Did any of your Gen2s not work due to the freezing cold?

I've been wondering about that myself. I got all the maintenance records from the previous owner's daughter (car was being sold because the previous owner passed) and I don't see paperwork for the 12V battery replacement. I texted her and she said she doesn't have the records - she says her boyfriend put the battery in himself as he works with cars. I don't have a personal relationship with them so I don't know if I should trust them. Going through the records, it looks like the 12V battery was replaced at this time last year at the Toyota dealership and the previous owner asked them at that time if the heated seats were causing the problem - it looks like they didn't think it was.

 

I am surprised everyone blames just the battery for not starting in extreme cold. Oil viscosity is also important. Dash could come on ready but engine either refuses to start or idles with loud valve noise for several minutes due to low oil pressure until oil warms up and flows freely again. Imagine what happens at these extreme low temperatures if a thicker oil was put in by a irresponsible shop.

 

well, that's two seperate issues. if the car won't make 'ready', that's one symptom to investigate.

but if it's ready, and the engine won't start, that's a whole 'nuther ball o' wax

 

I had that a similar issue. My car had all the warning lights on and it died a few days later out in the cold. The ECM died but I did get it fixed. These cars are overrated for their reliability. I have a Gen 2 and they have some hidden issues that you would never catch during a test drive.

 

Tesla is fairly well known for using non-automotive grade components in their cars. The big touchscreen is a popular example. Nobody made automotive-grade 17" touchscreens, so Tesla used ordinary office-grade ones. Then they started turning weird colors after being exposed to temperature extremes.

Toyota goes the other way: they demand auto-grade parts, and then they test the crap out of them to make sure.

 

Your 05 Prius is 17 years old. Of course there will be some issues.

JeffD

 

My 05 is that same 17 years old haven't had any issues none that I can think of other than the normal lights that will come on for various and sundry things and you get your code reader out and you know why the lights are on. Dying in the freezing cold has been going on since before DieHard batteries were invented and sold by Sears before Ford had a better idea and all of that nonsense so we're in 50-70 years ago cars were dying in the cold that will probably never stop If you let a battery get old enough it'll die when it gets real cold It's just one of those things. To be honest with it the Prius and it's Corolla brethren are some of the lowest maintenance vehicles on our planet. Point blank I've owned Corollas since they rolled off the line in the mid-60s with little 1.1 l engines they raced them in Greece the country all of that never had any real problems with any of those cars all the way up to my 1994 Corolla all bulletproof all made over 400,000 I owned them to that mileage I know what they did I cannot say the same for my Volkswagens my Nissans citroen I've had a few Russian cars that you can't pronounce and type here whatever but yeah everything mechanical can have some issues.

 

I live in Denver have a 2005 Prius, 12v battery is just under a year old, HV battery was rebuilt maybe 2 years ago. No issues here starting in 5 degree weather.