Heat shield coming off

That heatdhield gets removed when installing a catalytic converter anti theft shield.

There must be a lot of them around. Mine is in the back of my garage gathering dust.

If your son lives in an area that has catalytic converter thefts from Prius vehicles, then he should consider installing an anti theft shield.

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The shield is held on with 4 large sized plastic push pin panel clips, or whatever they're called.

You don't need to buy a new one, just pick up some of the clips from the dealer, show them your picture of the hanging shield and they will know what size you need. There are 4 of them that go across the front of the shield in the 4 large holes, into the corresponding holes in the car frame.

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You can see where the clips go on the original shield by looking at the position of the 4 large rivets on my cat shield installation. Keep in mind that my picture is a mirror image, flipped left/right along the front to back axis of the car.



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M5 rivet nuts will fit the holes with no drilling. M5 bolts with fender washers would be a permanent fix.

 

It has four plastic fasteners, this page has the info:


SUSPENSION CROSSMEMBER & UNDER COVER. 2014 Toyota Prius v | Toyota


Here's a screen grab from the link, where they appear:



The fastener part number:

90467-07214

mcGeorge Toyota Parts (American online parts dept) has them for $1.09 USD apiece:

https://toyotaparts.mcgeorgetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-fender-liner-clip-9046707214

 

Four 1/4 inch large flange aluminum rivets is another "permanent" solution.

 

They are 7mm. Others like Nissan use 8mm, which is the most common.

 

$6.99 for a hundred on Amazon. There are several variants of these; one will have the clips you’re looking for:

Ginsco 102pcs 6.3mm 8mm 9mm 10mm Bumper Push Fasteners Rivet Clips Expansion Screws Replacement Kit

 

I just get the Toyota fastener, avoid runaround, possible repeat of the dragging on the road factor.

if you stay on top of what’s happening on the underside, it’s pretty rare to have problems.

boils down to the price of a Starbucks coffee or two, maybe once per decade.

 

I'm thinking of installing some stainless steel threaded inserts (rivnuts) and using stainless screws to hold everything in place.

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Overkill. The plastic fasteners are pretty solid. If you’ve managed to scour the underside enough to break that panel loose you may have other damage. They will not come loose with normal conditions. I recall the first time I took that panel off: the fasteners were really locked on.

it’s always tempting to go Rambo, but rarely warranted. Sometimes super tenacious fasteners can lead to bigger issues: ripping out body sheet metal.

 

If you’re going to do that then just install a cat shield, I think.

 

Already done, I was referring to the main underbody panel up front. Most of the fasteners are screws and bolts already, but there's still a few plastic rivets/plugs.

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Putting these under even the M6 washer head bolts will keep the heads from wearing through the thin plastic. The neoprene surface of the washer is more compatible to the soft thin polyethylene plastic from which the undercovers are made.

 

I bought the 100 for $7 kit from Amazon. Mine has the underbody fasteners and the door panel fasteners. Great value. They definitely work.

 

Wash those fasteners out with soapy water whenever you remove them, maybe work the mechanism back/forth too, whenever you have them out. Grit accumulates, jams the mechanism, can cause them to seize and break. Another factor is you don't manage to corral all the jaws, one stays outside the hole, bends back, eventually fails.