Well, my wife had an accident in the Prius yesterday. No one was hurt but our poor month-old Prius has certainly looked better. She just missed being t-boned, but the other car appears to have hit the front license plate holder at a 90 degree angle. The result of this is that the drivers side of the front bumper has pretty much been peeled off. The hood has small but significant damage right above the hood release, the bumper will obviously need to be completely replaced, the left front headlight glass was seriously scuffed (although not broken!) and will need to be replaced, and it appears that the left front quarter panel has some very minor cosmetic damage - I'm not sure yet if it will need to be completely replaced or not. I'm not sure if there was any additional damage under the hood. Due to the hood damage near the release, I didn't want to open it up as I wasn't sure I could get the hood to latch again, and it still needed to be driven to the body shop. I took pics of the damage; if anyone is interested what the inside of a Prius bumper looks like, I can post the pictures tonight. Did you know that styrofoam is a major component of the Prius bumper? I didn't! The car is currently at the body shop having the estimate done. We'll see what the damages are soon.
Poor Prius.. I hope you had Insurance.. and yes.. pictures please.. (we should make a database of Prius Accident photo's.. )
Greyskye, Sorry to hear about your accident. I had similar dammage in an accident last year and had a local body shop do the work for me. I was actually quite surprised that the parts were as inexpensive as they were. I posted some pics on Prius Chat at the time ( http://priuschat.com/forums/1-vt4911.html?...er=asc&&start=0 ) Make sure that they check both lights carefully as neither of mine were broken in the accident, but upon close inspection, both had broken part of the retaining connectors where they connect to the engine and had to be replaced. The good news is that the replaced hood, bumper, both lights and one quarter panel look as good as new. I'm sure California prices will be very different from Maryland, but PM me if you want to see any of my part quotes after you get yours. Once again, sorry for your pain. I hope your eventual outcome is as good as mine was. Rick
...I took pics of the damage; if anyone is interested what the inside of a Prius bumper looks like, I can post the pictures tonight. Did you know that styrofoam is a major component of the Prius bumper? I didn't!... Actually, styrofoam is what is used in most cars. The "bumper" is really just a bumper cover. It's more for asthetics/aerodynamics, than anything else.
If that had happened to me (my baby is 21 days old) I would be absolutely GUTTED. How can you be so calm about it?
Well, here are the pics. After looking over the pictures that other people have submitted of their accidents, this looks really minor in comparison. Notice that we hadn't even put the license plate on yet. Still sucks though... Here is a front view: A closer shot: View from the side: Left Front detail (is that the tow-plug-hole I keep hearing so much about? And a close up of the inside of a Prius front bumper:
Yep, the insurance office was the first stop after this happened. At least since the policy had just been written, we'll get 6 months before they jack the rates on us.
Thanks for the thoughts. It's good to know that you are happy with the outcome of your own accident. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I think that I wouldn't be so calm if I'd been driving. But as it is, my family is unhurt, there doesn't seem to be any frame or engine damage, and I've found at the ripe old age of 43, that it just doesn't help to get all knotted up over things I don't have any control over. 8) Besides, it happened before I took it in to get a Clear-Bra type hood and bumper treatment! So it's all good...
so *that's* where the thermos is. Well at least you and your family is in good shape. That's always nice to know
Yup, that's what it is. At first I didn't think so, I thought it was near the firewall, but repair manual confirms this is it.
Owner's manual. The thermos is where some of your warm/hot coolant is stored when the engine shuts off. The thermos keeps that coolant good for ~3 days, and ready for the next engine startup where it gets flushed back into the engine, and basically does a "pre-heat" of engine and exhaust components. Much cleaner and nicer than a totally cold engine startup.
they store a portion of the warm coolant when the car is turned off.. that way when you turn it back on.. you have a decent amount of liquid that is still hot or very warm to mix... faster warm up time
wow.. The more I find out about this car the more impressed I am with it :-D Could we knock up a web page that has "in lay mans terms" and explanation of all the cool tech in the Prius.. Stuff like this and the reason why an A-cycle engine was chosen and what the benefits are of the A-cycle.. thats sort of thing... Because small tricks like the thermos should not be understated.
