When I to go park my car in my driveway, there is always a little bump on the belly..... short and fast, but I am wondering how this compromises the integrity of my prius.... I am sure others here have had similar experiences, and help would be greatly appreciated. Happy driving!
You will need to jack your car up... maybe when you take if for an oil change, ask if they will let you look underneath. At any rate.... whatever safe means you have... look underneath and see exactly what is hitting.... based on the shape of your driveway, I could be diff for everybody... Then you can make an assessment as to whether its no big deal..... or make a plate to protect it. Is there a way for you to enter at an angle to stop this?.. that would be best. I have heard some "back" in their driveway to prevent this.... fortunately I don't have this issue, but many do.
Since it's so new,I'd ask my dealer if he/she can put it up on a lift briefly to look. Some dealers have a separate oil change bay with its own lift, which becomes available every few minutes or so. Not sure what parts are vulnerable under there, but you don't want to come anywhere near things like CVT or catalytic converter mounting brackets/hardware. Does your driveway, near the top, make a sharp change from a steep approach to a more gradual one? Trying to picture it.
If you can, try and enter your driveway at more of an angle (don't pull straight in). This may help to prevent the bottoming out.
thank you everyone for such fast replies... The part of my car that is getting scratched is the black plastic part in the very front of the vehicle at the lowest point of the front. Seems like just little scratches that are harmless, but obiously want to do whatever I can to avoid problems. Its tough to back in at an angle, but I'll give it a shot!
Oh, so the problem is with the BUMPER, not the "belly" as in the original post? Much more common problem---and why I couldn't picture it.
Sounds like you could be talking about the airfoil shield under there.... prob no harm as long as its just the plastic scraping a bit... but I wouldn't want to knock it off.. it may affect your mpg...... that shield cuts the air out of the way so it doesn't catch underneath the car and get caught in the nooks and crannys and so hurt your aerodynamics.
Yeah, the new lip spoiler reduced the approach clearance from 9" to 8" compared to prior years. Shouldn't be too much of a problem if it's a slight scrape, but if it's torn off the bumper will be damaged and probably the new undertray fairing attached to the spoiler. If the angled approach or backing in don't work, another trick I've used with low clearance cars is to place a 2X4 where the street meets the driveway. A little tire bump up is better than a body panel scrape.
