2007 (150kmi) on its 5th hybrid battery in past year

Those batteries are NOT new. They are rebuilt with used, old modules to replace the failed modules.

You can purchase a new battery from Toyota with a 3yr warranty for as little as $2,000-ish plus installation (and your old battery). If anyone else installs the Toyota battery, it gets a 1 year warranty from Toyota. 3rd party installers can and do offer their own warranties on these new batteries.

 

Your mechanic sounds like an honest man. He's probably loosing money on you by now. My guess would be that the re-manufactured battery has one or more cells that were replaced and then the next nearest dead cell finally died and caused the the whole battery to fail. You don't mention mileage or overall condition of the car. If it is relatively in good shape otherwise have him replace the failed battery once again. Also have him check for any diagnostic codes to see if there is more than one issue contributing to the failure. If the inverter shows any codes, have it replaced also. $450 is not a bad price for a replacement.

If you have another failure and no warranty to fall back on, this option becomes more palatable. You'll need to decide whether the cost is worthwhile. But if you do this, your ongoing issues should be resolved. Again, $2400 isn't a bad price from what others here at PC have reported.

 

I believe that re-manufactured battery packs are a crap-shoot; you might get a good one and you might not. Your experience demonstrates that re-manufacturing a complex system of individual batteries isn't perfected yet and it may always have issues. To be successful each battery in the package must have nearly the same voltage, charging and discharging characteristics or weak individual batteries will fail leading to another package failure.

There are a couple of hybrid battery experts here on PC that have discussed the process and procedures for re-manufacturing the hybrid battery.

 

Yup, another dead HV battery module(s).

"Congrats" I think you have the highest total of failures reported here. IIRC, 3 had been the previous highest tally and it was a doorman battery purchased through a auto-parts store. The good news is you've been able to get the failures repaired as some folks have had poor results with more fly-by-night outfits/scam artists posting on craigslist, etc.

 

Buy a genuine Toyota battery and you should be good for 7 to 20 years. Remanufactured often means patched together from other pieces of used batteries. Not good.


iPhone ?

 

Can't see how the mechanic is causing the problem unless he is doing the re-manufacturing of the HV batteries being installed in your Prius. Can't see how the inverter would cause the problem either since problems with the replacement HV battery should appear within a couple of weeks, not months. A faulty inverter would not charge the pack correctly and I'd think you'd notice that quickly.

Since your Prius has "relatively" low miles on it, if I were you I would splurge for a new HV battery from a Toyota stealership. Your hubby drives it enough such that the gas savings will offset some of the cost of the new battery. And, if your Prius gets totaled in an accident you could definitely sell the modules or the entire pack for at least half the cost if it happens in the first couple of years.

 

Your battery rebuilder is the problem. His supply of modules are no good.....thus your repairs have been no good. There are 28 modules in the prius battery, replacing a bad module with another bad module will not buy much time.....even if you do it 5 times

 

fotomoto is right, you win for most batteries replaced in the shortest time.
I am surprised the mechanic has been able to keep up with the warranty cost. Most warranties include the part, but not the labor.

There are reputable rebuilders that don't have anywhere near that number of failures.

If you need your car to be reliable, I would not consider a junkyard battery. It is really just a roll of the dice.

The cost differential between a reputable rebuild and a NEW one from Toyota may not be that much.
Not sure what the deal is with purchasing a new inverter? That is usually a completely different set of error codes from the battery pack!

If it were me, since you car has "only" 160,000 miles on it, if it is a car you plan on keeping long term, I'd get a NEW battery from Toyota.

Sometimes independent mechanics have a bit of a hassle getting the local Toyota Dealer to sell them a battery. Hopefully that is not the case in your area. Do you think your trusted mechanic is willing to install it for you if he can get one? It does involve a bit more work since it does not come fully assembled and involves swapping over a bunch of electronics and other items.

I see you are in the USA (not sure what part of the country), if you want to talk this through a bit on the phone, feel free to call me (608-729-4082). I'm always happy to offer advice.

 

I destroyed a 2nd generation Prius battery by routinely deep cycling it. I didn't realize all the damage I was doing when I run the air conditioning going through a carwash while the car was in neutral. I also didn't realize the damage I was doing by pulling out of the driveway and laying into the gas pedal while the engine was cold. The engine management controls prevent the gas engine from accelerating and you deep cycle the electric battery while the air conditioner Roars and you make very little electricity. It costed me a battery. I didn't realize it but you actually have to let this engine warm up and go through its first cycle before you lay into the gas pedal if you have air conditioning running in a hot climate. If you see that battery meter go down all the way to the bottom you might be risking doing what I did. Does this sound like the answer to your problem?

 

Foot to the floor won't be a problem since it will trigger the engine to rev up. I'm talking about the engine not being allowed to rev up because you're pushing hard into the gas pedal but the engine stays at around 1,000 rp.m. this. This causes you to use a lot of electricity. The action is kind of intuitive. No man of words will describe this scenario but if you're doing it you'll know that you are and you should have an epiphany at this moment

 

The 44 to 48mpg is spot on. That's inline with the 2005 Prius I just sold at 195k miles (and still perfect with original battery).

That mpg tells me things are working fine. You just have a bad battery issue. Batteries can't be "reconditioned" successfully. Acid can't be added do how can they be refreshed to last years?

Find your best price on a new Toyota battery. That will give many years and end your hassles. If you want a cheaper option find a good recently wrecked 2009 and buy its battery. That will give you a couple of years possibly. My
View is the batteries have a high probability of going 10yrs.


iPhone ?

 

So in this case all that is happening is the mechanic is charging/discharging the pack. Doesn't sound like any parts are being replaced.
In that case having to do this 5 times is not unexpected.

That said, you have a decision to make about your car and a replacement hybrid battery.

I would choose a fully refurbished one with a 3 year warranty from a reputable source or a NEW one from Toyota.

I would lean towards having your independent guy install the NEW Toyota one. This should give you a long-lasting repair that is reliable.

And as far as taking it easy on a battery? Don't worry about it. Just drive it.

 

Buy a New Toyota HV battery from Toyota and have them install it. You will have a 3 year warranty if they install it and most likely your car will be fine (at least the HV battery) for another 10 years. Sorry I still have the after-taste of my remanufactured battery lesson. Listen to these guys they know the drill.

My opinion, the older these batteries get the less reliable they are and consequently will become increasingly less successful and reviving, rebuilding, reconditioning, re-anything.

 

No need to have the Dealer do it.
Have the independent shop do it (for less) and keep the savings.
That said if I was the installer I would be happy to match the Dealer pricing and extend the warranty to 3 years myself.
I'd be able to confidently pocket the extra money, knowing that I have NEVER seen a new battery from Toyota fail within 3 years.

 

looks like a scam to me.