I have a 2001 toyota prius. I am looking at installing a towing hitch to tow light weight. Was looking at rear bottom of the car and saw these mounting brackets. Does anyone know what are these for ?
Those were probably used to hold the car in place when it was shipped via ocean freighter from Japan to Long Beach, CA or whatever port the car shipped to. I suppose you know Prius is not spec'd to tow any load.
Thanks for the info Patrick. Yeah after going through various emails in the group, I have realized its not spec'd out, still since many ppl have done it successfully, I plan to do the same.
Most all trailer hitches use these mounting points. Remove the bolts, usually J.I.S. M12x.125, and screw in the bolts that mount the trailer hitch. The bolts screw into nuts welded in the unibody rails of the car.
Additionally I believe those mounts can be used for vehicle recovery. If you plan to remove them to install a hitch I would suggest you start a few days ahead of time and start liberally applying a penetrating oil to those bolts (my personal favorites are AeroKroil, Seafoams' Deep Creep, and PB Blaster). But whatever, use a penetrating oil of your choice. Next if you had access to a pneumatic impact gun I would access that or even a hand impact driver. Rusted fasteners like what you pictured benefit from the "shock" created by these types of tools to initially free them up rather than a socket and ratchet. .02 M
I found them to be M10-1.25x22 class 9T flange bolts, which meant about 57 foot pounds as the proper torque when you put them back in through the hitch. My experience adding the Coastal Tech hitch is in this post. -Chap
