newbie to my 2010 prius III here. Just got it about a month ago and I've noticed that when I go to close the hatch, it slams pretty hard. I feel like the struts will hold up the hatch to about 2/3 of the way down then it just drops really hard and slams shut while rattling the spoiler so hard I feel like it's going to fall off. Is this normal, or should I look into maybe replacing the struts? I dont' know anyone else in real life who has a prius so there's no way for me to compare this anomaly. Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
That doesn't sound right. Our shocks lost the ability to quickly run the hatch up full height, typically take a bit of "help", but coming down is pretty controlled, the hatch doesn't slam, just fast enough to latch.
Good to know...thanks! I think I'll try replacing the struts first and see where that gets me. Hopefully will fix the problem; I can't imagine anything else that would be causing this. Yea, I'm definitely going to look into it. Seems like a pretty painless fix.
FYI, you should have to pull the hatch down until gravity overcomes the strut at about the half way position. Even at that you have to assist the hatch with enough momentum to make it latch. In short, your hatch struts are worn out.
I have found the following to be of help: StrongArms for 3rd gen Prius Part # 4686 struts have 140LB of lifting force each. Part # 6244 struts have 93LB of lifting force each. They both compress to 11.65" but the 4686 extend a bit more 19.65"(4686) vs 19.40"(6244).
I had a wagon with failing struts a few years back, and I had re-gassed struts installed quite cheaply - they were still fine 3 or 4 yrs later when I sold the car.
Update on hatch strut issue: I replaced the two rear ones and now it works great! No slamming. I have to actually push down a little to get it to close. I purchased Stabilus Lift-O-Mat part # SG329044 from Oreilly ~$50 Thanks everyone!
