Undercarriage repair cost?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by red-hot-prius, Jan 11, 2025 at 1:25 PM.

  1. red-hot-prius

    red-hot-prius Junior Member

    Joined:
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    kansas
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    My 2010 Gen 3 is in excellent shape at 150k and I want to keep it for another 2-3 years (~25k). But after 15 years the undercarriage is a mess. It’s bent in the front and held on with ties. I ran over a dead deer too. When I drive around town , bumps make it sound like I’m driving around a box of loose tools. I’m figuring to take it to a body shop and have them replace the undercarriage. Does anybody have any advice about exactly what I should ask for and what it might cost?
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    It depends what you mean by "undercarriage". I get the sense you're talking about the plastic under panels? If so: is it possible for you to safely raise the car, have a look underneath? By far the cheapest and most effective would be if you can get under there, see for yourself, get familiar with it, and purchase what's needed. There's various panels.

    Just behind the front, painted fairing, there's a black plastic piece going the full width, about 10" wide. It's very prone to snag on concrete wheel stops, basically a design flaw. It can actually be accessed without raising the car, though a few inches of lift makes it a lot easier. It's item 52618 here: Front bumper & bumper stay for Toyota Prius ZVW30L - Genuine parts - Amayama

    Then there's the main engine panel. It has a flap at the back that ostensibly can be flexed back for oil/filter changes, but in practice has a fairly brittle "hinge", that eventually breaks. Attached has info on it's fasteners.

    At the front wheel wells there's liners, at the leading end of those are roughly foot square, horizontal parts. They've got bolts holding them to the wheel well liners, but they quickly evolve into rust lumps; you need to consider the whole thing as a single piece. It's item 53875A/53875A here (in illustrating 2 of 2): Hood & front fender for Toyota Prius ZVW30L - Auto parts - Amayama

    Behind the engine bay there's another transverse, plastic panel, then an aluminum one.

    Running down the size are roughly foot wide plastic panels,

    In the rear, there's small plastic panels at the hinge points of the rear axle trailing arms. I found you need to go real easy removing the bolts on those; in the rust-belt it might be hopeless.

    Then in vicinity of gas tank there's more panels, I kind of glaze over as to their details..Some are shown here: Rear bumper & bumper stay for Toyota Prius ZVW30L - Genuine parts - Amayama

    I'm running out of steam trying to find the main engine bay under panel and associated; not sure Amayama still has them. Toyota USA has a parts site, but for the last fiew years, since it was revised, it's more-or-less unnavigable.

    The attached pic may help with all of the above: Also, this link itemizes what there, part numbers for the panels and their fasteners:
     

    Attached Files:

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