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I want to alert everyone of an issue with the auxiliary 12 volts battery in the new Prius prime 2024

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Kulti, Apr 29, 2024.

  1. Kulti

    Kulti Junior Member

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    Prius Prime 2024 XSE premium auxiliary battery can brick your car and you may not be able to start the car because of zero power in the auxiliary battery which is 12 volts (Lithium ) located at the back trunk on the right hand side.

    This happened within a month of buying new Prius prime in end of March 2024. All the dashboard lights started flickering before the car went dead. After a jump start, I took the car back to Toyota dealer for this issue with the car making a roaring noise every time break was pressed. Four alerts including check engine and breaking defect was present.

    The diagnosis was one of the cells was defective and the 12V battery needed to be replaced. It is worth noting that the battery installed in Japan factory was defective and lost its power to run essential systems in the car. The suggestion from the Toyota dealer is to put a trickle charger when your car is not in use.

    Also a final note is on top up status of all the essential liquids. While receiving the car from showroom of the dealer at Buena Park CA USA , check marks showed that they checked all of them. To my surprise the washer liquid went dry, within a month with a single time use. The nice thing is the inbuilt in sensor alerts prompted a refill needed for washer liquid.
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Luddite

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    If the dealership won’t do it, maybe check the amperage draw on the battery, when the cars been off for at least 1/2 hour, with fobs well away. It shouldn’t be much more than 20 milliamperes.

     
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    The check mark boxes come pre checked from the factory :cool:
     
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  4. JimLudden

    JimLudden Junior Member

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    I, too, got washer fluid warnings as soon as I drove out of the dealership. Finally just bought a gallon of washer fluid (it needed the entire gallon). [My nearest dealer is 1.5 hours away.] Clearly not filled at factory or delivering dealer.
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Luddite

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    Our temp spare was at 40 psi when we bought our '10, new. Also, the 12 volt battery was dead-as-a-doornail: they discovered that alright, and did their level best to hide it, had it "running to warm it up", when we showed up for a test drive.

    That's Open Road Toyota in Port Moody; always like to give them a plug. :)
     
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  6. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    "Bricked"?? That means beyond repair—dead as a brick.

    So, the car was roaring when you braked because you had a defective 12-V battery?
     
  7. Kulti

    Kulti Junior Member

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    "Bricked" may be a wrong word I used. In realty the jump start after a fully dead battery, needs some RESET process to bring all the system alerts to go away. At least it allowed me to drive the the car 5 miles with four serious alerts including check engine. Probably the Roaring noise came from the regenerative breaking system. But the car did break every time at signals and the noise stopped (for the 5 mile drive)
    The drain from battery analysis seems to be far fetched for a brand new Prius Prime 2024. I am an electrical engineer and can perform such tests, but to prove what? To show Toyota to avoid all drains from the 12 volt battery, when car is idle.
    Only drain would be that doors for the car remained unlocked , since it was sitting inside my garage and not plugged in for charging that day. Does the car battery drains when the Phone APP is kept on in the phone and door lock warning is persistent.
    Can Toyota Prius prime plug in can wire up a trickle charger for 12 volt battery also, not to loose power?
     
    #7 Kulti, May 1, 2024
    Last edited: May 1, 2024
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  8. HKz

    HKz Junior Member

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    Our 2023 was delivered without wiper fluid too lol....neither did it come with a plastic dipstick for it whereas my GR Corolla which was delivered a couple weeks after had both wiper fluid and the plastic dipstick..idgi
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Easy enough to run a pigtail out the hatch for a quick connect battery maintainer, but that should not be necessary unless you drive infrequently, or only do very short trips
     
  10. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Cars can go into a default mode when some warning messages are on, or simply not run right. Which could cause the noise.

    Does the Corolla have a warning light for low windshield washer fluid level?
     
  11. HKz

    HKz Junior Member

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    I'm not sure, I'll have to look in the GRolla manual, maybe it is like any other Corolla so perhaps not is my guess..but it would be weird since the 5th gen Prius, which albeit new, is built on the same general global platform so that seems odd to have such a difference between the two.
     
  12. Mr.Vanvandenburg

    Mr.Vanvandenburg Active Member

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    Not so great they say keep a battery maintainer on the car. It isn’t unique to Toyota to get discharged batteries on hybrids or evs.

    I see they sell battery monitors with a hall effect sensor so the charging amps also can be read. Don’t need to rig a shunt in the battery cable.

     
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Luddite

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    Our '10 is almost invariably on a charger, but our situation is very low usage, often just once a week or so. They tend to be good runs though; I think that keeps the engine and hybrid battery happy.
     
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  14. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    They share the underpinings and frame parts. The fluid tanks are made to fit the space available of the specific model.

    None of my previous cars(Ford, GM, Toyota) had a dip stick nor low level sensor. It was just add fluid until I saw liquid.
     
  15. HKz

    HKz Junior Member

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    Our 2011 Prius, my 2 previously owned FRS and now our GRolla all have the dipstick but yea our 2004 RAV4 has a very visible tank so you can easily tell how much is in there.
     
  16. Mr.Vanvandenburg

    Mr.Vanvandenburg Active Member

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    Can’t we leave their body parts alone already?
     
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  17. o_intent

    o_intent Junior Member

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    Your 2024 Prime XSE Premium comes with a Lithium 12V battery? Can you snap a picture of the thing as I'm curious to see if they have indeed changed a thing or two...
     
  18. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Separate from mis-applying the term "brick" ...

    Is that factory 12V battery really lithium, not lead-acid? Or did you put in an aftermarket 12V?
     
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  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Regardless of the op’s mistaken terminology or 12v identification, he makes a valid point about the prime 12 volt problems which have been discussed in several threads, and which every owner should be aware so they aren’t stranded unnecessarily
     
  20. Paul Gregory

    Paul Gregory Member

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    I mounted my battery maintainer under the hood. The fuse box with the booster contact, has a lug near it with a 10 mm nut on it. Connect the ring terminal of the maintainer to that, and to ground. You can run the power cord out like a block heater cord.
    I've had this setup for several months now, and it worked well until the time my battery went dead in less than 2 hours when I was nowhere near a plug in. Obviously, there are bigger issues, and I'm getting them checked out today.