prius 2010 hybrid batteries dead at 126000km and up on atleast 3 taxis i know of

Someone much more aware of the total specs than I will confirm I'm sure. Certain items were reduced in size yet increased in performance in the transaxle (improvements? debatable). The battery whilst pretty similar is worked alot harder or so I've read on here.

We always had disc brakes all round and the bigger engine gives the car more real world usability. But there is definitely something not as good regarding the HV battery and how it is used. I'm at 67k and my HV battery is starting to give symptoms of wear. I'm sure if I'd stayed in the taxi game it would be dead by now. Sure that's just my uneducated guess, but judging how it was when new and how it was starting to cycle more and more often under less and less load, gives me the impression it hasn't got long on this world. Pretty much in line with the Greek experiences.

Obviously time will tell and the lack of taxi use will now be giving the car a rest (a kind of early retirement for it ), but when you drive a car 10+ hours a day, you start to pick up all the little nuances.

 

Since I live in warm like Greece Florida, It would be very interesting to me to see the reports of high mi. Prius lll battery pak failures in Southern US states. It is probably still too early at this time, but we need to keep track of failures of this type.

 

I had lots of customers say that if the Prius is good enough for taxi drivers it must be strong and reliable and that they'd consider getting one. I should have been on commission as I'm sure many sales were made because I used one as a cab.

 

The failure rate on HV pack is not recorded to my knowledge however, In states like California with lots of hills, steep hills, and mountains may play a factor as well places with extreme temp differential which could not be good for HV pack. The long cold winters and long hot summers with droughts are both harsh/hard on HV pack age/lifetime/lifecycle.......

 

^^^
I'm sure Toyota internally must have numbers (at least when Toyota dealers have been utilized), but I doubt they'd be willing to disclose it. To be fair, I don't think any automaker would want to go into detail about part failure rates, in general.

 

When the gen3 was released in the UK the HV battery warranty was reduced to just 60,000 miles BECAUSE they felt it was going to have a higher failure rate. This was in the days prior to the worldwide recalls. After those all warranties on new cars increased to 100,000 miles but so did the cost of the Prius. Wonder if they're factoring in the predicted failures?

 

Yes, thats why this forum and others are so valuable to us in reporting problems so we know about them.

 

I also saw the thread on the fan maintenance, and copied the pdf copy of the TSB. The TSB is only for the US market and is only for gen III cars (2010 - 2012 is the reference in the TSB). However, I plan to show it to my dealer and have them do the work as part of my 50,000 km service. Toyota Australia currently has a deal on all new cars where they offer a capped price for the first six services, and I was able to get my car with that. Probably will have to pay for the extra bit of service, but it will still give me a little peace of mind.

Here in Australia, the warrenty on the battery is 8 years or 150,000 kms.

I only average approx 300 km per day, with a current total of just 45,000 kms, so it will be a while before I get the milage up to that done by Socrates and GC. As a result of this thread, and some others, I have taken the approach of keeping the windows up, the climate control set to 23.5C, and the power on at all times, even when sitting on a rank for a long period. How this will affect the battery life I can only guess, and it will be a while before I can give any valid comment. So far, I have not had any issues with the car.

I have also had a number of people question me about the car, and I have had two customers tell me they have bought a Prius as a result of my comments. I also know that at least one other cab owner (with another fleet) has bought a Prius based on my comments. I am sure that I am one of the best advertisments for the car here in Sydney.

 

In Europe you have option of extending warranty every year (or 15.000 km) for a total of 10 years and regardless of km/miles: Toyota Hybrid Service Programme

The main question is how much do they charge for every year check up?

 

Oh yeah you do have the option of extending the warranty but at what cost Cheap it is NOT.

 

No free lunch, as always. It is not hard to understand, obviously. Just run through the numbers and you will see.

 

Just got the answer from Toyota about Hybrid Health Check program (Europe). They visually expect the system, connect it to a tester, and they charge 25 €. They will start with the program in November.
After 5 years or 100k km, you then have a option to extend Hybrid system warranty for 25 € every 15k km or every year. The best part is if you missed one check you can always do the service later, but you must pass the battery test, if the battery is good then you have warranty for next 15k km. That is 0,1667 EUR/100 km I think that is not so bad.

 

The dog warranty is 25K9.

 

I had a question about the hybrid battery. Even if it lasts a long time (100,000km+) does the battery become less efficient, not holding the charge as long,etc. and causing reduced fuel economy as the years go by? It would be nice to get some comments from owners who have had their Prii for many years if they had noticed this happening.

Thank you for your time.

 

I have seen roughly a 1 mpg reduction in the last 4 years on my 04 Prius. and I have seen roughly a 25% reduction in my hybrid battery (400wh to 300wh) and a similar decrease in my Plug-In battery (Hymotion 5kwhr, 5kwhr to under 4kwhr). Not much reduction in mpg, however I have learned how to drive better, and I have better low resistence tires now. The overall hit on mpg could be larger.

 

how big is your hymotion?

how much capacity did you use or have access to?

how much capacity do you have now?

how long have you had it?

 

I would be reluctant to place any filter media over the cooling inlet. No matter what you use, you'll deminish the airflow (CFM) to the battery compartment. Routine clean out would be the best option, IMO. Also, on hot days, I would opt to keep the windows up with the A/C running to keep the interior temperature down. You sort of need to weigh your options about fuel economy. I think to extend the life of the battery would be worthwhile.