2006 P0A80 7 years 10.5 months-how likely free replace

Yesterday I get that grim call from my 28 yo son.
RED TRIANGLE etc
I only drive the 2006 maybe once a month-wife son hate the old "evacuate the 6 pets hulk used 1998 suburban 225,000 miles" I'm stuck with
He gets it home-I read code-SG P0A80
It now has check engine RED TRIANGLE and red outlined car warning icons
earlier it also had VSC and BRAKE icon-but they disappeared
P0A80 means replace hybrid battery
I'm near new orleans-louisiana
Car bought 4-22-2006 84,500 miles- so BARELY in warranty
How likely is a Toyota dealer- to just replace the battery free-and not delay delay to get past 8 years-since them I would have to pay them-instead of whatever pittance Toyota pays them for warranty work (assume they are thieves-since they ALL are in Louisiana-)
Thanks
Charlie

 

patrick
Thanks for the advice.
Shoot I should have waited for some response-but I woke my son up and we two-cared to the dealer.
I pointedly told the service writer that the CODE was P0A80-(bad traction battery)and he politely said "yeah that is just a generic code-doesn't mean much -could be something else"
And I politely said louisiana is hot-hard on batteries-and the 85,000 miles-all city-and I suspected Toyota codes aren't that generic-low voltage usually means bad battery-or "bad whatever is charging battery"-
It reaches 8 years on 4-22-2014 so I won't be happy if they just clear codes-and send us on our way.

Yeah probably should have waited-dealers being dealers-and there not being happy with whatever pittance Toyota pays for warranty-
I did have another recall letter-intermediate steering shaft-they were going to check that also-but once again-warranty work-not much $$ in that.


Big Aside- our brake pads- 85,000 miles-via eyeball-maybe just 2mm left-literally 2mm-any chance it can detect something like that-braking "not as good with some little pad material"l-no gouging of rotors-so not down to rivets
the BRAKE icon and VSC warnings went away-haven't returned-so kinda doubt it has anything to do with them
but the VSC module-must be EXTREMELY pricy-$2000 maybe-they will see those "warnings" not sure what they will make of them.Certainly nothing that will help me since that stuff waaaaay out of warranty.

Thanks again- the prius is such a good car(just the inverter and this problem in 8 years)-but the ancient 98 suburban-225,000 miles-$2950 in 2007-is MUCH easier to DIY repair-and it is soooo owner-proof- and pothole proof-runs forever despite leaking small amounts of oil and coolant -and the parts-even GM parts-are soooo cheap-
and no scary icons of death"bring to dealer or I self destruct at great expense" and sooo little room in that engine bay
but 15mpg vs 45 mpg- the a suburban would have used maybe 4000 more gallons-$14,000 more fuel in the 85,000 miles- so easy choice -EXCEPT NOW
but staring in that tightly packed engine bay-gives me pause


PS The 84,500 miles-ALL CITY SHORT TRIP MILES in a hot-new orleans-city-so 8 hard years for the BP-there was just one 1400 mile road trip-the rest-pure city-10-15 miles or less-some much less
and the PRIUS is BLACK- hot as heck in the summer!! Being BLACK might have been just enough to make it fail earlier-so good color choice

 

JeffD
Thanks for response-We brought it in-they will call in a couple of hours with the good/bad news
I'm never an optimist when dealing with Louisiana dealers-they have never given me cause to be optimistic
Fingers crossed
On the BRIGHT SIDE- 5 weeks before 8 year warranty expired-hey I have probably used up my next 5 years worth of GOOD luck! $3000 because it fails a tiny bit earlier-yeah that is LUCK!
Thanks
Charlie

PS I should add those 84,500 miles-ALL PURE CITY SHORT TRIP MILES- hard miles in a hot-New orleans-city

 

Patrick

Yes I left it 2 or so hours ago-no call yet.
When I told the service writer I had checked the code-P0A80-and it was "bad traction battery" he immediately said it was "just a generic code-doesn't always mean battery-could mean anything" Pure BS of course-but typical service writer speak-
The sensor that would have triggered this is just some glorified volt meter,right?
Low traction battery voltage-pretty clear. The other things that would cause low BP voltage-hybrid components and covered also-probably-
no leaks no low fluids no funny noises car seem fine(4 months back son mentioned "it seems slower" I drove it-didn't notice anything-but maybe that was the 1st hint)

What is "that mini VCI" a gadget to communicate with the car? Plug in type-add software etc?
Yes I definitely need to get more into maintaining it
Engine bay soooo much busier than the 98 suburban-the various electronic diagnostics-actually simplify diagnosis and repair--but the close quarters-......
Thanks for the help
great forum
Charlie

 

Electric
Yes if they replace it-40 days from end of warranty-I most certainly will have used up at least 5 years worth of good luck.

