No start, no nothing!

There is a keyslot in the dash, just plug the keyfob into the slot and it should start.

If it doesn’t start, then you probably have a drained 12v battery. Just need a jump start

 

The battery can drain if a light was left on. Also if the battery is old and weak, it would even drain faster.

If someone has AAA or a friend can jump start the car, that would save you a long trip. AAA may even replace the battery at car's current location

 

Not weird at all. The 12v battery is one of the most common things that can go wrong in a Prius.

First the agm battery is small and lacks the capacity of a regular car battery that has to crank 200 amps to the starter.

Second your old Prius battery could now be limited to 20% capacity even when fully charged. It can still work enough to boot ecus. In the past I have started a Prius with a worn out 4 amp hour alarm battery.

But add one hatch light left on because the two stage latch was not closed all the way and you discharge from full to empty overnight. A jump and 30 minutes of driving charges the 20% battery capacity to full. It might be flawless for two months of driving every day. Until the day she just parks it at the grocery and it won’t start 30 minutes later.

You can load test the battery but cheap electronic testers are unreliable. In your case it would probably fail the battery regardless.

If the battery is 5-8 years old, change it. I would not chance it for my daughter. Consider getting an oem version which has a far superior warranty because of its quality.

 

Yuasa. Micro AGM .that's a battery

 

Probably what @rjparker said. It sounds like the 12V accessory battery. Being a Prius, it has less than half of the capacity of a normal car's battery, so it's easier to drain. (I gave my wife the birthday present of having her car detailed. They didn't put on a battery maintainer and flattened the car's battery while they cleaned the interior.)

It's a pain to get to, especially since it's a 12V circuit that unlocks the trunk.

There's a 12V battery access point inside the fuse box though. Open the hood and pull off the cover to the fuse box (driver's side above the wheel well). There should be a red cover over the 12V battery positive. Flip that to the side and measure the voltage between that and a vehicle ground. That's as good a place to hook up a battery charger as any.

Since it's a smaller battery, I wouldn't recommend giving it 100 amps like you could for a dead full-sized car battery. I've got a 6 amp charger, which peaks out at 10 amps before tripping out. It's enough to get the battery back to life after a couple hours or so.

Be warned, a Prius with too low a charge on the 12V battery can be a LOT worse than one with a dead 12V battery. When you step on the brake and push the power button, that's the time when the car draws the most current from the 12V accessory battery. It draws a bunch (relatively speaking) of current for the brake and steering boosters as well as powering up all the rest of the 12V systems. A near-flat 12V battery will lose enough voltage at that point to where it can't complete the power-up cycle, so it crashes - then starts powering up again - and crashes... leaving your car in a long-term powering up, crashing, powering up, crashing... cycle.

Maybe the best thing to do after you get a charge on your battery will be to open the trunk. At least that way you can disconnect the 12V battery if you get into the cycle.

At least that's been my experience with a low 12V battery.

 

Best thing to do with the Prius is put one of those power sports charging cord adapters on the battery when you install it drill a little hole and you can stick that wire head plug or you can easily access it by reaching on the inner side of the rear quarter panel pulling on it attaching your cord turning on the charger and walking away with your charger and your cable that close to the battery You can give it 20 amps for about 20 minutes and that'll get it up pretty good

 

All good advice above. I work on a number of Gen2s. The only parasitic draw problems I have seen are tailgate not fully latched or a map light left on. Normal key off draw is around 15-20mA.

Toyota battery is very good. I have had good results with AGMs made by East Penn manufacturing (sold by Deka, Federated Auto parts, and I think Napa)

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Deja and Yuasa are the gold standard in batteries or have been Deka is well known all my power sports stuff has Deka

 

We still don't have a post measuring the battery voltage. That would tell a lot. A weak battery will still provide some indications, such as dim interior lighting. The no, nothing, is characteristic of another possibility. The battery grounding strap that connects below the hatch lip. Loosen and reseat that also.