Everyone has been there. A flat tire is a nightmare, no matter when or where it presents itself. Luckily, changing the tire on a compact Toyota Prius is simple. It's even easier if time is taken to familiarize yourself with the tire replacement procedure before a flat happens. This can save valuable time and avoid further stress.
Park the car on the nearest flat surface, if possible. Take the jack, handle, wrench and spare tire out from under the center deck board/auxiliary box in the trunk.
Loosen the wheel nuts slightly using the wrench. One turn to the left is enough.
Place the jack under the vehicle with the side labeled "A" towards the outside of the car, and the center notch of the jack in alignment with the jack point (two small notches in the underside edge of the vehicle next to the tire).
Turn the jack handle to raise the vehicle until the flat tire is elevated slightly from the ground. Completely loosen and remove all the wheel nuts, then remove the damaged tire.
Clean away any dirt or debris from the wheel contact surface. Tiny dirt particles can cause loosening of wheel nuts when the vehicle goes into motion.
Align the wheel nut slots and mount the emergency spare tire onto the wheel contact surface. Slightly tighten each wheel nut evenly by hand (to do this, simply start at the top nut, then tighten the one directly across, and then the one across from that, and so on to keep the pattern going). Keep tightening each evenly until the tapered part at the end of the wheel nuts are in contact with the spare tire's "face."
Lower the vehicle and finish securely tightening each nut evenly with the wrench. Make sure to put all the strength into this!
Put the flat tire and all other tools used in the repair back in storage under the trunk.
