Is this part vital to the operation of the vehicle?

So, last night I'm heading home from the Lake of the Ozarks and was on I-70. I had the cruise at 75mph. I see a critter walk out in front of me (I think it was a large possum or a racoon), and in the 1 second or so I had to react, I decided not to risk the lives of my family and just plow through the animal.

I'm pretty sure it exploded under our 2005 Prius.

When we were almost home, I could hear something scraping the ground. Got out and jammed the molded plastic under the bumper back up. Then I duct taped it up there. MacGuyver!

So I'm wondering, how vital are those parts to the operation of the car? I assume they protect something like the coolant thermos or something? The bumper itself looks mostly fine...just some small cracking of the paint.

I ask because I'm assuming with a $500 deductible it might not be worth it to turn it into insurance. I'm thinking of just ripping those trashed molded plastic parts out and being done with it.

Thanks!

 

Cool. So it looks like the name of the parts in question are the skid plates? I know some of the connectors are jacked...the screws were ripped out.