What Toyota doesn't want you to know

[Bob64]

How much of that 3k is labor?

[spinkao]

Originally Posted by terrygsb

I was one of the original "believers." I bought an original 2001 Prius which I have had for over 8 years and it has 105,000 miles on it, so I was shocked to find out last week that I am going to have to replace the battery at a cost of $3,000!!!!

I protested to the dealer that when I bought they said it is guaranteed for 100,000 miles but that they expected it to last much longer and that it would be about $1,500 when that happened.

The dealer said they couldn't do anything but they would contact Toyota since I bought it there, had all the maintenance done at the dealer and had referred NUMEROUS people to buy them who actually had done so . I still haven't heard from Toyota.

I feel very betrayed after being so effusive with praise to so many people over the years about this car. If I had known I might need to spend $3,000 on the battery after $105,000 I would not have purchased the car and I doubt if many of you would have either.

I'm still hoping Toyota will make some compromise and I'll keep you posted.

How about getting a salvage battery? As far as I know, they are relatively cheap in the US. Changing a traction battery yourself is not that hard, or you could surely get a mechanic who would do it for you for reasonable $$.

[baggiebird]

Terry

Firstly, bad luck with the battery. You may get some joy from Toyota if you keep trying. I'm pretty new to Prius ownership but given the age and mileage of your car, a secondhand battery as a replacement sounds the best option if this is not at least partially sorted as a just out of warranty issue.

I have never taken any car past 130 000 UK miles, that one was an Audi A4 Tdi Ist gen, but I had to rebuild the front suspension completely at 80 k as many of the ball joints were shot. I did that myself but the parts were £350.

A single bill of 3000 US dollars is a big hit on an 8 year old vehicle of any make though.

[triumph1]

Do you guys think the miles killed it, or the 8 years?

[fuzzy1]

Do you guys think the miles killed it, or the 8 years?

Other threads have leaned very heavily towards high temperatures and age. Miles, without those other factors, don't seem to be a problem. Witness the many taxis with very high mileage and few or no failures.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by patsparks

Bit early to tell and a bit harsh don't you think?

I'm guessing this is in the newbie forum because the poster is new and would like to warn other newbies.

No, not early. Not overly harsh. The "poll" itself is a troll and in the wrong forum. I wasn't referring to the poster.

Considering the car is 8 or 9 years and none of this applies to current or even recent vehicles it doesn't really belong here.

Look at the potential poll responses. They are so biased as to be worthless. It's a yes/no question with no "yes" option! That is a troll.

Originally Posted by a_gray_prius

Burying it isn't going to make the fact that this guy feels a little betrayed and has to replace his battery any less real. In fact, I think it would be disingenuous to do so.

Whether the OP never considered that a battery could fail or what the warranty was is not really OUR problem.

I didn't say to "bury it" but to put it in the appropriate forum. This intetionally biased poll is a troll/FUD and should not be tolerated in a newbie section.

[Mike Dimmick]

105k is a little early - when Luscious Garage wrote about Gen 1 battery replacement, they said the lowest mileage they'd seen was 130k. It may well be down to the age or number of driving cycles rather than actual miles covered.

Their replacement price sneaks in at just under $3,000 for a brand-new Gen 1 battery. They'll also do you a rebuild using two used Gen 2 batteries - Gen 2 has only 28 cells to the Gen 1's 38, so two batteries are needed to get the required voltage. That costs a shade under $2,400.

The Gen 2 battery seems to generally be very reliable indeed. So much so that for Gen 3, Toyota have increased the maximum power draw, from 25 to 27kW, while using the same part as Gen 2.

[Zythryn]

Originally Posted by terrygsb

If I had known I might need to spend $3,000 on the battery after $105,000 I would not have purchased the car and I doubt if many of you would have either.

(bold added by me)
I'll tell you a secret, you MIGHT need to spend $2000 on a transmision after 100k miles. You MIGHT need to spend $3000 on body work as you MIGHT get in an accident. You MIGHT need to spend $20,000 on a new car because a tornado hits yours and totals it.

Exactly as they stated, Toyota EXPECTS the batteries to last much longer than 100k miles. They don't gaurentee it, but they expect it.

It is the nature of all manufactured products that some will fail sooner and others (of the same type) will fail later.

I am sorry you feel betrayed, and it sucks that you happened to get one of the early failures. But I think your expectations are unreasonable.

[a_gray_prius]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

No, not early. Not overly harsh. The "poll" itself is a troll and in the wrong forum. I wasn't referring to the poster.

Considering the car is 8 or 9 years and none of this applies to current or even recent vehicles it doesn't really belong here.

Whether the OP never considered that a battery could fail or what the warranty was is not really OUR problem.

I didn't say to "bury it" but to put it in the appropriate forum. This intetionally biased poll is a troll/FUD and should not be tolerated in a newbie section.

And you're starting to sound like a shill. Nice to be called names, huh? It applies directly to our cars as direct descendants of his.

It's not unreasonable to expect battery failures to happen on some sort of distribution (it's probably not normally distributed, but there's probably a peak somewhere in there). A lot of posts have been put up showing how long the battery can last (exemplifying one end of this distribution) in the Prius and it's not necessarily unreasonable for people looking to buy one to realize that the battery *can* die right after the warranty runs out - otherwise telling people repeatedly that the battery will last 150k+ in like every case (and it does happen a lot) is basically lying.

I do think this thread should be renamed "Prius battery failure after 105,000 miles"

Originally Posted by Zythryn

It is the nature of all manufactured products that some will fail sooner and others (of the same type) will fail later.

+1000000000

[terrygsb]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

No, not early. Not overly harsh. The "poll" itself is a troll and in the wrong forum. I wasn't referring to the poster.

Considering the car is 8 or 9 years and none of this applies to current or even recent vehicles it doesn't really belong here.

Look at the potential poll responses. They are so biased as to be worthless. It's a yes/no question with no "yes" option! That is a troll.



Whether the OP never considered that a battery could fail or what the warranty was is not really OUR problem.

I didn't say to "bury it" but to put it in the appropriate forum. This intetionally biased poll is a troll/FUD and should not be tolerated in a newbie section.

Since this just happened last week and I have never posted in a chat room of any kind until the end of last week, can you explain to me what a "troll" is? Also, a FUD and an OP?

Also, if you look at my original post, it's not that I "never considered that a battery could fail," in fact it's quite the opposite. As I stated, I was shocked at how soon (105,000 miles) and how costly ($3,000) based on what I had been told.

I think my experience provides some balance to other stuff I've been hearing and may be of use to someone else. Also, since I was one of the original "believers" that spread the word to the rest of you, I feel it is my obligation to present some balance.

When I bought mine there was no advertising, purely word of mouth (I got approached by people everywhere I went). And, as I said, I recommended the car to dozens of people, including my neighbors, family, strangers and friends.

I picked the newbie forum because I thought that was me, because I was new to the site. I didn't see a choice for Gen 1. Also, I really thought that the choice of "I don't care" provided for a "yes" answer.