What is killing all my Hybrid Batteries?! 3 batteries have failed.

Can you jump a hybrid battery just to get it started? Sorry if I am grasping straws and very uneducated on how a hybrid battery works.

 

You might get a refund, but you likely won't get your old battery back.

 

Nope, doesn't work that way, if battery is bad you replace it.

 

What dealers often do is inflate prices to the point you give up and walk next door to new car sales and buy another one

 

If you end back up at the dealership, ask for a goodwill assist on a new hybrid battery. The dealership will have to bump it up to corporate and if they do help you out it could mean $1000 or more off the msrp on the battery. A little haggling at the dealership might get you additional discount on the install labor. Just a thought.

 

That is a very sound observation. Unfortunately, very sad for the integrity of the human race!

 

Car dealers aren't in the human race. $$$ is the only consideration.

How come your husband does not help with this? Seems like your on your own. It's a difficult situation. Rarely are you contemplating a $4000 repair on a used car. Sometimes it's best to just bail and get a regular used car and get on with your life.

We see this hybrid battery issue here non stop now. This site is the mysterys of the 12 volt battery and bad hybrid battery's.

 

If you are under warranty then you should use it to get a replacement. There is in the US enforceable warranty law. If you have a warranty and you have given the business numerous chances to make good on the warranty and they continue to fail, you can get it fixed elsewhere and sue for your damages against the original business. This would be a very long expensive process and won't help your immediate need, but eventually you may get a resolution.

Until then you can just keep playing the Wheel of Refurbished Batteries. Maybe one of them will eventually stick.

 

Unlikely to be successful due to the HV battery not being the original one. Sorry.

 

Mountain, your experiences are why many will not purchase "rebuilt" HV batteries, they are quick to sell and install them and not so quick to help when they fail under warranty. Yes, they replaced it once, but junk for junk is still junk.

The fact the battery in your car is not original has no impact on the core value, from what I understand as long as it is complete, you should not be charged a dime in core fees against a NEW OEM replacement.

ONLY a STEALership would inflate a repair cost to drive new vehicle sales. No OEM wants their dealers screwing customers for Parts, Service or Sales. It's just not good business, albeit very profitable in the short term.

Finally, warranty laws for vehicles really only apply to new purchases. I'm no lawyer, but the laws are not designed to have any real teeth in the aftermarket, YMMV.

 

Mountain, If you have an Android phone (like a Samsung Galaxy S model or Note, etc), you have the ability, for a small investment, to check the health of your hybrid battery. Purchase an OBDLink LX obd-2 adapter (about $50) and get the two free apps called Hybrid Assistant and Hybrid Reporter. It's not a perfect app as it seems to sometimes confuse miles/km and liters/gallons, but the battery health check works great. You can perform the health check just by parking the car after it's warmed up, open all the windows and turning the AC on full blast. Press the health check start button on the phone screen and it will start recording all necessary data. At the start your battery will be around 60-65% state of charge. The AC will put an 8-10 amp load on the battery. The app shows the starting and current state of charge, so press the stop button before SOC shows 43%. The app needs about a 10% drop in SOC for it's calculations, but I typically wait until current SOC reaches 43-44%. The engine will fire up/start around 42.5%. After it saves the data, run the Hybrid Reporter app. It will provide graphs showing info for each of the 14 modules and an estimated battery capacity. It will be easy to see a weak module. A cheap obd adapter will not work properly. Spend the 50 bucks, it's worth it. I have a Galaxy S3 that I use. It has no SIM card, so it can't be used for calls, but the wireless works fine, so it can go on the internet and the bluetooth works fine, which is how the OBDLInk communicates.

 

Where to start... 3rd replacement of the refurbished hybrid battery, dealership said error code to replace internal computer, they had the car for 2 weeks, replaced computer for $1900.00. Dealer said the check engine light still comes on at random, ( the mechanic drove our car for a week like it was his own and engine light came on at random) the code is saying generic hybrid battery code but no faults in system. Asked what will I do when I need the car to pass inspection? (in our state if check engine light is on it will not pass. I will be driving illegally and will have license taken away.) Dealership said that was a good question. There was nothing more they can do.
Picked the car up brought it home. Parked for 3 hours got back into car tried to start- all dash lights lite- no ready light- will not do anything- car would not turn off. Got the 2nd key and got the car to turn off.
Does anyone have any idea of what may be the problem? The auxiliary battery was replaced 3 months before the hybrid battery bit the dust.

 

start with a small claim against the dealership and the shop that installed the batteries. and a call to the consumer affairs department in your attorney generals office.

btw, has the 12v ever been tested in this saga?

 

The main debug method is to read the codes. Your tech said they read the codes and it was a generic error. Post the exact error code. There should be multiple error codes at this point with the CEL illuminating. The light doesn't go on without logging a code. Post the codes.

I know you said the auxilliary battery was recently replaced, but I treat it as everytime I drop it off at a shop, they will drain it and kill it. These are not large batteries. Since your car has been in the use of shop techs for weeks, I would treat that as a need to be replaced battery. They are notorious for leaving the car door open and dome lights on from the time the car rolls into the shop to when it rolls out, usually requiring a jump just to get it to a customer. Just because you have a Prius, nothing would tell me you would alter their muscle memory. That's just what they do, they do not care.

If it is a hybrid system problem, there will be additional codes. It could be anything from HV leakage to an intermittent connection. At this point is probably little things. Like the tiny metal bar that goes over the HV connectors on the input side of the battery. If it has been bent slightly off, maybe it is making intermittent contact and causing HV leakage faults. Maybe a rat ate through the insulation of a cable under the car and when the wind blows from the South East as 8km/h it barely moves enough to cause an intermittent short and log a problem, etc.

 

Why are these cars such problems for mechanics? Why make a car that can not be fixed?

 

looking at my invoice they replaced the Hybrid Battery ECU/ Resistor Assembly.
Also what is the 100.00$- Less Insurance charge??? I just noticed this on my invoice

 

I can see your point about draining the auxiliary battery, all the lights come on and the doors are not locked like in the past with a drained battery. There will be a tow truck here in the morning but they already had me come and pick the car up and don't know what to do. I had an independent shop but the refurbished battery in with a 3 year warranty after they put the 3rd battery in they told me there was nothing they could do to get the check engine light off and it needed to go to the dealership. So dealership replaced the main computer, check engine light still come on and they can't get it to turn off. They had us come in give them 1907.00$ and drive the car away. What in the world is wrong with this car and if it is the auxiliary why would it not show a code and why would the hybrid lights be on? When I was driving it home all the !!!! lights came on in the middle of the drive. Any ideas what is not showing an error code?

 

If the light came on, there is an error code. It is not something that flashes on the screen. It is logged in multiple ECUs until cleared by a technician. It will have a timestamp of what the problem was and the exact code.

This is an example screenshot from my Prius with a failed traction pack. It also has bad TPMS sensors in the wheel, the light is always on and haven't been replaced since original.

As you can see it shows the exact code ("DTC") and the ECU that logged it. It also shows if the code was a historical problem that is gone now, or is currently causing the condition.

 

no idea, but there is no warning for a bad 12v, it presents itself in many different symptoms. might be worth a check, it's cheap, quick, and easy.

 

Ok so when they had the car and told me the error code was a "generic hybrid battery code" but no faults in the system. For me to come pick it up there was nothing more they could do. There has to be a fault and the code should tell them the fault so why not fix it? I am truly baffled.