I was lying under the car gazing lovingly at my Tanabe axle-back and something caught my eye. The triangular piece of stamped steel that is bolted to the floor pan to the left of the exhaust canister. It is roughly 15 inches across, painted semi-gloss black and doesn't cover anything of value. It seems to have no purpose to speak of, and it is HEAVY! something like three or four pounds. My question for all the Fit freaks is, What is it? I'm assuming it is there to clean up the aero under the tail, but I would love to hear some other explanations....

 

It's the jack point for a floor jack.

Some aftermarket hitches use it, some eliminate it.

I wouldn't get rid of it if you ever plan to use a floor jack.

 

Yeah it's a floor jack if you wanna jack up the back of the car

 

yeah what they said. how did you ever put on your tanabe exhaust without noticing that huge thing?

 

It is also there to protect if you back over something so it doesn't hit the rear suspension or the gas tank.

 

The gas tank is actually right under the driver's seat on the Fit.

 

it is not a jack point, it is to protect the fuel filler neck from damage. i cannot stress enough that it is not a jack point.

 

Stress all you want- then you should tell the authors of the Honda Fit Service Manual. This object is identified as the rear lift pad in the manual.

 

Well I shall be dipped! That I wouldn't have guessed, thanks guys. I put the Fit on ramps to change out the axle-back, and I actually noticed the hump on the day I bought the car. I was looking at it from the rear and thinking, damn that looks like the pumpkin on a rear axle! If only they made the Fit in RWD, then I would be looking at a forced induction K-swap for sure! Can you say "Drift King" ? LOL

 

well the honda manual i have notes, with a picture, if you use a rear jack point it is to be the tie down loop

 

You can keep jacking the back of your car by the tie down loop until it bends or breaks. The rest of us will use the "jacking bracket" that is circled in the right side drawing on page 1-7 in the "floor jack" instructions.

Using the hook, the whole weight of the rear of the car is only supported by one 6 mm dia. hook. But using the "jacking bracket", the car's weight is supported by the three 10mm dia. bolts that hold the triangular bracket to the floor/frame. These same three bolts are used to hold all brands of trailer hitches that are available for the Fit. THE BLACK, TRIANGULAR HUMP BETWEEN THE WHEELS is the "jacking bracket" that the Honda manual describes in the "Lift and Support Points" instructions on page 1-7, because it is the strongest point centered between the rear wheels.

 

seeing as how you dont believe me, check on bernardiparts.com, look up fit , go to elec/exhaust, then fuel tank , then look at part 21 which is 17679-SLN-A00 GUARD, FUEL FILLER.

 

Thats what the piece is called, how many parts on your car support dual roles? Like he said RTFM

 

whatever, you all are going to believe what you want anyway

 

We all believe what is obvious, and what is spelled out in the Honda Service Manual. But be sure to keep lifting your car on the little bent bolt.

 

i work at a honda dealer, the service manual in my hand right now has the picture with the rear tow loop circled, stating it is the rear lift point, and the parts catalog that i look at all day long has the same listing as the american one. perhaps your manual is different than the canadian one but i guess you all dont think out of the box and consider other people know things as well and also have service manuals.

 

The "tie-down loop" is used to tie the car down on a flat bed tow truck. When the drawing of the rear of the car was printed, the circle that was drawn around the "jacking bracket" just happens to include the tie down loop, which is also in the center of the car. When you jack up the entire rear end of the car, the tie down loop is the most unstable point on the entire car to place the lift pad of a floor jack. The jacking bracket is only on the car to provide a broad, strong, stable surface for the lift pad of any floor jack. It serves absolutely no other purpose, and provides absolutely no protection to the fuel lines. The only thing under the jacking bracket IS THE FLOOR/FRAME OF THE CAR.

You may think "out of the box", but you don't think with any logic or engineering experience.

 

I took mine off to install my hitch (as per the instruction) nothing under there but air. I could take some pics if anybody wants.

 

The tie-down loop is the lift point for idiots and some Canadians (not all, not even most, mainly Newfies). Balancing your car on about 1 sq. mm of contact area (of the tiny bent bolt) instead of the broad flat underside of the jacking bracket is dumb and dangerous. This is exactly the kind off thing that earns people "Darwin Awards".

Nick, with your track experience, and knowing as you do the strength of the bolts that hold your trailer hitch to the frame, I am certain that you do not use the tie down loop to lift your car. My bet is that Illusive is also smarter than to do such a thing.

 

What!? lol, no I don't use it to lift my car The triangular metal thing is the lifting point. Hmmmm, now that I think about it I have never jacked my car from the rear before, I always use the side lifting points or ramps. Because my hitch deletes it I will have to get used to jacking it from the side from now on.

I was just pointing out it is not a shield for anything, there is no fuel filler neck underneath it... or anything else for that matter. Just a whole lot of air