauling of things. I jacked the car up with a heavy duty jack that can lift one whole side of car up and put a jack stand on rear jacking notch I then jacked the other side car up and did same thing . I have done this many times before normally just for rotating tires . After installing hitch I lower the car slowly back down and than I sat down on the bumper to do the inside wiring. As I sat down I heard a big thunk. I got off the bumper and didn't notice to cause that noise so I proceeded to finish wiring and as I shut the hatch I heard another thunk. To make this story shorter , I looked at car and it looked like it was sitting lower in rear . Yesterday I jacked car back up to see what the trouble was and found the strut spring on the rear drivers side broken . Has any body every heard of this . Didn't hit any hard bumps to cause this and like I said earlier the car was lower down slowly and not just dropped down. Was there a recall for the struts or has anybody else heard of these springs breaking . Is there a better replacement for strut and spring assy. Local auto parts store don't even have a spring listed for replacement but they do carry the strut itself .
Have not heard but replace both spring/strut assys and associated hardware when you do fix it. Quick search found this. 2006 Toyota Prius Passenger Side Front Strut & Spring Assembly at 1A Auto.com
Plan on it but locally can't find a spring only struts . Founds some online but want to make sure they are of better quality than OEM
You should be able to buy a spring by itself from Toyota dealers online. The rear is actually a shock, not a strut
Wherever you get it from, get 2 as you need to replace them in pairs to prevent car from being uneven - Alex
This is closing-the-barn-door-after-the-cows-have-escaped but: is there a rear central jacking point on the 2nd gen Prius? Got to be less stress on the car, and quicker, to just raise the whole rear with central point, and put in the two jack stands at same time.
I've never heard of it happening to a prius before, but sometimes coil springs just fail. I wouldn't be concerned that oem springs are poor quality, so buying a new set from the dealer isn't a bad idea. if you want something better, a few folks have installed adjustable coil spring kits on their cars. it would be cool to be able to set the height just the way you like it, but I'd just get a set from Toyota.
Unfortunately, KYB and Monroe only make complete FRONT strut assemblies: strut, spring, boot cover, upper strut mount. $47.86 for a non-Touring Prius rear spring. 2007 Toyota Prius Parts - Camelback Toyota Parts - Genuine OEM Parts - Free Shipping Search for used rear spring parts. Call/email Steve at Autobeyours for a used rear spring. Prius hybrids sales and service Scottsburg Indiana
