Prius manhole

Someone should chime in shortly with a part number for you but from a brief look that would appear to be the rear sway bar. They are not often expensive, depending upon the style of course.

 

Wow totally crazy. Never saw that before.

Yes, looks like rear sway bar.

Sue? I mean you could but you could also provide pics and "ask" for repayment of costs associated with repair.
Then bring on a lawsuit if they say no.
As long as there is no other damage than replacing the sway bar...should be cheap and DIY able
There are prob a few folks here selling the part since they upgraded theirs.

Just make sure everything is/was legal at the time. just saying.

 

Do report it to the city immediately, they ought to have a street maintenance department.

In my area, it has seemed that some cities will voluntarily take some liability for pothole damages for hazards that have been previously reported, but not repaired in reasonable time. Those suffering damage prior to the city receiving hazard reports are SOL. I don't know how a loose access cover would fit into this scheme.

 

Good luck suing the government. Just fix it. Use insurance if its extensive damage, but its unlikely in the back.

 

Interested in how that happened. LIkely the ledge supporting the manhole cover had been eroding for some time, at the "downstream" side in particular, and when OP rolled over it, downstream edge finally lost support, dropped, the midriff acted like a hinge, and the upstream edge flipped up and into the undercarriage. Poetry in motion...

 

Not sure on your location, but there is a member in LA that has one for $170

For Sale - Gen 3 Items for Sale (RSB, Springs, Wheels) | PriusChat

On the first page of the Private Sales subforum. That is the furthest I looked.
I am sure there is more.

If you can, look under car, maybe jack up if you can, to see that this is the actual part needed.
If you had it towed to a garage or wherever, wait until you get feedback on if any other damage.

 

Sway bars on ebay, here on the PC forum and also from any dealer in person or online.

Driving without? hard to say...maybe others can chime in on that answer.
I would imagine temporary and in reason, but dont take my word with that

 

You could check a junk yard...

 

If I had to guess, that would be item ⑧ in this drawing of the floor structure. It appears to be simply a brace, part number 53605-47021. I looked for a sway bar as part of the rear suspension and I didn't stumble across one for this model.



Exactly how that end came loose may figure in to the repair cost. Did the end of the brace just tear away from a bolt? Did it shear a bolt off? Did it tear a bolt out of the body structure?

 

Driving without it is not recommended. A car as heavy as the prius would likely experience heavy amounts of sway, that is when you turn and the body seems to "roll" to one side.

Could you get away with it if there's no other damage? Probably. If you were asking me if I would do it? No.

Someone else with more experience can chime in but a sway bar IS a brace. It ties the sides of the car to one support to distribute the suspension load and reduce body roll.

Agreed. Much cheaper and likely plentiful. Don't know a whole lot of people needing to replace sway bars.

 

That's where a trust worthy friend come in handy. Have the friend report the manhole cover, then wait an hour or two, then say you hit it. then you have proof that it was reported and wasn't fixed in a timely matter, putting other people at risk. You could take the city to small claims court to pay your medical bills and get your car fixed. "it wasn't reported." Oh yea, well my friend and I were chatting after the accident and happened to mention he did report it a couple of hours ago. Here's the phone log for evidence your honor.

 

Are you positive it is not the part and part number that I linked in #15 ?

A square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square.

A sway bar is an element that reduces or controls body roll by being attached to the suspension in such a way that differences in extension between the two sides put the bar in torsion.

The front suspension has one.

Gen 2 had a rear one. So did Gen 1. You find rear sway bars in the "Suspension" > "Rear spring and shock absorber" section on parts.toyota.com, and they have a 48812 part number prefix.

The Gen 3 rear suspension doesn't have a sway bar. All its roll stiffness comes from the axle beam itself.



The part that the OP used for collecting the manhole cover is shown in the body section, and is simply a brace for stiffening the floor.

 

I agree, it is a brace, not a sway bar. All sway bars are shaped like a long flattened U, or a rectangle with one of the long sides removed, never a straight piece.

There is an optional TRD sway bar available for the Gen 3 Prius, but there is no sway bar on the USDM Gen 3 Prius.

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