Question on hybrid battery replacement/rebate

Hey, all.

I'm in Oregon and have a 2013 Toyota Prius C with 110,000 miles on it. I recently got a check engine light and a dashboard message that said "check hybrid battery, pull over and turn off the engine" or something like that. I took it to my mechanic and they got code #P0A80 Replace hybrid battery pack and tested the battery and got the numbers at the end of this post. They told me I had to replace the hybrid battery and it was gonna be $4300.

So, I learned about the CARB state hybrid battery warranty that covers hybrid batteries for up to 10 years and 150,000 miles. I'm in Oregon and I think I'm covered. I found the Oregon secretary of state website describing the law and it says it starts in 2009 and says 10 years, 150,000 miles, whichever comes first. I can't post links, but here's the information if you want to google the page:

Department of Environmental Quality
Chapter 340
Division 257
OREGON LOW EMISSION VEHICLES
340-257-0120
Warranty Requirements

Anyways, I called my local Toyota dealer and they told me that Toyota didn't start using that warranty until model year 2020 and that my car was still on the 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty and so I would have to pay out of pocket. That doesn't make sense to me, because looking on prius chat it looks like this law has been in place for 15+ years and covers all gen 2+ Toyota hybrids.

Can anyone help me figure out if I am covered under this warranty and how I would go about proving it or convincing them that I'm covered? Or, alternatively, I have no idea what I'm looking at with these voltage and resistance numbers. Are they abnormal?

Thanks!

voltage

1. 15.93
2. 16.00
3. 16.05
4. 16.02
5. 16.10
6. 16.10
7. 16.10
8. 15.97
9. 16.00
10. 15.93

resistance

1. .023
2. .023
3. .022
4. .022
5. .022
6. .022
7. .021
8. .022
9. .023
10. .023

 

I called corporate and they gave me the same answer. Sent a letter to the secretary of state so we'll see what they say.

My warranty documents say 7 years, 70,000 miles for the hybrid battery. On the phone, the dealership told me it was 8 years.

Thanks, ya'll!

 

Thanks! I'll check that out and see if it helps.

One thing my mechanic suggested is testing the battery and then driving it around for a while and testing it again to see if stressing the battery a bit improves the results. Not sure whether that's a typical thing to do, but I could try that as well.

 

Hey, Y'all.

Update: I opened up the compartment under the backseat to clean out the hybrid battery fan. I brushed it out, but it looked totally clean. Not sure that's the problem.

I also bought the Dr. Prius app and a PanLong OBDII sensor. Was having some weird things with the app:

When I did the full battery test, I tried accelerating rapidly to 45 mph and then braking rapidly, but I could never get the app to complete the test. I did this multiple times and it kept telling me to accelerate and decelerate rapidly. The last time I tried it I went from a dead stop, floored it to 45 and then gradually pressed the brake to the floor and it still didn't trigger.

When I did the battery longevity test, it skipped step 1/3 where you floor the break and the gas and instead went straight to step 2/3 where you put it in reverse, turn on AC, and try to drain the battery. It was at about 55% full when I started the test. Assuming that I wasn't doing something wrong by skipping the first step, I repeated the test multiple times and it told me the longevity is at 17-20%.

I've also been noticing that when I let go of the accelerator, the engine revs up for a few moments. Looking elsewhere on prius chat, it seems like that's because the computer doesn't want to put energy into the battery and so it's just using it up by revving the engine and that that is a symptom of battery problems.

Does anyone know if this sounds like the Dr. Prius app is working normally or am I doing something wrong?
Other than that, it seems like all of the data is pointing to the fact that my battery is very dead. All of these changes happened like a light switch was flipped - one day I had no issues and the next I got the warning message and the engine revving. Is it normal to have these kinds of issues spring up so suddenly? I would think it would be a gradual change as the battery slowly loses charge.

Thanks!

 

Just an update on the response from the Secretary of State. They basically said the SoS does not address concerns about law and that I should contact a lawyer.

 

Hopefully final update:

I finally got Toyota to honor the warranty! I had to escalate the call with Toyota corporate and sit on hold for an hour, but they finally said that I was right and that I have a 10 year warranty.

For anyone getting here from Google, if you own a Prius in a CARB state and the dealership is not honoring the 10 year/150k mile warranty on the hybrid battery, call the Toyota Corporate line and escalate your call until someone actually looks up the warranty rules (and doesn't just check your VIN against the database). They should honor it and add the warranty to your account and you can just call the dealer to schedule your battery replacement.

Cheers!

As a side note, I have heard from others that there's currently a class action lawsuit against Toyota about the inverter on the Prius. A bad inverter can apparently kill the battery and so replacing the battery might not fix the problem. I'm going to ask them to check the inverter before they replace the battery.

 

Just kidding! Toyota called and said they made a mistake and that they're only offering the 8 year warranty. To those of you trying to access the 10 year, 150k warranty in a CARB state Toyota may not honor it without legal action... YMMV