Prius alone for 6 weeks...?

Hi all,

I will be abroad for 6 weeks. My Prius will have to sit turned off the whole time, and with my luck I KNOW the 12-volt battery will be dead when I return.

I acknowledge many have been saying it should be fine, but I am not taking the risk (If my battery does in fact die, then what?). To put it bluntly, I am skeptical, lazy, and a cheapskate so I will want to preserve the current battery's life...that is, in the easiest way possible.

So, apparently I have to disconnect the 12v battery from the cargo area (but how? ...in layman's terms, that is...)?

However, I live in an apartment with a shared parking lot. In other words, I do not have access to an electrical outlet, and most importantly, I cannot leave my liftgate door propped open/ajar with a stick after the battery disconnect like many suggested.

So, apparently if that's the case, I could always shut the liftgate door closed and locked (all doors locked in fact) and use the hidden mechanical key in keyfob to manually open the driver's door, awkwardly reach my arm around past the B-pillar to unlock the rear driver's side door, and fold down the rear seats to access the liftgate door lock.

Again, I am lazy and I am not willing to crawl back there like an orangutan in those cramped quarters (especially in the dark with the lights dead).

My question is, I have heard a few people suggest a much easier way by simply removing a certain fuse from the fuse box located under the hood and just putting it back in when I return... so how is that done?

Thank you!

 

Hi Beachbum , thanks for your help . My shared parking lot is an indoor garage (fluorescent lights instead of sunlight) where I park in my assigned spot next to my neighbors' cars. I should have clarified that in my original post, sorry.

If I could park outside, I might have considered the solar option, but being the skeptic that I am, I would be worried sick my entire trip that I would come home to a smoldering Prius because it was defective or counterfeit .

I was hoping to avoid the manual release for the hatchback as you mentioned because I'd like to avoid disconnecting the battery altogether, hence, me searching for an alternative route (e.g. fuse box?).

But, if I must, and then in order for me to SAFELY re-connect the battery afterwards, I suppose I could put up with doing the dreaded dance to get there .

 

Hi cat, thanks for your input. Yes, I realize I might sound like a hypochondriac (on behalf of my Prius, that is ), but as I mentioned, I'm also a skeptic. You can thank my one experience with my previous Honda after I bought it brand-new and a completely dead battery the very next day on my SECOND DAY OF OWNERSHIP . Yeah, leaves a bad taste in the mouth after that day of an ordeal .

Not that I'm necessarily saying the Prius will face a similar fate, but call me unlucky when it comes to encountering dead batteries on days you absolutely need to get somewhere (don't we all?), so I guess that's what I meant by I know .

So, basically, I would just like to take an extra step (even if it means a hassle such as disconnecting the battery) to ensure absolutely 100% no chance of the battery going dead because at this point of simply hearing "you'll be fine" from other lucky souls only ensures me a 50/50 chance of them being right and the other half probability of them being DEAD wrong.

As I said, if my Prius goes against all odds in my favor and still chooses to go dead on me after neglecting it for so long, who else will take responsibility for then this supposed anomaly that just occurred other than myself?

Those individuals who dismissed my initial concerns? They'd probably blame it on me and say I did something wrong even though I was told to not do anything different to it and just leave it as I would normally on any other ordinary day.

I'd like to enjoy my 6 weeks away from home as well without having to anxiously worry about my car the whole time.

I bet those same naysayers would then tell me to suck it up and just change out the old dead battery for a new one, I mean, what's so hard about that, right?

 

Hi bisco! thanks for the warm welcome . Fortunately, I am all too familiar with the classic jump pack. I don't own one, my logic being that there is always a parking attendant in our garage who has one on hand in case of emergencies (in fact, they jump started my previous Honda that way).

You would think that I could at least invest in one for my own personal use in case I ever (knock on wood) encounter a dead battery while out shopping at a Costco's or wherever. I hope I don't come off as sounding pessimistic when I doubt my Prius' capability to surprise me with a good battery even after a long separation, I'd consider it as being "realistic" if you will (because there are horror stories out there).

So, despite my doubtful thinking, I live under the delusion that I'll never need one seeing as how I do in fact drive my Prius a lot when I am here using it.

Hi Mendel, thanks a bunch for your much thought-out suggestion, it was very thorough . I'll be honest to tell you that at first glance, it seemed like more work than I would like. CR94 might have also debunked something here so I'll get back to this after reading some more.

In the meantime, thanks again for the help my neighbor from up above! cheers

 

D'oh! You are right about me needing better friends.

Unfortunately, I do not have any close family nearby, and it would be inconvenient for the few friends that I do have to stop by to do all that. I wouldn't necessarily trust them with my Prius either... a lot of them wouldn't even know how to work the gear lever to be honest.

My neighbors are very aloof in that I never really see them around the premises for some odd reason (no real sense of community here) so I can't rely on them for a helping hand either. And though my parking attendants came through for me when I needed their jump pack, I will NEVER entrust my keys over to them while away for a month. Can anyone say joyride?

Well, that Honda actually turned out to be very reliable for the time I was with it. The only closest thing to a "problem" aside from the dead battery were prematurely worn front brake pads.

Luckily, the dead battery was also a one time thing (it ran fine following the jump start and never died again afterwards) so I was especially thankful since I passed on contacting my dealer about it. I just hate dealing with dealers, especially about PROBLEMS (good luck getting past the runaround).

Hi cr, thanks for your input. I would think my battery is in good health at the moment seeing as how my Prius is still fairly new with the original battery.

You're right in that the battery might have just enough juice to only unlock the rest of the doors saving me the whole extra work involved in getting back there to open the hatch as needed, but that's only if I'm assuming that I didn't disconnect the battery in the first place.

If I do choose to disconnect, then I will have to crawl to the back after I return regardless, seeing as how I would lock all 5 doors up before departing.

Sigh...just wish there was an easier way.

So I assume that the alternative method of popping a fuse back in from the engine bay is out of the running? Oh well, in that case, I guess the battery disconnect will have to do.

Just wish Toyota had made a hidden "battery disconnect" switch under the dashboard somewhere, would've been much appreciated. I know some people who would have gotten use out of it for sure.

One of the few design flaws in this otherwise well thought out vehicle, that and the ridiculous need for "calibrating" your auto up/down windows after battery re-connect.