Ooops! Dead Prius

Aug 26, 2007 6 Replies
T

Normally I'm a very satisfied Prius owner. It's a silver '04 with package group 6 and at 41,000 miles hasn't even needed a brake job. So, I was a bit surprised the other day while driving home from a client's office when the Master Alarm went off and my battery level meter started taking a (rapid!) nosedive. Drove it straight to the dealership where wifey was nice enough to pick me up. The culprit?



My hybrid battery pack died.



Uggh. Rats. Shoot. I can just hear the snickers from all those people that tried to warn me. Warranty covered it (jeeze, what happens after 41,000 MORE miles?) but these things do die.



Just thought you'd like to know.



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M

What stored codes or other diagnostics were needed to come up with the battery as the problem?

Something similar:

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TSB EG023-04 June 28, 2004, Revised July 12, 2004, 2004 Prius. M.I.L. "On" HV Battery DTCs P3000, P3056, and/or other DTCs. Battery cell votages may show zero charge, but car runs normally. Fix: replace Floor Wiring Harness No. 3.

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G

What happens after 41,000 more? They will give you another new battery under warranty! :-)

G-Man

PS, tell them you want 100k on the NEW battery too!

G-Man

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M

You're full of s*it.

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M

This fits what we've seen with hybrid battery failures. Although they are still very rare - I haven't kept track but I've seen reports of between one and two dozen failures - there is no obvious age relationship. The oldest one I've heard of was at 201K miles (IIRC) and the newest was very young, perhaps 15K miles.

So, I wouldn't worry about another hybrid battery failure. You won the "D'oh!" lottery (congratulations?) and if you suffer a second hybrid battery failure you will be the first person I've ever heard of to have that bad luck. Several have gone over 200K miles - even over 201K miles! - with no battery trouble. I think the leader now may be Jesse Rudavsky's 2001 at 309K miles last we heard

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Mike

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D

Just curious. What was the cost of the new battery pack?

Dick

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B

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Bob Wilson

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