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12V drained - cause hatch door (post accident car)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Agape, Jul 7, 2012.

  1. Agape

    Agape Member

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    My prius was hit in the back months ago, the rear hatch door remained closed, when I brought the car to the dealer for assessment, they managed to open rear door. however there is new problem- the light on the dash remains on, I am talking about the light that is telling you when you leave one of your doors open.

    The question is to those more technically inclined, which fuse could I remove to ''fool'' the prius as my 12V battery get weaker and weaker (few orange lights on the dash week ago) - this happened before the start, finally today I had blackout on the dash, had to jump start the prius.

    I don't have proper battery maintainer, just the little charger for small 6V or 12V batteries. It's really small (looks like old mobile phone charger) - bought in supermarket for $2.

    Does the prius charges 12V battery at all when the car is in Ready mode and in stationery?

    Or would you know which switch is responsible in the rear door lock for telling the computer that the Hatch are open/closed?
     
  2. Agape

    Agape Member

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    never mind - I just figured it out, removed plastic panel covering the interior of the hatch door, small wire goes from the lock along the rear frame, there is a plastic click connector, disconnected this. The hatch door are now not visible to the computer and prius ''thinks'' all the doors are locked (I hope he thinks like that :) )

    Sorry for wasting the thread
     
  3. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    IMHO, No such thing as a wasted thread.
    Well…..maybe outside FHOP_P.
    Bytes are cheap---even for Tony.

    You're not the only one who has ever been rear-ended in a Prius, nor (more importantly) the only one who ever will be. There's an old saying---old because it's true.
    "The only dumb question is the one that you don't ask."

    I was going to advise that you disconnect the rear hatch open switch, and that’s what you did. Your description will help somebody in the future that has the same question about the same problem.
    The 12-VDC battery is weak for this car. You can get a proper battery tender for $20 bucks at Wally world or whatever large department store that you have in your locale. I have two, and they work like a champ. If the dome light discharge is the only insult that your aux battery has sustained, then you're probably going to be fine. If not, then you can get one of the fancy replacement batteries that's discussed on this forum. Remember...if you get into a tight spot, Priuses are very easy to jump start, since you're not "starting" the car, but rather you're "booting it up."
    My personal theory (un-tested as of this writing) is that the right number of flashlight batteries would do it (9)... ;)

    One last thing.
    If you got hit, there's a very good chance that you didn't cause the accident. Here in America, they're starting to compensate drivers whose cars have been in no-fault accidents based on the reduced value of their cars from having been in an accident. I'm not sure how all of that works in your location, but it's worth looking into.
    These days...."just fixing the car" does not make you whole.
    I'm not much for frivolous law suits---nobody ever says that they are however (comma!) you deserve to be properly compensated in an accident that was due to no fault of your own, and this compensation should put you in the same place financially as you were pre-accident. That's why we have insurance.
    Good Luck!
     
  4. Agape

    Agape Member

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    thank you for these words, appreciated.

    I know that it will take a time, as insurance company is doing everything they can to minimize the compensation for the car, they even traced history of the car, telling me the previous owner have had accident (I didn't know it) and that Prius was beyond the economical repair at the time, when I got it it looked 100% right to me (previous owners must have spend good $$$ on repairing it). Not really sure how to deal with them (insurers).

    Anyway, that was about the car, my health is the main concern, I'm looking now to get good specialist to help my with my back pain as I'm having some troubles with the constant pain, the pain remains there, physiotherapy didn't help much too.

    Bad situation, he hit me from behind.

    I'm not sure if it's possible but:
    If you have a distance sensor and you can ''set'' it on the back of your vehicle with some red light/signal connected to the dash - then by all means install it, something like a warning sensor. Get warned when distracted drivers are approaching you from behind at high speed and when you realize avoid the rear end hit - as it hurts a lot.
     
  5. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    I'm sorry to hear that you were injured!
    I presumed (incorrectly) that since you didn't mention an injury, you escaped without harm.

    Best of luck to you!
    I hope that you recover fully.
    THAT is of course much more important than the car.