Under-Carriage Plastic Protection Came Off; Could that Affect Gas Mileage?

Asked by JRalAus Jun 28, 2016 at 04:44 PM about the 2009 Toyota Prius FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I accidentally scraped the underneath front part of my Prius on a cement block at a parking lot; partially ripping off the plastic piece that covers the motor. I guess it's there to protect the motor from such scratches and dents. Anyway, I took the plastic piece off because it was dragging on the ground. Ever since then I've noticed that my gas mileage has been terrible. Down to 34 mpg instead of 42-45. Could there be any relation? Maybe the under-carriage cover helps the car's aerodynamics? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

2 Answers
70,155

Kelly answered 7 years ago

air flow under car not as clean more drag and less air thru front grill cooling....but not enough to worry about....get a new on or a used one..and change the sparkplugs and add a bottle of ZMAX gas treatment to the fuel tank...........

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41,945

Auto_Centric answered 7 years ago

Probably pulled the HEGO wires off the sensors or damaged them, Have it read for codes, even if the check engine light is NOT on the computer will have stored information and codes. Discount auto stores will read codes for no fee. write them down.

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