Hybrid Battery via NAPA

Interesting development. Please keep us posted!

 

Dormans have been available from NAPA for some time. They usually have to be ordered.

Google the site. There are definitely issues with Dorman, but it's likely a matter of you hearing about the problems, but not the vast majority that are fine.

I'm personally aware of an individual with a 220K mile '06 that had 3 Dorman failures within the 3 year warranty period. Since he wasn't doing his own work, he was out some additional $ with each installation. He was so frustrated with it, he sold the car with a failed battery that had a little bit of warranty left.

IMHO, as they have expanded, I believe quality control has suffered.

Steve

 

Not sure that is a sound concept.
No knock on NAPA.
But my guess is as an auto parts vendor, they cannot get the "new" batteries provided to and by Toyota. Toyota obviously would have you buy the HV battery from them, and have one of their service departments install. This leaves them dealing with Doorman.

Honestly? I can't vouch for the long term reliability of quality of a rebuilt by Doorman or anyone else for that matter.

All I can say, is I have read posts where people had trouble with Doorman and other rebuilt, re-manufactured batteries.
I actually have NO memory of anyone claiming they had a OEM Toyota HV battery installed and then had problems.

People are enticed by the cheaper buy in price, and the warranty. But I'm not sure it's worth it.
If I had a lot of faith in keeping my Prius a significant time longer past a failed HV battery, I think it would be worth it to invest more into a Toyota OEM battery, even if the buy in price is higher and the stated warranty shorter. Because I'd rather a scenario where I don't have to worry about using a warranty.

If you decide to go the NAPA, Doorman option, I would be interested in your Short Term/Long Term experience.
I'd be perfectly happy if a reliable, dependable-and cheaper, HV battery replacement option was available.

 

probably the best refurb widely available. they mostly stand behind the warranty, but as 's keith' states, if you're not doing your own labor, it can become costly. after 3 years? who knows. i would probably go new, rather than risk the headaches.

 

That's a big advantage for Dorman right now. I don't know of any other national brand that can take shipping costs out of the equation; however, sales tax on that purchase is going to hurt, which might be a little more than the initial shipping; however, from that point forward, it's should make it worthwhile.

For your sake, I hope it's a one-and-done deal. Good luck.

Steve

 

who is doing the labor?

 

I initially went the NAPA/Dorman route when our HV battery failed a couple of months back for all the exact same reasons that you have rationalized. Unfortunately, the Dorman remanned battery I received had as many issues straight out of the crate as my failed battery. Dorman remanned batteries from what l have read seem to be hit or miss. In my case a solid miss. NAPA on the other hand was as solid as they come. I requested and was granted a full refund the next business day. That same day I swallowed and made an appointment at my local stealership for a new HV battery. The car performs so much better now. Best of luck on your experience.

 

Ya when I got my refund, I needed to return the Dorman battery and the shipping crate. The crate is fairly substantial, you'll see. My battery had an internal fault so there wasn't any point in keeping it as I didn't want to fool around with whack-a-mole module replacement and I knew by battery's ECUs were good I just had one or more cells below tolerance. Again hope yours works out for you.

 

You should've opened up the case before installing the battery. That way you can check what modules you got, you wanted gen3 modules, maybe you got them

 

Hope your experience continues to be a good one!

 

Oh best not open it up. You don't want to lose your warranty. The serial numbers on the modules will let you know when they were manufactured. But it's not important enough to lose your warranty over.

 

How dirty was you Hybrid Battery fan when you opened it up?
Any pics of that?

 

Don't open case to after warranty runs out void warranty seals on case. My over 18 months over 45 k miles still going strong bought from summit auto 1305 + 975 core deposit return when I return the core .going like the engersier bunny my 2 cents

 

Sorry I meant when you opened the FAN.

The fan is not part of the case. It is off to the side.

 

Is it true that Toyota will not accept a Dorman remanufactured HV battery when exchanging old for new? I read somewhere that this happened to a Dorman battery owner when they wanted to buy a new Toyota HV battery at a stealership.

By the way, has anyone tried buying a new Gen 2 HV battery from Amazon.com? There is no mention of a core charge on their website even though the seller is Toyota. I added the battery to my cart and still the $1350 core charge was not shown.