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How to deal with Toyota re: hv battery warranty repair

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Wonky, Jul 22, 2012.

  1. uart

    uart Senior Member

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  2. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Nice solution. New battery, new loaner car. Nice way to start the year. They say good things happen in three's so buy a lottery ticket.
     
  3. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    He's already won the lottery getting a new battery out of Toyota with no argument from the dealer.
     
  4. Fest911

    Fest911 Junior Member

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    I bought a bunch of raffle tickets at a New Years party and didn't win anything :confused:
    Since the traction battery failed on my birthday, I will just have to thank Toyota for my very expensive birthday present, and hope it's a good sign for the remainder of 2013!
     
  5. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    Count your blessings that Toyota gave you a new battery unlike how the Arizona Leaf owners got treated.
     
  6. Fest911

    Fest911 Junior Member

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    I definitely did count my blessings. I feel very fortunate to have walked away with a bill for only $67, and that was because I went with their suggestion to replace the cables while they were in there. My heart goes out to those who are not able to take advantage of the extended warranty under CARB regulations.
     
  7. PaJa

    PaJa Senior member

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    Yes, but it is for UK. It looks Toyota is playing different games in different countries, but if there is a common EU document, it can helps to deal with the local representative.
     
  8. Wonky

    Wonky Junior Member

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    This is a follow-up to my OP ( from 3 years ago).
    Over 6 months following post, my mileage slowly crept back up to 44mpg (was 44.5). Between 130k and 180k, mileage hovered between 43 and 44mpg. Just before battery died (~200k) mileage had dropped to 42.5mpg. After the OP, battery was not charging consistently: sometimes I'd arrive at a specific hill, midway between work and home, with battery nearly exhausted. Most days I'd top the same hill (at 80mph) with battery-to-spare. My driving is mostly freeway to/from work, with cruise-control at 80mph. I "floor it" a few times daily.
    I'm not easy on this car, still the HV battery lasted to 200k.
     
    uart likes this.
  9. GrantN

    GrantN Junior Member

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    Well, I see a lot of Prius patriots here. I did find that the warrantee didn’t change as I stated earlier, I was looking at the non-Hybrid components part of warranty. Anyway, yes Toyota will put the screws to you also if you give them a chance. There is no definition of how bad the battery must be before they’ll replace it. And yes the dealer checked the car many times and loved my $200 12V battery. They would comment on how they were amazed that the computer could still manage the traction battery even though it didn’t have much capacity, but they had to go buy the book and Toyota’s rules. ‘Sorry dude’. (Maybe the breakpoint is if the computer can't manage it.) I liked my Prius, but I’ll keep posting my story and bumper sticker photo so other unsuspecting customers are aware.
    Even though the car had 85K, Toyota did renege on the 100K - 10 year promise. Funny thing Toyota isn’t a member of the BBB, so you have to go to the general Auto area and Toyota will respond. (maybe stonewall you) BBB doesn’t seem to keep records archived which is convenient for Toyota. I did take some screen shots I may still have for some of you ‘non-believers’…
    IMAG0230.jpg
     
  10. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    You are reviving an old thread where 5 years ago you had a beef over a warranty issue? So tell us how is the car going 5 years later? Did the HV battery fail since? 40-42 mpg is not awful, what makes you think the HV battery was going bad?
    Then you say:
    So you like to have a bob each way, then? You agree, by inference, there is definition, but your car does not meet the criteria and you're miffed. I get that, but hardly Toyota's fault.
    As far as I can tell, Oklahoma does not adhere to CARB state emission standards, so the standard warranty of 8 years/100,000 miles (whichever comes first) applies. Your car's battery has not failed and you are well inside the warranty period (at the time this took place 5 years ago), so you qualm is what exactly?

    You have provided very little factual information but a lot of emotive rhetoric, so it will be very hard for anyone to get alongside if you are looking for support.

    Coming back to one of you initial statements:
    The definition of a bad battery is that the HV battery has set one (or more) of the relevant DTCs (diagnostic Trouble Codes) such as P0A80, P30nn, P3000, C1259, C1310, etc, and without any of the relevant code a warranty claim cannot be made. Toyota service techs cannot really use their diagnostics to see whether a HV battery is good, bad or otherwise, and even if they could they would not give an opinion that a customer could otherwise rely on. For all intents and purposes, if there are no DTCs the battery is fine. End of story.

    It sounds like this might be a case of poor communication on the dealer's part or may be you were not able to understand all of the information they told you.
     
    #50 dolj, Jul 11, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2017
  11. GrantN

    GrantN Junior Member

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    Yes it's an old thread, but I'll never forget or stop spreading my experience with Toyota. Funny how the dealer can reset all those codes and its all better...yeah right. When you have a prius that is down to 79 HP (Golf cart power), that battery is bad no matter how well the computer can manage its poor state. I communicated with Toyota many times with the BBB's auto division (even though Toyota isn't a member) ,they knew exactly the issue and refused to honor the warranty. Definitely a swindling company.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. GrantN

    GrantN Junior Member

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    Attached is a copy of my complaint as it was then. Toyota continued to stonewall me...
     

    Attached Files:

  13. dubit

    dubit Senior Member

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    Dude seriously?