Hi.
We have a number of Prius and Insights in the parking lot at work. Being that this is Vermont, which is like Northampton but Not Gay, this is not surprising.
There is an area of the parking lot near the smoking area for parking "Alternative Fuel Vehicles" where they all park (interesting, I thought they STILL run on Gasoline as the primary source of power...)
At any rate, there were four of them the other day; the two Prius parked next to two Insights, and then I noticed the Pop Out.
On ALL the hybrid cars, in the exact same spot on the front bumper (below and to the left of the Driver's side headlight) there is what looks to be a pop-out cover in the bumper cover. What comes to my mind is that there is some kind of safety device located behind this cover, or perhaps a plug, or...???
Being that these are two different makes of pretty much the same car (Yeah, I know the differences, let's not get into that...), it occurred to me that this is something mandated by the Japanese Government?
Any ideas (or actual KNOWLEDGE is even better, of course) I swear I won't post anymore "Rules Of Thumb"...