Featured Cayenne Poss. Hydrogen Sulfide from wrong 12v Battery

It's also worth noting that the Cayenne can have a second 12 volt battery in the rear, near the spare tire, in addition to the one under the driver's seat. (They do all sorts of stuff with load management, and disconnecting one battery upon shutdown, so that they can guarantee power is available for engine start even if the main battery is drained, if you have the second battery.)

 

1) I have for years tried to get folks to use the correct Prius battery. I feel it has been worth it that it was not a Prius in the news.

2) Whiners who feel the Prius 12 volt is hard to replace should be required to watch that, and think how all that electric power seat movement is going to go with a dead battery!

 

this is why we no longer own german cars.

 

I wouldn't judge a car origin by one unfortunate event.
But for sure I did judge VW group for prolongued lying.

 

agreed, but we've had enough porche's, bmw's and mercedes to know you buy them for reasons other than reliability.

 

I now wish I had fixed the broken vent tube on the HHR.

 

That is sad to hear! not to comfortable about having a flooded battery in the cabin!I knowing what a overcharged battery cell smells like! Like rotten egg! gas burns the mucus membranes! That why most manufacturers are moving to agm batteries which are smaller, lighter, more powerful, but agm don't like to be fast charged, and over charged which leads to early failures! There fore they require a monitoring and regulating system.a anyone knows how much amperage the Prius inverter charges the battery ? I have notice on the scangage in the morning battery voltage is as high as 14.8 volts! After usage it's drops to 11.5 v a t times.

 

IIRC, 500ppm of H2S will kill the sense of smell with one inhalation. 1000ppm can kill with one breath. Those are tiny amounts in an enclosed car cabin.

Sulfur smells on the road can be from a bad cat on another car. So if she did smell anything, and had time to ponder it, she might have thought it was from outside.

 

That report was from June, long before the toxicity test results had returned. Responding officers reported strong caustic chemical odor upon opening the car; a couple were even hospitalized. CO itself is odorless, and I can't think of another agent being released along with it from the usual source in a car being as described. it also would have to get into the car from outside.

H2S disrupts the cells ability to use oxygen for respiration, so the symptoms can mimic CO poisoning.

 

Maybe instead of a mouse living in the air filter she had a skunk?

H2S is nasty stuff --->> Link to OSHA <<---

100 ppm is IDLH - Immediately dangerous to life and health. It's also the level at which you can no longer smell it.

500-700 pm = Staggering, collapse in 5 minutes. Serious damage to the eyes in 30 minutes. Death after 30-60 minutes.

700-1000 = Rapid unconsciousness, "knockdown" or immediate collapse within 1 to 2 breaths, breathing stops, death within minutes.

1000-2000 = Nearly instant death

 

I don't think all the details have been released publicly; possibly for the upcoming civil suite. I've only seen mention that the battery was the wrong type; nothing on it being damaged or not. One of its cells could have ruptured, and suddenly flooded the cabin with H2S. That would also release hot acid, and I don't think many people can call the difference between caustic and corrosive chemicals when sensed, they both burn the nose.