2023 - Prius or Prime - spare tire?

The photos I saw were more of the floor underneath the tray, but there was a glimpse of something in one of the cubicles. Guess it was the repair kit.

If you are cheap enough to make the tray out of disposable cooler foam, being too cheap to include a jack shouldn't be a surprise. If a scrap yard is nearby, getting a jack won't be too costly.

Wasn't clear from the posted manual page, but the list above the illustration is to the Type A picture on the preceding page. The highlighted 'if equipped' there is for the LE.

 

A new owner confirmed here that the LE is indeed equipped with a jack and tire tools but not with a spare tire. Another new owner confirmed here that the XLE has no jack and tire tools.

 

A general FYI: While the underfloor tray looks like styrofoam, it isn't. At least one of the reviewers back during the media event made a point of it. We've seen the same material before on cars, but it's always been colored gray or black if it was easily visible. I'm pretty sure I encountered some of the white version when I took out my gen3 dash to get at the MFD. It's tough stuff.

I'm of two minds on Toyota's decision to not use coloring for the tray. On the positive side, it's going to be a lot easier to see what's in each of those little compartments. On the negative side, it looks cheap and it will look really bad if there's enough play in the tray cover to let a line of white appear on the left or right side. At the moment I'm leaning toward it being a net positive.

 

Some disposable coolers are quite durable too, and I've come across some tough packaging pieces.

This material is also in the bumpers for impact absorption. Past storage trays made from it were single purpose. They held the jack , tire repair kit, etc. in custom spots. Generally things that are rarely pulled out, and thus the tray saw little wear and tear. A general purpose storage tray can see regular use, and more wear and tear.

But I'm sure it will hold up well, and do its job. It just looks really cheap, and it's natural color(white) because that is cheaper than black. Probably not going to matter much here, but the carbon black used to dye plastic is an UV protectant. It and the deck aren't even bolted down.

Another negative to this is more care will need to be taken storing automotive and cleaning chemicals. Some of those will dissolve styrofoam. The plastics of past storage trays were generally more chemical resistant.

 

How do you use the repair kit without a jack?

 

It is in the Prime manual just posted today. You just use the compressor and cannister of goo without jacking the car up. You need to get the stuff in the tire and up to correct pressure in 25 minutes or less or give up as the tire is "unrepairable". You have a sticker to apply near the driver's position to remind you to go slow and drive no more than about 62 miles. After 3 miles (below 50 mph) to spread the goo, you stop and get the messy compressor and goo bottle out and pump the tire again. Using that goo crap mandates replacing the TPMS sensor in that tire.

It goes on for pages. They tell you to leave the nail or screw in the tire. Also to position the offending puncture thing at the top before starting the repair if you can find it (seems like the goo won't reach it then until you drive it).

Personally, I will never use that goo crap. My 2017 Prime has the jack and tools included. I bought a regular small compressor and carry a plug kit. If you do use the goo, you need to buy another bottle, a new TPMS sensor, and pay for a much more difficult repair to clean up the wheel and (if salvageable) tire.

I had 2 flats with my 2017. Both leaked slowly enough that I was able to inflate the tire without repair and get to a repair place.

 

Just let the goo pump inflate the tire while on the ground. Might be able to repair some holes with a plug kit without a jack, but it is easier in both cases with one.

 

They must have changed the goop system since my car was made.
I’m supposed to jack it up first

 

I just checked my 2017 Prime's manual. Exactly the same instructions, doesn't show the tire lifted or says anything about jacking the car up.

A few pages earlier it does show the jack handle being used to tighten the towing eye before using it. I wonder what we are supposed to do now, still get the towing eye, no jack handle. Oops, page 552 of the 2023 manual shows it being tightened with a jack handle. The text says "Tighten down the towing eyelet securely using a wheel nut wrench or hard metal bar." Just doesn't say where you are supposed to find either of those.

 

Jacking it up is easier on the compressor. It could be a hardier one now, or Toyota figures it'll just get tossed after the first use. If you want to stick with a goo system, there are ones with cheaper refills than the OEM that can also be used as a regular compressor.

The tow person will have one.

 

Just wait til you see the Corolla Cross Hybrid cargo space. Initially, I thought Corolla Cross Hybrid would be the perfect vehicle for me. But they stuck a high voltage electrical junction right in the middle of the spare tire well (under the cargo floor and foam insert). Not only does it not come with a spare, there's no place to put one.

 

That's what they did with the motor control module in the gen4 Prius AWD. Then they got the spare into the Rav4 hybrid, even the Prime.

Of the photos and videos I've seen, which I admit is slim to what is out there, Toyota appears to have installed that module outside of the spare tire area. A high voltage cable could run through there. From the owner's manual, cars with a spare have a floor insert with spots for the jack and tools that likely shield the cables and wires from the spare.

Got curious. What Corolla Cross did you see? The US owner's manual shows a spare for both FWD and AWD models.

 

It was a video preview of the coming CC Hybrid. A look under the cargo floor showed the foam insert with tire repair kit, and under the insert, the electrical connector running right through the middle of the spare tire well. Check out Alex on Autos Corolla Cross Hybrid preview:

This has to be one of the stupidest effin' things I've ever seen. I'm still hoping this was just a prototype.

 

Another option scratched off the list.

What's totally absurd, as Alex notes: is how compact this cable is; Toyota doesn't care.

 

That isn't bad. It's just a plug, and I think a spare could clear it. The gen4 Prius had the inverter for the rear motor in the spare well.

What's bad is that the non-hybrid Corolla Cross is listed as having a tire repair kit on Toyota's site.

Making the cable a foot longer means paying for the foot of heavy gauge copper cable.

The connector is towards to middle of the space, away from the actual tire. The rim might have to go in with the outside up to clear it. With the ICE model being sans spare, my bet is a spare can be equipped in the hybrid AWD model. It still has the spare tire shaped frame in the space.

 

That reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon from a few years back: office services locked all the software user manuals in a storage room. The one consolation: the door to the room had a window.

 

He must have had experience with my college. lol

My school had a small listening library in the music building that the department never had the funds to properly staff. It had one big room and three small connected rooms. The three rooms were set up for LP/reel to reel/CD storage, an office that housed all the audio equipment, and a small room with books, scores, and a table and chairs for students to read and study. They logically put that last stuff in the only room of the three with a window to the outside.

Then the university IT department took over the whole space and turned it into a computer cluster/MIDI classroom.

The three rooms were reconfigured into a set of listening terminals(that were never used), some of the (obsolete)audio equipment was removed to give more space for the new cluster staff, and all the books and recordings were condensed to a single, locked room. The room with the only outside window. Yeah, that made sense.

 

I finally found a video showing the spare tire well in the '23 Corolla Hybrid AWD (another car I was considering)... and it has the same stupid setup as the Corolla Cross Hybrid AWD, with the electrical connector in the spare tire well. (Sorry, I can't find that video at the moment, but I saw it.) Apparently, any jostling of the connector can cause a hybrid system fault and brick the car, so you definitely would not want to sit a spare tire on top of it even if it could technically fit.

 

The new Prius has cables running along the cargo floor, including a bright orange one with AWD models. The illustrations of the space with a spare show a tray between the wheel and sheet metal, presumably to protect the wires. Even without the connector there, you'd want to protect any wires from rubbing against the tire.

 

The correct spare tire and wheel sizes for Gen 5 Prius and Prius Prime are:

T145/90D16 106M @ 60 psi
16 × 4T

Such as this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266079788034