I have a 2010 Prius 10,100 miles, no problem history. I return to the airport parking garage today and the car is dead, not a peep or tweek. Pull out the manual and follow the special jump-changing instructions. Nothing, not a peep. Call the Toyota dealer and the service guy first says I won't be able to get in to that car because I don't have a mechanical key. Fortunately the tow truck driver explains it's inside the electronic fob. Get the door open but no response from all the charging we're done, not a single beeb. When I tell this to the service rep, he says "You're going to have to have it towed it. AND BY THE WAY, THIS IS VERY COMMON ON PRIUSES. IF THEY'RE NOT DRIVEN FOR FIX OR SIX DAYS, THEIR BATTERIES GO TOTALLY DEAD AND CAN'T BE JUMPED. Has anyone ever hear of or experienced anything like this? Right now my Prius is in the shop.
Your salesman should've showed you the mechanical key at delivery. It's also in the manual. I can't speak to what your issue was when trying to jump start the car, but hopefully you did NOT reverse the polarity. On 2nd gens, doing that could blow the inverter, leading to a 4 digit repair bill. As for your all caps statement, that's bogus. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-dead-after-17-days-parking-2.html#post955609 has a link to a TSB but one in theory should only need to peform the activity if it's left idle for 10 days. I'm sure folks here w/Gen 3s have left their cars idle for >10 days w/o problem. (I've left my 06 [2nd gen] idle for >3 weeks on the original battery in December 2010. It started up ok for my friend who had to use it to pick me up. I've left my Prius idle for other 1-2 week trips, w/o issue.)
Ok.....I'm confused... did you have the manual in your pocket. How did you pull out the manual if you did not know how to enter the car. ???? "no response from all the charging we're done, not a single beeb." Who did the charging.....where did you connect the battery cables ???? "AND BY THE WAY, THIS IS VERY COMMON ON PRIUSES. IF THEY'RE NOT DRIVEN FOR FIX OR SIX DAYS, THEIR BATTERIES GO TOTALLY DEAD AND CAN'T BE JUMPED." Spoken like a true dummy at your dealer. The 12 volt battery may go dead, but it can be charged or jumped, if you know what your doing. If not, leave it to someone that knows what they are doing.
