HV Battery fail @ 126K miles

I sympathize with the owner, heck I got 2006 with 120k miles it could happen to me too. But the "warning" needs to be taken into context that few have are having the same negative experience. Hence all the excellent marks in the Consumer Reports reliability rankings on the used Prius (last time I checked). Those that have negative experience, there could be reasons, such as clogged batt vents, running out of gas and letting EV batt go to zero charge, etc.

Now then I am coming to the same conclusion as the OP in Virginia, for somewhat different logic. Why should I buy a Hybrid when Virginia charges me $2000-$2500 taxes/fees more than a equivalent non-Hybrid? And I still have to pay ~$4000 more for the car, and I do still have battery repair failure risk, since Virginia is not CARB they do not offer me 150k guarantee. A consumer is way more ahead buying a hybrid in say Maryland vs. Virginia. Thousand$ less taxes and better warranty in MD. Seems like the non-CARB states ought to ask for their own 150K guarantee.

PS- Obviously if you are putting on tons of miles per year, the hybrid wins due to massive fuel savings. But what about the 10K miles per year driver in VA? that's where the hybrid math starts to fall apart.

 

A big item on that list is living in a hot climate, where the car is parked in the sun often. A major enemy of the HV battery is heat, and keeping it cool is important. There have been a number of reports of battery failure from the southern states.

 

Nobody likes to be the victim of something breaking. However, if there is an unbreakable car out there, please point it out. I have suffered cracked engine blocks (note the plural) on a Camry. Those are crazy expensive to fix, so the decision was to sell those off after 10+ years of solid service. At the end of the day, I figure I got a good deal. Comparing what I experienced over 10 years compared to GM and Ford issues indicated I made the right decision. If the point of the post was HV battery replacements are expensive, then OK. If the point was buying a Prius is riskier than buying a different car, I'm not convinced with just one data point.

 

Believe you are correct about the heat, and that means especially you do not want to park the car in the sun/heat when the HV batt SOC (state of charge) is 100% (all green bars on a Gen2) else you get over-heating of the batt. Also you want to keep your air cond on to keep the semi cool. and apparently dogs in the back seat the hair plugs up the batt vent fan which intake is by the passenger rear door (Gen2 has no filter there) .

 

Wonder with an experience like that the next time you buy a car you opt in for the extended Platinum Warranty?

 

Most of the ones I have seen of those only go to 100K miles. I think the better option for the OP is to just do exactly as he said and sell cars before the warranty expires.
I like the idea of setting up a bank account that has auto draft, that will suck in $30/mo. By the time your car is out of warranty you would have a nice bank to cover any potential problems. If no problems ever happen, when you go to buy a new car, you have a pretty sweet downpayment.

edit: I say I LIKE this idea, I have never done it

 

I also sympathise with the OP. I'm at 112 kmiles on a 2005 Prius and live in a hot climate with lots of hills and small mountains, all the worst conditions for the poor battery. Mine is already showing signs of losing capacity, though it's still hanging in there for now. Honestly I've just come to accept that mine could fail any time now, and have even started "babying it" to help nurse it along. (Little things like trying to avoid parking in heat with full 8 bars SOC by letting the a/c blast until it drops to 7 bars before shutdown, and trying to minimize SOC fluctuations by warming up before cold starts etc).

However fuel is relatively expensive here, and compared to a Camry, which was the main alternative when I got the Prius s/h in 2009, I'm saving $1800 a year in fuel. If my battery lasts another two years (and I think it probably will) then I've saved over $10000 in fuel, which is well over half of the s/h price I paid for the car. To be honest, this puts the Prius in a unbeatable position economically, even if it burnt to the ground and disintegrated in two years time! Why? Because any car would have depreciated by that much (my s/h purchase price minus fuel savings) in that time anyway.

 

It makes sense. My HOA sends a financial report. They list every item and it's life span and it's estimated replacement cost. Every month money goes toward the replacement of the item fund. Separate fund for repairs.

 

At least you are preparing yourself for the inevitable.

 

Uart have you got any information on your battery:- module voltages and internal resistance. It would be interesting to compare with my own.

John (Britprius)

 

I had the Geico mechanical breakdown insurance on my previous car a BMW. It saved me a few times.

 

I agree based on your experience I would be hesitant to buy another Hybrid.

I drove a Honda Civic a decade and 250,000 miles and was never presented with a $1,000 repair bill never mind $3,500.

I would also not repair the car and move on. Perhaps Prius quality improved with the Gen 3

In California we have 10 years and 150,000 mile CARB HV warranty. Only reason why I bought the car with some confidence. I enjoy the low emissions out of the tail pipe and low fuel charges.

I have little tolerance for big repair bills. That is why I'll never buy another BMW.

My wife keeps her cars about 3-5 years and sells them and rolls the equity into the next car. She puts to many miles for a lease to make sense.

 

My daughter just had to put in a new $4000 tranny on her 60k mile GMC Yukon XL' hope you didn't buy one of those!

 

My father was a GM buyer for multiple decades. Repairs up the ying yang. Finally bought a Toyota Cressida, than a Avalon and never looked back. Based on his experiences I aways purchased Japanese cars except once a BMW which was a money pit.

 

Cressida wagon? I got one used when my 84 Camry was stolen. But I have had my share of Fords and Caravans too.