I blew up the inverter????

[GinnyErns]

My 2007 Prius died and after trying to charge overrnight and jump start it, mechanic at dealership said better have it towed in. It was towed into shop. They said it had a bad defuser, then two days after that called again and said it had a bad inverter, and that I caused the problem so it would not be covered under warranty. Hence, they have my car with bail set at a minimum of $4800. I may be female and blonde, but I know red from black. I did not jump the car backwards. The car is 1 yr old with 5000 miles. How could I have done that much damage? I was under the mechanics instruction on everything I did. If I shouldn't have jump started it, why did he instruct me on how to do it.

Why did the car die in the first place. I tried appealing to Customer Relations at Toyota headquarters, but they repeated the same story as the dealer. The parts were not defective, therefore I have to pay for the repair. When I retired, I bought this new car so it would be inexpensive and reliable. I didn't want any worries. Now I am being asked to pay another $4800. How do I know there are not more problems. New car warranties are suppose to give us comfort that they will fix any problems so we can regain our trust in the car......I have no trust or assurance that I don't have a lemon that will haunt me the rest of my ownership days. What should I do? Can anyone help?

[morpheusx]

I am not sure if I understand your entire story, but I would probably contact a lawyer. They have no proof that you did it either, in my opinion they would have to prove that jumping the battery in reverse would blow the inverter. By the way the battery in my 2007 is connected with black wires on both the pos. and neg., but there was a red / orange cap on the pos. side. In my opinion the pos. should have the standard red wire and I feel that it is somewhat negligent that it doesn't. Thankfully I am smart enough to always look for the + sign on the battery any way rather then assume anything.

[GinnyErns]

Thank you Professor for the comments. By the way, I tried the jump from under the front hood. Per the salesman and the mechanic....always jump there as it is to hard to get to the battery. I agree with that. First because the car was dead the hatch back won't open anyway (a pet peeve already). ...and to crawl back and get the the battery from inside the car would require a midget. Second, they said there was something (I think the inverter) infront of the battery making it even harder to get to. So I did not even attempt reaching it.

Hate to trade a legal bill for a car repair bill. Who can afford their $1000 per hr rates.

Have heard that blogs can get Toyota's attention, but need help sqeeking the wheel.

[hiremichaelreid]

Feel free to try and tell us the whole story, so we can try to figure out what happened.

Before dealing with any lawyers, I'd recommend finding another dealer or perhaps a reputable independent mechanic or testing service or consumer advocate, and discussing your story with them. Perhaps they could give you free advice, or at least a quick general diagnosis for $100 or less.

Beyond that, if you have a good story, and Toyota won't budge for you, take the story to a local TV station or newspaper.

If you feel you truly did nothing wrong, or at least took due care in the circumstances (and under direction from someone ?), then don't take any 50% or parts only deals. Demand they cover it 100%.

[GinnyErns]

Car has about 5000 miles on it. Went to drive it one day and it would not start. Called salesman and he walked me thru the jump because I remembered when I bought it he said there was a place under the hood to jump it if I ever needed to. I wanted to be sure i was in the right place so called him. Couldn't believe the tiny space where jump post was. Took off the red cap and put my positive cable to the post. Put ground to metal bracket. Got the car started briefly then it died. Tried charging it over night. Still would not restart. Called the mechanic at the dealership and we walked thru the same steps as I did with the salesman. He said have the car towed in. The tow guy also tried to jump it and no go. Not a single light showed anywhere on the dash or anywhere.

Dealership called after they got the car. Said I had a bad defuser and that they ordered the part and he would call when fixed. After 3 days I called. Got a bit of a run around, but they finally called me back and said I had a bad inverter and that I caused the damage by jumping backwards. I said I did not jump backwards. I know how to jump a car and was very carefull. Infact had coaching both times I tried just because I had never done a hybrid with that post in the front of the car. They said the only way the inverter goes bad is if improperly jump started. He then said would I authorize the $4800 repair. I said no and appealed to the 800 # for Toyota Customer Relations. But they said the exact same thing as the dealship said. He was also very rude to me. He would not tell me his name, address and phone number. I said where would I write if I wanted to appeal him. He said write to Toyota Headquarters. I said and where would that be.....USA or Japan. He said all correspondence would end up with him. I said then give me your full name, with proper spelling and address. After that 45 min. using my cell daytime minutes he finally gave me the info.

I have tried telling my story to newspapers and TV, but noone will answer my emails. I have filed a complaint with Comsuner Affairs, but they do not fight they just report. I filed with FTC also same game with them, no real help. Have not had my car for over a month. I am at a loss. I know I did't do anything a normal person wouldn't have done. This is so not fair. Seems like unfair business practice to me.

[chrisspaulding]

.
continue your pursuit for Toyota resolving the technical issue and bill, but target managers of supervisors and bosses of managers, not just the first people you talk to.
For example, try to get the owner of the dealership on your side(hoping he/she is concerned to maintain a strong image of satisfied service), or if you contact Toyota HQ, right away ask for a manager. Go outside the box and appeal to other Toyota HQ contacts.
Focus on the many different instructions from Toyota personnel potentially causing the problem. Maybe they have a protocol when providing instructions. Maybe they didn't follow it properly?

Anyone lower on the ladder than the owner or Toyota HQ high ups probably couldn't care less and may not budge. Get their superiors to budge them since they might be the only ones truly concerned about reputation enough to make good on this even if it was caused by you.


If nothing works, maybe you can at least get 1/2 paid by Toyota?
Maybe you can find the part from a salvaged Prii instead of letting the dealership charge you?

GL Keep us posted
.

[problemchild]

Lawyer wont help. Another dealer wont help either as the repair is logged in the main computer.

About all you can do is find out exactly what is wrong and buy the parts at a junkyard and do it yourself. Maybe you can get the parts for 1k at the boneyard. But if the battery was dead maybe you can prove it was dead BECAUSE the parts failed. Not because what you did. Why did you not just have it towed in the first place?

[Patrick Wong]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. There are a few recent posts from other individuals who admitted that they reversed polarity when jumpstarting. Although the resolution of those situations is still undetermined, it is likely that the inverters had been damaged.

When you say "bad defuser", perhaps you mean the 100A DC/DC fuse link? If that fuse link blew, that is reasonable evidence that the jump polarity was reversed. The fuse links reside in a grey/clear plastic box immediately next to the dedicated jump start terminal.

Do you have the DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) that were logged? That might also shed light on the problem.

I don't know how much success you will have in contesting Toyota's findings since the 2G inverter does not have an extensive history of failures resulting from other than user error.

An alternative to paying $4,800 to the dealer would be to purchase a used inverter from a salvage yard, and find an independent tech trained on Prius to install it. That might bring the bill down to under $1,000.

Good luck.

[chrisspaulding]

Originally Posted by problemchild

...Why did you not just have it towed in the first place?

I was gunna ask that too but hindsight Q's can be touchy
Don't think I would have called a tow right away if my batt was dead.

I hate how the hatch won't open when batt is off too.

You shouldn't have to pay $4,800 if you get the part from salvage, but it may be a $1,000 lesson still.

Sorry to hear it happened. Best of luck resolving the matter
.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by GinnyErns

...Took off the red cap and put my positive cable to the post. Put ground to metal bracket. Got the car started briefly then it died. Tried charging it over night. Still would not restart...

I am interested in understanding exactly how you did the jump start. Did you use the battery from another vehicle or did you use a battery charger to provide this voltage?

• If the former, did you personally verify that the battery polarity was correct from the donor vehicle or did you rely on a third party?
• If the latter, exactly how did you set up the battery charger to provide this voltage?