Gen 2 Hood Won’t Open - how to open

Do you have a broken hood release cable (symptom: release suddenly stops working...)?

Here’s how to open a gen 2 Prius hood from outside. Note there is an extra step not in the video. See below:



What’s missing is that you may have to bend a tab that prevents your stick/coat hanger from getting to the correct area. This is a little tab with a convenient spot you can get a long flat screwdriver into, and then carefully bend the metal away to the passenger side. Then the video above makes sense. See uploaded files for images of where you put the stick/rod and the tab to bend back. Note my headlamp in the external photo. It helps tremendously to have adequate light in this and all finicky car repairs...


NOTE: if your Prius is locked, the alarm will go off when you open the hood this way, as it should.

consider using OEM hood release cables so you don’t face the same issue 2 years later!