I now have all of 300 miles on my Prius, so I'm still being a bit gentle with her. I noticed today that when I press down on the rear spoiler to close the hatch, it doesn't feel very sturdy. Of course, I use the hand holds to pull the hatch most of the way down, but for the last few inches, I tend to control the slamming of the hatch by putting my hand on the spoiler. It sure feels like that spoiler might not last as long as I would have hoped. Anyone else feel the same way? Bill
I carefully opened the hatch in mine the other day while I was parked in my garage with the garage door opened. I was very careful to lift it the last few inches by hand to make sure it didn't slam into the garage door mechanism. It came to rest on part of the garage door. When I closed the hatch I noticed a small ding in the plastic where it made contact with the door. It certainly is not made of a very hard plastic! Perhaps Toyota should be selling a protector for the spoiler similar to the clear appliques they sell for the hatch door sill or the hood of the car. Stu
I have a Gen II and have always closed the hatch by pressing down on the Toyota emblem in the center. Give that a try and see if that helps.
Yes, I felt the same way. But after reading a post on here about the little hand-holds inside (I hadn't found them on my own...) I've developed the proper amount of force to just close the hatch securely without slamming it. Slamming doors etc. has always been a pet peeve of mine. And the whole hinge mechanism doesn't seem that robust anyway; I've tried closing it with one hand on one side and it felt like I could tweak it permanently if not careful.
Check this thread out for what I did in my garage to protect the hatch: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ng-rear-hatch-opens-very-high.html#post868373
The inside handles work great for closing the hatch--grab one and gently pull down until about 3/4 of the way closed, then let go and gravity closes it perfectly--no need to touch the outside surface.
You're right. It is a little flimsy but I've never had to slam the hatch shut. I just pull down on the hand holds to do most of the pulling down and use the license plate for the rest in an efoort to keep the car fingerprint-free.
Stream is right, there is no reason to touch it at all, the hatch is balanced just so that it will close itself when about 3/4 of the way down (without slaming). If fact one of the funniest pictures in the OM cautions about this feature. Peter
Does anyone know if the spoiler gets weaker over time... my spoiler felt flimsy when I bought the car from new but seems to be getting wobbly? If I move the right side, the left hand side also flexes up and down. I'm too nervous that this is going to deteriorate over time..
Time? You have three years. Relax. Check it out after two years and if you're still worried, go to the dealer.
