Underside Scraping while driving?

That is the front air dam. It directs air up over the car instead of under, for improved gas mileage and less lift under the car. It is really a wear item and no big deal to scrape. Most cars have these to some degree.

Now, a general thread comment: the Prius as a car still has very good ground clearance. It is not a performance vehicle. If you drive reasonably, you will not scrape under normal circumstances. I have and drive regularly much lower vehicles, and don't scrape. All it takes is to avoid going too fast over speed bumps, angling out of the driveway if you have a large ridge, and trying to avoid monster potholes, which you should do anyway. If you are regularly scraping, you are doing something wrong, or you have a situation that would make almost any normal car scrape over.

I would not list the Prius Gen 4 ground clearance as a con when considering it for purchase.

 

OMG even though the Prius Prime is like an inch higher than the Gen 3, it has this problem!
PLUS, the screws that hold stuff in place tear off quite easily-- the screws are welded into the undercarriage but they tear and break off so easily!

These cars are NOT recommended for city streets like providence!

With the loss of 7sq. feet inside, we're finding less and less reasons to like this car!