Accidentally drained my 2010

great city too

 

I finally changed my 2012's 12V battery last week after it was seriously low, barely able to charge the brake accumulator after a three week absence, despite both topping off with a tender and shutting off SKS just before the trip. I had regularly been topping it off for several winters, but it was no longer good enough to serve as a backup car for the spouse's daily driver antique when I'm gone during winter conditions. At 7 years, this about ties with the earliest I've needed to change a car battery since moving to this coastal area three+ decades ago. The longest was about 10 years, in a car with none of these always-on battery drains such as SKS.

My 5 year old Subaru is also on 12V battery watch, probably because it is sparsely used 7 months of the year so doesn't adequately keep its 12V charged with these modern battery drains. Its weak battery piled atop cold weather caused an EPS (electric power steering) failure a couple weeks ago in Colorado, at -12F. (At least that's what my Suby dashboard read. Other sources were reporting -15 to -20F.). I would have replaced it that day, but the local shop was fresh out of the right battery due to so many other drivers suffering polar vortex battery failures just ahead of me. I was able to snag some inside parking for the next colder night, and the rest of the trip was no colder than -2F, so maybe I'll be able to keep it until the next winter season rolls around. But the battery tender is traveling with me for the rest of this winter.

In harsher climates, a significant number of Prius drivers are reporting battery failures at 3 years.

 

Well, I’ll count myself lucky. I’ve never had a car, hybrid or otherwise, have a battery failure that early, even when I lived in Northern Arizona. But, obviously, in the southeast, we don’t really deal with crazy temperatures, but we do have traffic, and I’ve never had a short commute, until deciding to be a stay at home Mom a year ago, so having hour commutes before then has to help battery life.

 

Daily long commutes do help keep the battery charged. But I never ever commuted that long, also carpooled and biked a lot, then quit the commuting life and retired just as I bought that 2012 Prius. Now, all my cars regularly go days without being used even when I'm home, stay parked for long trips, and get sparse use or just short errands outside their preferred season (winter for Subaru, 3 seasons for Prius). So their batteries don't stay well charged year-round and do need occasional topping off from a battery tender.

Back when both of us were commuting 30-45-ish minutes each way in prior generation cars, 8-9 years seemed normal, 10 was best.

 

We're very infrequent drivers, so I just keep a smart charger connected, commencing any idle day, and leave it connected till next use. Helps that it's garage stored, and quick connect installed: I appreciate this isn't practical for a lot owners, apartment dwellers, street parkers.

Once 5 years come and go, I'll replace it at the first sign of trouble.

Helps also having a Solar BA5, I can assess its health easily.

 

You are very misinformed mam, but I respectfully wish you all the best.

 

First of all, I’m going off of personal experience. I am hardly misinformed, you are clearly not reading the full thread, as if you’d read my follow-up posts, you’d see why. Reading is fundamental. I don’t know one Prius driver in my region that drives their car regularly, who has had your bad luck with battery life. My Toyota dealer rarely replaces batteries before that range, Man.

 

I'm going off Professional experience...and FWIW I kept if polite. Have a nice day.