[anablufly]

I would love any info on this problem.
This was the first heavy snowfall of the season here in chicago and I believe that while driving over and through some snow on a few unplowed side streets the thin protective plastic covering under front end of car was ripped of and peeled back. I discovered this on my way home from work when I heard the horrible scraping and grinding sounds against the pavement.

The question is: how much physical damage could I potentially be looking at from snow and debris entering the cavity of the car?

 

[stanleyj]

I believe that you are talking about the front air dam.This was added to the 2006 and 2007 prius models.Im not really sure what its used for!maybe for arodynamics.It mayl cause you to scrape due to it being lower to the ground.I may remove mine when i try to install my new frontend mask!(dam causes mask not to fit on 2006/2007 correctly.The dam is hard plastic!would any damage would be slight.You could just have a new one installed or dont use one.Since the earlier models didnt even have one and i have not heard of problems with those models due to no front end dam.

 

[Roger V]

Sounds to me like the flat piece of plastic that extends from the bottom lip of the air dam and goes back under the engine compartment. If it were me, I would have it replaced. My guess is it helps to keep debris from getting into that area, and also smooths out the airflow. I'm not an engineer, so that is just my humble opinon. This may even be a DIY project, if you can reach under the car far enough, or can raise it safely.
I'll bet DanMan can provide further info.

 

[DanMan32]

If it is what I am thinking is damaged, that's to protect the underside, but more importantly to improve aerodynamics.

I think it should be fairly easy to replace.

Several bolts and several pushpin clips.