Maui-right -Patrick's salvage yard for pricy parts-great idea- new Toyota parts are PRICY! A low use wrecked car part-probaly 25% of a new part-plenty of miles years left in those parts.

Slight aside-my prius is BLACK- hate the color-but price was right-
8 months of the year-New Orleans-it is HOT-and black is a terrible color
I wonder if the black color hastened the BP death?? Maybe that black color croaked it a few months or years early-so it did me a big favor-
the 8 years and 85,000 miles- hard service-ALL short trip city miles-

 

ELECTRIC
You were right!!
Got a call about 4 pm-guy says "I have sorta good news for you-you were right it was the BP and the good news is you are 44 days inside your warranty-so no charge"
I ordered the battery-it will arrive Tuesday and plan to pick it up WED- small chance it will be ready late tuesday

Toyota came thru-no BS- nice change.

Patrick- Amazon for the mini VCI- I gets lots of GM parts for the suburban-intake manifold gaskets water pump etc-on amazon-they ship very fast-I have a bicycle seat on the way from them right now

thanks again-used up all my luck for the next 5 years!
Charlie
PS-Great Forum

 

Guess I should re-think my ALL DEALERS are thieves
I actually bought my prius from them Lakeside Toyota-good price-$26000 OTD($3000 was TTL-subtract $3150 TC-
Good
1)so 2006 $23000 decent price as gas prices were rising
2)and in 1995 they did a good job-fair price-replacing my clutch 1986 truck
3) 2014-so yesterdays BP fair handling
4)Dad bought a 1969 Corolla SW-$1200 after trading in a 1964 MG1100 (fun car terrible electrics)
an
should make up for
BAD
1) 1979 selling me a truck with 10,000 miles as NEW(ATTRACTIVE SALE WOMAN)
2)AND 1981 repeatedly trying to cheat me-bring same sales contract back-after claiming they were correcting a $2000 "mistake"
So Lakeside Toyota Metairie Louisiana-seem to be "good guys" dealer wise-now-a-days
Credit where credit due
Lakeside came thru for me-
Another dealer-on Vets Blvd- were less than good when they did inverter pump replacement
so LAKESIDE SEEMS BETTER THAN AVERAGE-
Thanks
Charlie
PS-yes I have a long memory dealer wise-
Yes I hold grudges!

 

Nah-it was all me- male young dumb
It was a light lime yellow green 1978 Toyota truck-and it was about 1978(lotta odd colors back then-really a garish color ).
I told her-blond saleswoman I wanted to buy a new truck
She showed me the truck-I drove it-never looked at the odometer-this was before the term "program cars"
used cars were called "used cars" back then
It was a base model-4 speed MT- 4 cylinder(all the little trucks were 4 cylinder then)
it even had a camper top-plenty
Well I got a loan-bought truck-drove it home-
looked at odometer-looked at contract-
yep staring me in the face 10,317 miles(or something like that) I called dealer-but obviously I was SOL
Yeah-LOOK at odometer-not as sales person.
It was a good truck-but being young-27-and reckless-I wrecked it in short order
Next trucks-1980 D100 1986 Toyota 1994 Toyota 1998 toyota 2001 Tundra 2004 Titan- even 1998 Suburban(bought in 2007 with 195,000 miles on it) first order of business-look at odometer
same story 2006 prius-it has maybe 3500 miles on it-but was "new"

Yeah Blond attractive sales woman- and I don't really favor Blonds!!
Male - young and dumb !

 

Nickel metal hydride cells-have an inherent voltage about 1.2 volts??
And the Prius BP- roughly 250 Volts??
So are there actually 200 or so little cells in series??
6 ,7, 8 per module??
Wow-that seems kinda "busy"
Are they soldered together?
Too bad they aren't just spring loaded in place-like a flashlight-sure would make them easier to DIY replace
Flip up your seat-put on the volt meter-replace those that are down on voltage-
Granted 250 volts-you would have to be careful.

Just how busy looking is an opened battery pack? Seems like you could DIY built a replacement BP- if it came to it.

 

Thanks
So not too busy looking-and folks do DIY rebuild replace entire BPs

Thanks
168 cells-lotta' cells-but on the bright side much less expensive to repair replace a few inexpensive cells
And conceptually simple to DIY build your own
No doubt not so simple in practice-