I have a question on car repair. This is related to the 2012 Toyota Sienna. There was a prop in the middle of the road and while I was backing into the parking lot, the front bumper came out and the guard below it ripped open. The Toyota dealership says I have to replace both the guard and the bumper, since the hooks in the bumper are all broker though no scatches or anything outside. I was wondering if the bumper can be repaired, and hooks could be re-moulded, rather than gettting a brand new bumper altogether.
Any suggestions? Any ideas of how much a fair price estimate would be?
I’m having trouble visualizing your issue, but the bumper is an integral part of your “crush zone” and plays an important role in controlling the timing of your airbags. I would follow the dealer recommendations on this one.
I agree with keith on this one. You want the airbags to work properly and while a repair to the bumper may look good it will not guarantee that the airbag will work if you ever needed it.
From what I read here, he only drug the lower black plastic type trim off the painted bumper and I read that he doesn’t have any scratches or damage present except the mounting holes for this lower plastic being pulled/ripped out.
If I read that right, I would find a body shop supply store in your area. They used to sell a urethane repair kit which is a very flexible epoxy when it hardens. Being very careful and neat, you should be able to patch up those holes and re-mount the lower airdam/valance.
I looked up photos of your vehicle and am having a hard time understanding your description. If I understand correctly, the “valance panel” below the lower grill is damaged, the “splash guard” underneath is torn up, and there’s damage to the tisedown hooks underneath?
The valavce panel and the lower grilll are cosmetic. But the splash guard protects your engine from getting soaked by your front wheels when you go through water and needs to be replaced. In many designs the snorkle through which your engine draws air is in the wheelwell cavity behind the inner wheel splashguard, and loss of the lower guard may also allow water ingestion under certain conditions. The tiedown hook(s) may or may not need to be replaced, but they should be inexpensive and readily replacable anyway.
You might save money by going to an independant bodyshop. At least it’s worth getting a quote. Unless, of course, it’s being paid for by an insurance claim.
You might as well have a body shop look at the damage and see if they can properly reattach the bumper. The fasteners on these things are plastic and meant to break in a collision. New fasteners could be all you need. A new bumper comes primed and needs to be painted to match your car. In a few years the painted bumper will not match the factory paint. If you can use the original bumper, the paint on it is factory paint and superior to the matching paint job of any body repair shop.
Yeah I think he’s talking about the rubber bumper cover and the air foil underneath. I can’t see how the cosmetic bumper cover would in any way affect the safety of the car or the air bag. I guess you just have to see if someone can improvise a repair of the fasteners. There are christmas tree and other fasteners designed for use in plastics but if you ripped the hooks off, might be kind of hard to find a good point to fasten the two again. Also have to be able to take it apart easily and put back together. A private body shop would be the place to check. My experience though with bumper covers is that scuffs, dents, rips, and so on can be repaired and repainted, but once the mounting hooks are broken, its best to replace the cover-especially on a 2012.