Plastic Clips

I'm interested as well...

 

I also broke one.
im sure the dealer can get them, I remember breaking some on my acura and I went through the dealer, got a few for like two bucks or something

 

Go to your dealer's Parts Dept. and have the parts guy bring up a parts diagram of the area for the clips that you are looking for. You can point out the clips and he can pick off the part number from the diagram.

I bought 6 of each of the ones for the engine undercover for just a few bucks. Now that I have spares I have yet to break another one

 

Might want to check Lowes or Home Depot next time you're there. They sell all kinds of fastener, plugs, etc. Same aisle where they sell the loose nuts and bolts. Some are even listed by car manufacturer. When I lowered my front license plate holder, I needed two plugs to fill the two holes left in the bumper cover. They had exactly what I needed at 72 cents each.

 

Oh I've already broken 3 of those S.O.Bs. The directions on how to put the clips back in didn't help for squat

 

Just ordered 12 of these from the dealer

 

To put back in, just have the center post pulled back or all of the way out. Insert the outer fingers in the hole and then push in the center post to spread the fingers out and lock in place.

To remove, take a small flat-blade screw driver and pull the center post out and then remove the outer fingers.

 

Can you give us a Part No. ?

 

Yeah I know that, but I still struggled for like an hour trying to get them all back in that the plastic pedals are all bent.

 

You say you know this but evidently not if you struggled an hour and still bent them.

You are making something that is really pretty easy a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

 

There are MANY varieties of these. Sometimes they can be swapped, sometimes not. A lot require the center portion to be pulled back, a few require the center cap to be pushed in, some are damn near undefeatable.

I'd follow JDCollins guidance. Often the parts department will need to order them in.

Here's a tool I've adapted for use with the regular, center pull type:



It's actually a paint can opener, but well suited for lifting center post fasteners. A thin blade screw driver is more suited in some cases.

Also, any time you have the fasteners off the car, try to wash/hose them off, get the grit out. Helps them last.

 

You're using the wrong size. The majority of clips on the Prius uses clips that fit a 7mm hole. Some larger clips use an 11mm hole. A lot of users try a standard Nissan clip that fits an 8mm hole. That's why the "petals" bend, and the lips are hard to get in.

 

I do know that, because I had two sets of directions with me: the manual (booklet) and the online version (just the relevant pages), so I studied the directions, as I said, exactly as they stated and I did just as they said, and the directions were not clear on how to get them in. I already had pulled the stupid centers back out and they still wouldn't go in for the life of me.

Doesn't matter anymore. I need new clips, and they really could have clarified the directions in several places (this being one of them) in the manual.

 

The best panel to body fasteners I descending order of effectiveness are "captive" weld nuts and screws, "U" clips and screws, Phillips screw plastic expansion rivets or screws, and the plastic "clips" or "push rivets" that Toyota and a lot of current car manufacturers are using.

It all depends on how labor intensive and costly they are to install.

The current "push rivet" clips that Toyota uses are for non-critical plastic panels. They hold by friction between the inner and outer part.

A better plastic rivet is the one with a Phillips screw insert. They are held by many small "interrupted screw" ratcheting threads. They were an earlier version of the current clip but required more force to install. I replaced many of the current push rivet clips with these. I had these on my 1987 Mitsubishi and my 1998 Mazda. They never worked loose except in a collision. I've posted a photo. You remove them just like you'd remove a Phillips screw.

 

Gen 1 owner chiming in again ... I'm not sure which clips come as standard on the c, but I know in my Gen 1 there are several styles of clip used even in holes of 7mm diameter, and some of the styles are a real PITA to get out.

I can tell you that my very favorite Toyota clip to replace them with is the 90467-07117. That's the one with a little post in the center that's flush with the top when it's secure. You poke the little post down into the clip to release, and the clip pulls right out. To reinstall, you first push the post back through so it sticks out the top, fit the clip into place, and push the post down until it's flush with the top and the clip is locked again. In and out in seconds flat. I've bought a couple bags of these things and whenever I cuss at some other clip that I have to take out, one of these goes back in.

I'm sure they're a few pennies more expensive than the PITA ones the factory installed all over my trunk lining, etc., and that matters when you're building tens of thousands of cars, but when I can go to the dealer and buy a bag of these for a few bucks, I don't see much reason to put up with the annoying ones.

On something more critical than interior trim, I might think a little harder about whether the original clip was chosen for some engineering reason. But mostly it's just trim pieces where I run into these kinds of clips anyway.

-Chap

 

On my c I've only removed the clips holding the plastic panel in front of the battery, but that location at least uses the ones you describe. I've had no trouble removing and replacing them a couple of times while working on the wiring for my house-power inverter.

 

This is the part number
Toyota Part No.: 90467-08226