Thank you all for the great feedback and for bringing up some important issues that I should address.

First of all, I meant to credit Flopshot with giving me the idea in the first place. Many thanks to you!

Secondly, Big-Foot asked who John and Phil are. John and Phil’s is the dealership here in Corvallis that I purchased my car from. I have removed their license plate bracket but have kept their little plastic sign to fill in the space while I await the arrival of my shiny new Crater Lake Oregon plates. Your are going to love your BRM Camry Big-Foot. The color is a dust and bug magnet but looks great as long as you keep it washed and shined. I am going to Zaino (clay-bar and polish) my Camry soon and this should add to finish as well as make bugs and other offending items easier to wash off.

Steve had a good comment about the redundancy/redundancy issue with the synergy drive badge. That occurred to me as well and I think that I am in agreement with you.

JHSmith inquired about badge adhesive issues. I used “3M Scotch-Mount Molding Tape”. The 1.5 meter roll cost about $5. The packaging states “Ideal for attaching vehicle body side moldings, trims and emblems”. This stuff is identical or nearly so to the adhesive strips that were on the body side moldings and spoiler that I installed last week. It even has the same brick-red colored liner covering that must be removed prior to installation. The gray color and texture of the tape is also identical or nearly so to the body side molding and spoiler tape as well as the original material adhering the hybrid badges to the quarter panels. I am very confident that it can be removed by the dental floss/fishing line technique and would not have put it on otherwise. Alternate materials and methods are out there. We would all like to hear about what you decide and what your results are John!

Finally, it is important to readdress the issue of emergency personal being able to identify the vehicle as a hybrid and what that means as far as hazards from high voltage electricity discharge goes. This has been talked about in other threads. The high voltage cables run underneath the center of the car and not along the sides where extrication of the occupants is likely to occur.

I work at a hospital as a Radiology Technologist (take x-ray pictures of peoples insides for fun and profit) and have talked to a couple of Paramedics about how they feel about the subject. It does concern them although they feel that the added risk is somewhat insignificant compared to all of the other dangers associated with rescue such as gasoline, hazardous materials and countless other factors that they have to deal with. It is also important to note that there have been many Prius accidents around the country over the last ten years and the issue of high voltage discharge has never been a significant issue.

Sorry about the online book-length reply.

The high voltage cables run underneath the center of the car and not along the sides where extrication of the occupants is likely to occur.

Since some are having electrical problems with new cars is it possible that a twisted up wreck may possibly have a short of some sort of problem where just approaching the car could cause problems?

I've seen some pretty twisted up wrecks and it's possible the emergency response personnel may have to cut into the trunk (or say hook up to the rear to pull it up a bank or out of a creek?). Granted cutting to roof off of cars is pretty popular with Emergency Response Personnel, but popping hoods, prying open trunks (where the battery is located with no visible orange wires) may occur as well. Then again the car might be on it's top and smoking making the wires difficult to see yet exposed to cause possible harm.

Another thing, if the mechanics don't know what they are doing (as many of you have complained) then what makes you think a posting to VFD's will reach every small volunteer group in the boondocks or that they will even understand it.

I'm not a lawyer, but yes Will Robinson, "warning, warning". I'm guessing the first VFD that digs into a "live" debadged TCH will probably sue the owner and Toyota (for not riviting them on). Probably not a big risk (odds of winning the lottery) but hey, someone does win the lottery every day.

Good question. I thought the space there looked empty and the HSD emblem is low and does not really offset the Camry logo. I couldn't think of any emblem which might work, other than the vvt-i logo, which is OEM Toyota. If there was an OEM "16 Valve" or"DOHC" logo I would rather have used that. So it wasn't to prompt questions as much as a filler for a space I thought needed to be filled.

I paid for a Toyota Hybrid and it was the first vehicle since 1973 that I actually ORDERED from a dealer. I just can't understand why anyone would want to de-badge it unless it were something you just were ashamed of. Why not just get a FORD badge and put it on instead.
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/relea...?release=24125

Thanks to BlueCam and faldoc for the well-articulated responses to my/our questions.

I like simplicity, and feel that there is elegance in a badge-free car. I have de-badged all my cars for years because, if it were not for marketing departments, the car designers would have preferred it that way. (This being a forum, I fully expect someone to disagree with that statement.)

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

Branding is all about showing your logos. I like logos, certainly there are limits, because more is not always better.

if it were not for marketing departments, the car designers would have preferred it that way.

I was wondering what idiots come up with the ideas to splash "AWD", "FWD", "5.4L", "Turbo", and even more senseless information all over the cars. (Oh wait, you're a marketer

Seriously I have no problem with "Toyota" and enjoy the "hybrid" symbols. I don't like a lot of the useless emblems attached to cars (sorry, but similar to the VVT-I? or DOHC). Who cares? Why add something that doesn't add to the "purpose" of the car?


CHEVY had it right in the 60's with the flags and CI emblems. Simple yet they differentiate the between the different power level options. It's when they started adding 4-Speed, Automatic, and other descriptive but "unimportant" chrome that it started looking cluttered

Another shortsighted application of badges by many manufacturers is to further 'enhance' their junkiness by using different fonts and sizes for each badge. Also, rather than grouping the badges logically, they are often scattered around the sheetmetal as if they were confetti. If I were forced at gunpoint to place 'Camry' and 'Hybrid' on my car, I would place one badge right next to the other, so it would read 'Camry Hybrid.'

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

Good question. I thought the space there looked empty and the HSD emblem is low and does not really offset the Camry logo. I couldn't think of any emblem which might work, other than the vvt-i logo, which is OEM Toyota. If there was an OEM "16 Valve" or"DOHC" logo I would rather have used that. So it wasn't to prompt questions as much as a filler for a space I thought needed to be filled.

While you are on the DOHC 16 valve subject, just got my new service manual and was going thru it, and can you beleive this sh$%? Solid lifters that need adjusting, and to adjust you need to remove both camshafts and install different size lifters. How hokey is this in this day and age???? removing both camshafts gets you into the cam chains and tentioners, i bet it is a big $$$$$ job.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

I'm not a lawyer, but yes Will Robinson, "warning, warning". I'm guessing the first VFD that digs into a "live" debadged TCH will probably sue the owner and Toyota (for not riviting them on). Probably not a big risk (odds of winning the lottery) but hey, someone does win the lottery every day.

Yes, her name is SUE and she will do a number on you!!! get the badges back on boys before Sue catches you ROTFFLMAO!!!

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16