2017 Prius Prime with $15,000 rodent damage!?!

It had to have been smelling before you figured this out. I live in so cal and have had experience rodent entering the vehicle from the air ventilation duck under the windshield wiper tray…

best of luck, if you have decent insurance it should be covered..also you should find a decent lemon law layer to take this up with Toyota. If they accept it, it shouldn’t cost you anything

 

From @storm petrol's postings, it seems there’s no dispute as to coverage; the issue is how to make the repairs.

I’d encourage anyone who has questions about legal rights to consult a lawyer, but I’m not sure this is a lemon-law situation, since the problem is due to outside influence rather than a defect covered under warranty.

The delays getting repair parts, and the apparent need to replace the entire HV battery assembly rather than just the damaged wire harness, are regrettable, but it’s not clear to me that a lawyer would be able to get anything from Toyota that the dealer and insurance company couldn’t. As far as I know, the automakers have no general obligation to sell repair parts.

 

Maybe a lemon lay lawyer would be willing to take the case?! Worth the pitch if they see a way to make money? I’m sure they practice in all areas..

 

Why would lemon law apply to rodent damage?

 

I just clicked ignore on the guy who doesn't understand what the laws are. I ignore lots of people on this website. Whenever I find somebody is wrong about everything they say I block them so that now I only see people like yourself on this website who are habitually correct and thorough and educated. Thank you for calling him out on this

 

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I intended to say, maybe they know of an other practice or an attorney that can help? A lot of them practice in different areas as well.

Cheers!

 

I'm sure there are two or 3 battery refurbishing companies who would make the arrangements for your battery to be shipped to them.

 

I’d expect the dealer to dispose of the old HV battery, as part of the service of doing the replacement. Toyota has a program for dealers to return Li-ion HV batteries; see pages 2–3 of PANT Bulletin 2013-009 Rev2, “Ni-MH and Li-Ion High Voltage Battery (HVB) Policy & Recovery Program” (PDF), April 16, 2019.

 

it will get the standard toyota recycling with all the bad li-on batteries. that would be a real shame for the environment. batteries should not be recycled untilthey are at the end of useful life.
best thing you could do environmentally would be to try to find a buyer at any cost.

 

The document I linked, despite the date in the footers, is the 2019 revision, and as far as I know, still current.

The delivery address in Brea, California, isn’t a Toyota facility; rather, it’s a warehouse for Cirba Solutions, which acquired the Kinsbursky Bros. EV battery recycling business. Their website mentions Li-ion processing, but it’s not clear just what they do with the recovered material. I doubt the battery or cells would be reused in a vehicle.

The most environmentally responsible thing to do would be to avoid the need for another battery entirely by repairing the damaged wiring, provided this could be done reliably. (Car fires aren’t exactly eco-friendly.) I realize this may be easier said than done, if it’s beyond the dealer’s expertise, Toyota doesn’t sell the parts to make it easy, and there’s no one else nearby willing and competent to do the job.

 

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Your location based on your sig....is well..very remote indeed..but I might be off kyrgzstan? The battery will definitely have some value. I have a few contacts. I will reach out to them. I'm sure somebody wouldn't mind shelving this battery on a trickle unit. Somebody somewhere will have a need for it.

 

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