Should my Hyb. batteries be dead at 68,000mi?

[Floyd]

The unthinkable happened to me. I got the red triangle, check engine, and the pink hybrid system warning light on my mid along with a loud fan sound from the rear seat. None of the warnings were blinking and the car seemed to run normal.

I first checked all the coolant levels, opened the inverter cooling reservoir and there appeared to be a little turbulence indicating to me that the pump was running.

The next morning, I started driving to the dealer thinking I could make it. I was watching my screen and the batteries seemed to be charging but was acting strange. Suddenly, no charging at all and the car started slowing down and seemed to rev up as if in passing gear and the battery charge indication slowly went to one bar.

I stopped before the batteries discharged completely and called the towing folks. The dealer serv. manager said that there were conflicting codes and it appeared that the Hyb. batteries were bad and was waiting advice from Toyota before going any further.

Isn't it very unusual for the hyb. batteries to go out at 68,000mi? Also, why wouldn't the screen show any kind of charge going to the batteries? On a regular car, even if the battery is bad, the alt will still charge; but I understand the Prius is a different animal all to gether. I also have and extended warranty if I should need it. Any one have any other idea what might be wrong? Has anyone had a similar situation to this?

[MJFrog]

Originally Posted by Floyd

The unthinkable happened to me. I got the red triangle, check engine, and the pink hybrid system warning light on my mid along with a loud fan sound from the rear seat. None of the warnings were blinking and the car seemed to run normal.

I first checked all the coolant levels, opened the inverter cooling reservoir and there appeared to be a little turbulence indicating to me that the pump was running.

The next morning, I started driving to the dealer thinking I could make it. I was watching my screen and the batteries seemed to be charging but was acting strange. Suddenly, no charging at all and the car started slowing down and seemed to rev up as if in passing gear and the battery charge indication slowly went to one bar.

I stopped before the batteries discharged completely and called the towing folks. The dealer serv. manager said that there were conflicting codes and it appeared that the Hyb. batteries were bad and was waiting advice from Toyota before going any further.

Isn't it very unusual for the hyb. batteries to go out at 68,000mi? Also, why wouldn't the screen show any kind of charge going to the batteries? On a regular car, even if the battery is bad, the alt will still charge; but I understand the Prius is a different animal all to gether. I also have and extended warranty if I should need it. Any one have any other idea what might be wrong? Has anyone had a similar situation to this?

Not to be Johhny-one-note, but have the 12v battery checked/changed first. MANY weird and off-the-wall error conditions have been reported when the 12v aux battery starts to go.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by Floyd

...Suddenly, no charging at all and the car started slowing down and seemed to rev up as if in passing gear and the battery charge indication slowly went to one bar.

I stopped before the batteries discharged completely and called the towing folks. The dealer serv. manager said that there were conflicting codes and it appeared that the Hyb. batteries were bad and was waiting advice from Toyota before going any further.

Isn't it very unusual for the hyb. batteries to go out at 68,000mi? Also, why wouldn't the screen show any kind of charge going to the batteries? On a regular car, even if the battery is bad, the alt will still charge; but I understand the Prius is a different animal all to gether. I also have and extended warranty if I should need it. Any one have any other idea what might be wrong? Has anyone had a similar situation to this?

Yes, it is unusual. I would not expect a 12V battery problem to cause the symptoms that you noted.

It's likely that you have at least one bad module in your traction battery. Since the traction battery ECU can detect a failure, it probably stops charging to avoid a safety issue. If a module has failed, it may not be able to accept charging current without overheating & possibly blowing up.

The traction battery is covered to at least 100K miles under the manufacturer's warranty so you should not need the extended warranty coverage.

[PriusLewis]

If it is the battery, you might want to jump on this:

Traction battery NEW

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by PriusLewis

If it is the battery, you might want to jump on this:

Traction battery NEW

Why do that? It will be replaced under warranty at Toyota's expense.

[Floyd]

Update: The service manager ordered a Hyb. battery and installed which he said was the problem. I also decided to get a new 12v battery installed even though he said that it wasn't needed. The Prius is a 05 which makes the battery over 4yrs old so I didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded again. I've also got second thoughts about getting another Prius come trade in time even though I love the car. I've been driving cars for many years and the Prius is the first car that has gotten me stranded. Thanks

[TonyPSchaefer]

Glad to hear that you were able to get it resolved, Floyd.

Would you mind giving us some more details. Simple things like how long did the process take? Did you drop the car off and leave or did you wait?

[Bica2go]

Originally Posted by Floyd

Update: The service manager ordered a Hyb. battery and installed which he said was the problem. I also decided to get a new 12v battery installed even though he said that it wasn't needed. The Prius is a 05 which makes the battery over 4yrs old so I didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded again. I've also got second thoughts about getting another Prius come trade in time even though I love the car. I've been driving cars for many years and the Prius is the first car that has gotten me stranded. Thanks

Floyd, I appreciate that this was an unfortunate episode, but I wouldn't write off getting another Prius because of it. First, from what I can tell, it's very unusual for the Hyb battery to go so early and fortunately it's covered under warranty. The Prius continues to rank high in reliability (per Consumer Reports).

Secondly, I've lost track of the number of cars of various makes and models that have left me stranded over the years. My favorite was a Saab losing power on a bridge heading into Boston at 12:30AM. To my amazement, a taxi passing by stopped and offered to push me to a nearby off ramp so I could coast into a gas station at the bottom, then took me home. This happened in the days before cell phones were common - I could have been up on that bridge for a long time! Then there was the timing chain that went on a 2yr old Ford, in the Scottish countryside, while I was on my honeymoon. There's a reason so many people have AAA.

[Shawn Clark]

Floyd,

This is more a matter of perspective: You won the hybrid lotto! Unlike most owners, you have a brand new hybrid battery, paid for at Toyota's expense in a 4 year old car that is otherwise approaching the end of the hybrid warranty (32,000 miles left to go.) About the only thing better would be having it go at 99,999 miles and 7 years + 364 days (non-CA warranty.) The worst case is having a battery fail at 100,001 miles or 8 years + 1 day.

Yes, it dents your confidence in the reliability of the car but assuming there isn't a nasty gremlin in this particular sample of the vehicle you are set. Toyota warrants the original batteries for 100,000 miles so another short life failure would be highly unusual.

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by Floyd

I've also got second thoughts about getting another Prius come trade in time even though I love the car. I've been driving cars for many years and the Prius is the first car that has gotten me stranded. Thanks

well Floyd, sorry to hear you feel that way. but dont worry, there are a dozen people in line behind you waiting for your car.

now, i dont have a lot of experience driving Pri's compared to other types of cars and none with the mileage you have on yours, but in 5½ years, i have never had an issue of any kind with the Pri (other than flat tires and TPMS warned me the tire was low so i could air it up before any issues arose)

i cannot say that for Chrysler, GM, Datsun (Nissan if u will) AMC or BMW... but take them off the list and there are still plenty of choices out there.

so, how much that repair cost?? how long it take? were you given a loaner to drive while waiting?