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2010 Prius battery not holding up like second generation Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by lucky1, Feb 19, 2014.

  1. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Yes I am aware of that. Look up the facts on the Prius first ;)

    When the battery overheats the car tries to not use it as much. How does the car generate electricity without using the battery as much? Think about it.....yeah you're almost there....come on....that's it, the engine powers the generator via either MG1 or MG2 to enable it to power the a/c and other items. (y)

    I wasn't making it up and this unusual situation has been discussed at length in the past.
     
  2. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Yes, more than likely.

    Toyota obviously calculated that the money saved on the cheaper parts could be offset by slightly higher warranty payments because of this and still make a profit.

    It is always said in my town that a taxi mileage should really be doubled to compare it to a non taxi. I'd tend to agree with that. The 80,000 miles on my car is probably reflective of wear and wear on a privately owned car with 160,000 miles.
     
  3. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    I wouldn't do that. The C-Max Hybrid has a WELL below average reliability rating in Consumer Reports.

    Every year of Gen 3 Prius has well above average reliability.
     
  4. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    So, you can shut off the traction control, which will allow the traction battery to torque the trans-axle beyond it's limit, empty the traction battery very fast and generally cause premature failure of both the traction battery and the trans-axle, and it's Toyota's fault?

    The gen 3 circulates air from the passenger cabin into the traction battery then into the spare tire well then into the 12v battery area then out of the car, it's less efficient, if you know you're going to overheat the traction battery by dismantling the traction control , I'd advise modifying the air flow across the traction battery and stream it directly to the 12v battery, bypassing the spare tire compartment, just like the gen2;)
     
  5. hybridbear

    hybridbear Member

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    Beware of bias in any report. I'm not saying that the C-Max is superior to the Prius, I was just saying that it wouldn't have issues with battery venting like you have with the Prius Gen 3.
     
  6. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    I think you shouldn't take things so literally. The wording was not the best and you have taken it literally. You can't switch off traction control in the gen3 - it's just it's no where near as severe as the early gen2.

    If your knowledge is lacking on that basic element, then your comments about modifying air flow should be taken with equal contempt. ;) x
     
  7. lucky1

    lucky1 Member

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    The day I hear of a Ford going 400+km with few headaches I would consider the switch . That day still seems to be a long way off. In the mid 1980's the cars from japan were being built so that they went 300 to 500,000km with very few problems and they took over the market because of word of mouth. I have not heard anyone speaking about Fords going 300 to 500,000km with very few problems.
     
  8. lucky1

    lucky1 Member

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    The only time I shut down the traction control is that one time a month that I am stuck bad and it is only shut down for a minute long enough to get unstuck from somewhere that I never would have been stuck with 90% of cars.
    I would love learn how to modify the air flow so that the battery stays cool and does not need to be replaced at 250,000km like most of our 2010 taxi's have had to do. I talked to a mechanic at a garage that services about 20 Prius taxi's and says at 250,000 taxi km be ready to replace the battery.
     
  9. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    I had a 1998 2.0 petrol Ford taxi that had covered just shy of 300,000 miles (480,000km) and whilst a little slack in places, it still ran sweet, started first time and got mid 40's to the UK gallon on a run or 30 mpg round town. It did rattle a little towards the end though ;)

    The European Ford Mondeo was a very strong car and very popular for taxis here. It was cheap to buy, cheap and easy to fix too, and you didn't have to take it to the main agent like with the Prius . Ford Mondeo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
  10. Mr.Electric

    Mr.Electric Member

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    The gen 2 is an unusually reliable vehicle. The Ford Escape hybrid seems to last beyond owners expectations too.
    I think Toyota and Ford will be the main players in the hybrid car game for the next few years at least.
     
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  11. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    That's sweet of you
    In the US you can't shut it down, I'm assuming the op can, sorry you can't, and yes, you should ignore all ideas about modifying anything, you'd have to pull your head out of the sand and who want's that?
     
  12. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    No the op can't. There is no off switch on any of the Prius models. He was telling nonsense as if it were fact. He didn't know what he was talking about and that isn't helpful on a forum. There is no off switch, so why was he saying there was.

    I'll pull my head out once you have ;)
     
  13. Redpoint5

    Redpoint5 Senior Member

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    It's rumored that the 4th generation Prius will debut in 2015. Perhaps that is your huckleberry.
     
  14. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    the p3 does use the battery more then the gen 2.
    so maybe there is the problem.
     
  15. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    And does using 'Eco Mode' utilise it more, causing greater issues?
     
  16. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    My perception is the Gen3 batteries are doing better than Gen2 for regular non-taxi consumers. We recently completed a survey for Gen2 battery failure. However, what had I really wanted to survey was every model year, sort of like Consumer Reports maintenance data in the back of the annual auto issue, but there were not enough participants.
     
  17. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    I'm not entirely sure it's taxi use thats causing the problems, but that taxi use is just accelerated town/city use. In a few years when privately owned city Prii reach 80k/90k miles, they too may experience battery issues. Private owners that commute 300 miles a day are putting very little stress on the car or the battery.

    The gen3 was designed at the height of Toyotas project to become World Number 1 regardless of quality. Then they got stung with the recall issues of 2010 and since then have probably tried to improve things again. Personally I fear the damage has been done and their reputation not what it once was. The European new Auris HSD is suffering severe reliability issues and has only been released 6 months or so (the older Auris HSD was fine). The Yaris HSD with the li-ion battery is also reported (on UK Toyota forums) to not achieve anywhere near the Prius for fuel economy despite on paper exceeding it. Perhaps the li-ion packs are no working in a real world hybrid situation?
     
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  18. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    the yaris does have Nimh no litium
    if the yaris is used for highway driving then yes it wil do less then the prius
    in town it wil do better
    combined i am not sure it seems that on paper the yaris is better but in real live not /.


    and yes eco mode uses it even more?!
     
  19. Gary in NY

    Gary in NY Member

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    I don't think those have a big enough cooling capacity to make that much difference. If you want to keep the HV battery cool, I think a bigger fan/blower to increase the airflow would probably be a better approach. Perhaps by replacing the original equipment one, or maybe adding another puller fan where the air exits (near the 12V aux battery) to help move more air. Or I wonder if cutting new ventilation holes in the floor above the battery, possibly with more fans, would help.

    I also wonder what kind of transaxle problems the cabbies are seeing. Inverter failure? MG failure or burnout? Bearing failure? I wonder if the root of this is overheating, due to long periods of hard driving, like what seems to cause the HV battery to run hot? I wonder if the current recall to prevent overheating transistors will do anything to solve this.
     
  20. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    Never say never, but the op and I are WRONG, no mater what the subject, correct?

    So back to the perceived problem, gen 3 is weaker then gen 2

    Well, I get 10mpg's better in the 3 than the 2, and I'm not commercial, commercial shouldn't expect a free ride(nice person, grass or gas), free transaxle, free traction battery, every 100,000 because of heat sump or inept air circulation, imho,ymmv;)