Why does my exhaust pipe hang so low?

[2AZFE]

I have a 5th gen SE. The exhaust pipe seems to hang very low to the ground. All of the rubber mounts/hanger thingies that I can find are attached. These are rubber cam-shaped things with holes in them that attach to various mount points on the frame. However, there is one that is circular and doesn't have any holes or seemingly anything on the frame to attach it to.. not sure what that is there for.

There is a channel for the exhaust pipe just before the muffler, but the pipe hangs a full 1-2 inches below it. However, I can't find anything "wrong" with how it's mounted, it looks like that's how it's supposed to be, even though the pipe is far too close to the ground in my opinion. Are your Camrys like this? What gives?

I ask because I was backing out of somebody's deteriorated, sunken driveway last night, and heard a big loud clunk as I bottomed out over the curb that was jutting out. Sure enough, I looked down there and there's a huge dent in the back of the pipe just before it connects to the muffler, maybe an inch or two in diameter and 1/4-1/3 the depth of the pipe. There aren't any holes, and it doesn't look pinched too badly. The car seems to be running fine, but I guess I'm going to have to be a lot more careful.... ugh.

[gdanaher]

Well it isn't like you have a rare model there, so go to the shopping center and cruise the parking lot until you see 8 or ten other cars of your generation and take a look. On many of these the exhaust hung lower than it might but without a picture there is no way we can say if it is mounted incorrectly or not. Look at others.

[njerald]

Every Gen5 I've seen has a sagging exhaust pipe......you can spot them a block or two away.

[Doh Nuts]

All three Camrys that I've owned have/had stock exhausts that sagged. I haven't put an aftermarket exhaust on any of them, but if I did, I'd see if I could remedy this issue. It's pretty common. My parents have an ES, which I swear also suffers from droopy exhaust.

[sundarpn]

same issue on my 02 XLE. I was thinking about trying a large hose clamp try to pull it up... I haven't looked closely to see if this is possible.

[Avalonman]

Its not an issue, and its been discussed before. Its not a defect. Thats just how they are built.

[2AZFE]

Okay, thanks for the input, guys. Just to clear things up, yes I did take a casual look at some other cars of the same model and noticed they looked similar, but I didn't want to go crawling around underneath strangers' cars in parking lots and I figured you guys would know for sure. Just seems like a peculiar design choice to have a sensitive component like the exhaust as the first line of defense between the underbody and the ground, but whatever.

Aaaanyway, the car threw a code at me yesterday. P0420 - catalyst efficiency below threshold (bank I). I'm going to assume that's not a coincidence. I'm thinking either I introduced a leak into the system or pinched it too much, and the engine is trying to force more air through a smaller diameter than it was designed to.

How big a deal do you guys think that is? Car feels just like it did before. Is this just an emissions problem or could this lead to engine damage down the line?

Thanks.