Plastic Undercarriage Buckled- Is It Necessary(undercarriage)?
 

Is there any harm in having the plastic undercarriage removed from under the engine section? Or,
should I get a new one?
I took a long trip(500 miles) and it was flapping all over the place while on the freeway. I barely made it to
my destination. I had the Honda dealer take it off. It's pretty beat up looking.
Thanks for any comments

There's probably not a huge chance of harm. Before this Fit, my previous cars didn't have this undercarriage cover. I do think it keeps the bottom of the engine cleaner, as well as the oil filter area.

Some say it's for aerodynamic reasons, and maybe it does help. By how much, it'll be hard to tell. Say for example with it, you get 1 MPG better versus without. A replacement costs $100. How much driving will it take for you to recoup $100? Is it worth it then. Just made up numbers, but you get my drift right?

No offense, but I've seen people driving with stuff hanging off the bottom of their cars and just shake my head. It would drive me bananas driving that far with it constantly making noises. I personally would have pulled over and taken it off myself. I'm kind of OCD when it comes to that though. I was on a long road trip, and had to pull over because something in the trunk was moving around and bugging me ;)

I'm about to rip mine off. I had a CEL that according to the dealer, was caused by the annual rustproofing clogging up part of the emissions components.


The strange thing is that I had part of this dragging for a day (in winter) before I put it back together, so I'm not 100% sure if dirt was shovelled into some of these components.

There is no harm in removing it. It is for aerodynamics. Get a new one if you want to max our your mpg. By how much depends on your driving but no-one has any hard numbers that I've seen.

I have had tie-wraps holding mine on since mechanics have been toying with my exhaust on and off over and over again. Until I sold it.

I definitely think it makes the car quieter and have less lift on the highway. I can easily believe a MPG benefit, but I can't tell you anything about how much.

For many years and decades people drove cars without these. It's certainly not necessary. If you frequently access the bottom of the engine, you might prefer not to have it.

Macbuddy hit all the important points. Didn't bother to mention those. You'd be surprised at how dirty your engine bay will get when the undercarriage is removed. It prevents a bunch of water/rust from forming over time as well. The undercarriage was damaged on my RAV4 from high centering on snow so I removed it. The wear/rust on the metal surface of the engine bay accelerated tremendously afterwards. I don't think it was coincidence.