Why does the Gen3 hybrid battery fail more than in the Gen2?

I am not sure who is paying you to bad mouth the Prius, I wish they wouldn't. Further, I wish you had the integrity not to take their money to spread lies.

You do not have a Gen 3 Prius.

Consumer Reports has documented reports of vehicle reliability. PriusChat has anecdotal reports of vehicle reliability. Neither seems to indicate any large number of Gen 3 battery failures. (Gen 1 had corrosion issues, largely fixed in Gen 2.) Gen 3 is not even out of warranty here in the US, let alone near failure.

 

I already gave my theory, as you know.

I have no theories why Sri Lankan Gen 3s would have a higher failure rate than the Gen3s elsewhere in the world.

Hypothetically, each generation of Prius has new technology that Toyota hopes will be an improvement over what has come before. Sometimes this works, sometimes the owners regret the innovation. North American Gen 2 owners found the excellent evaporative emissions control device rendered fill ups difficult and predicting range impossible. Gen 3 owners found the eco friendly plastics squeaked. Etc.

While I know of no major changes in battery chemistries, I am not sure major mistakes would be needed. Air flow, software, sound deadening, all most any change could cause overheating in hot climates. I have no speculation why other nations would not have similar reports.

 

because srilanka has dirt and dust more than north america.

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Why doesn't the hybrid battery fan run while when sitting still | PriusChat

Check this out! I just posted about this yesterday.

 

And it gas been identified as wild speculation until you use your ScanGuage to prove otherwise.

 

Dirt and dust would only impact the battery ventilation system, possibly blocking the intake vent. Lack of proper maintenance would allow the battery to overheat more often, and that -could- shorten life. Vacuum the intake grill to clean it.
The GIII uses the battery more aggressively than the GII did. That could push the failure numbers a little higher, though in most places only taxi use has seen an increase in failures as far as I know.
The GIII battery is mostly the same as the GII battery, with slight improvements.
The battery cooling intake vent was moved from GII to GIII. Perhaps in your area the style of clothing worn is blocking it more often than in other places.

 

welcome! i can't speak for sri lanka, but 99.9% of the bad batteries reported here are all gen 2. and i suspect that is because they are older with more miles.
if what you are seeing is actually happening (and you have no way to know, unless toyota divulged that info)
we probably won't be able to answer your question, because it isn't happening anywhere else in the world that reports here.

 

yeah right, ever heard about New Mexico?

 

I can't recall a single 3rd gen battery failure being reported here. That, knowing my flakey memory, probably means there's been very few cases. It's a lot newer than second gen of course, but there's some high mileage cars here now, getting into oil consumption problems and the like.

 

Last week there was a member from Sri Lanka that had 2 issues: one on the battery side and one on the engine side. @san was the member. We helped him through the ice issues with clogging but we was talking about a steep 40%grade hill at first.

He was working with a hybrid shop somewhere in Sri Lanka. You can check with him and get his thoughts. But this is the first I remember of a gen III battery failure.

 

The 10-year, 150,000 mile hybrid battery warranty (California) was a huge selling point for me. The battery is one thing I don't worry about, thankfully.

 

if the gen 3 is failing more than the gen 2, then gen 4 owners are probably screwed.

 

Be nice, bisco. We are good for at least 10 years....
(We got to get you an Avatar picture. Any man with 20 million posts should have a nice Avatar.)

 

Would this work?


Boston Tea Party

 

I offer a comment only because I was taken back by the thread heading.

I have discussed this very issue with the Toyota Parts Manager, and he told me the only HV batteries to fail at the local dealership, have been 2nd generation Prius.

I traded my 3rd generation (2010) Prius with 130,000 miles, and not one hint of a HV battery problem. I was unable to detect any loss in potential, and my fuel efficiency was unchanged over the 5 years that I owned it (based on detailed records I maintained every fill-up while I owned the car).

There must be some other environmental reason as suggested above.

 

What, you mean that isn't his avatar? I figured everyone else was just copying Bisco.

 

IIRC, there have been a few taxi drivers reporting early failures.

There was a guy (commercial driver IIRC) who lost one very early in his Prius C. He was past warranty due to mileage but luckily found a cheap replacement from a junk yard. Found it: 2012 Prius c 221,000 miles hybrid battery dead | PriusChat

 

IF the gen 3 batteries fail more often then gen 2, it could be harsher charge-discharge management, different, less robust cells, different packaging in the cars, etc. Actually, it is probably too early to have enough data to really know failure rates of gen 3 batteries.

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