2007 Prius base, 62K miles P0A80, P3016, C1259, C1310

No sir, I'm not a lawyer. I just play one on TV.
I'm just a retired soldier, probably older than you, truth be told. No pull. Our son is a lawyer, though. He gave me a snowball's chance, and that was his only advice. He was surprised at the outcome.
But a few things I've picked up over the years have served me well:
Deal with a widely respected company that values its reputation.
Organize your concerns and list them before contacting anyone.
Present your concerns in a firm, but respectful manner.
Avoid being confrontational (the most difficult thing to do).
Don't assume your counterpart is out to screw you. If he is, that becomes evident fairly quickly.
Assume your counterpart wants to do the right thing and avoid conflict. It's just good for business.
Take notes. Now, while events are fresh. Not later.
Take names and phone numbers.
Be respectful of your counterpart's position.
Recognize your first, maybe second point of contact may not be in a position to make a decision and finds "no" is the easiest response.
Find the person who is in the position to make a decision without fear of repercussions from superiors.
Be prepared to compromise.
Be prepared to elevate your concern if necessary, advise your counterpart of same, and follow through without delay.
Take legal action only as a last resort, and only if you're firmly convinced in the legitimacy of your concern.
Be patient.
Be prepared to lose and move on or get nasty and deal with possible repercussions.
If you're doing face to face, dress appropriately. Business attire if necessary. It wordlessly communicates you're serious.

Just treat the other guy the same way you would want to be treated.

Most of the time, this approach earns positive results. Not always. And never if you're dealing with Joe Schmoe's EZCredit Curbside Auto Sales.

And sometimes I'll embark on something doubtful because I just don't know any better.

These notes aren't in any particular order. If they help someone, I'm happy. Just a small payback for the wisdom this newbie has already found in this forum.

BTW, folks in Texas really are friendly if you give us half a chance. The PO could have blown me off, could have not answered my voice mail, but I figured I had nothing to lose by calling her and as it happens we found we have quite a lot in common. We each made a new friend.

 

Melon, the car will be returned to service on Friday. Sterling McCall tech confirmed to me this morning the HV pack is a new Toyota OEM pack with the standard 1 year unlimited miles warranty plus a new 12V battery. I hadn't requested replacement of the failed 12V battery, as I had expected my 3rd party warranty would cover it, so I assume it's a good will gesture on the part of the dealer. Also replacing the peripherals associated with the pack (cooling fan? etc). I won't have the opportunity to actually see it, since I'm in San Antonio. I suppose I could ask the tech to take a pic but I'm not sure what I would learn from that. My 3rd party warranty is covering the installation of the new water pump but the price of the new belt is on my dime. Inverter coolant pump had been replaced under the TSB in 2011 and it has no issues. So my total out of pocket expense is the 3rd party warranty $50 copay and the cost of the new water pump belt.

 

Thanks! That's good to know. I'm looking forward to our daughter enjoying this car for quite a while.

 

Running into a problem. Sterling McCall has no ETA on new battery pack. Back ordered. How is that possible if Hometown Hybrids has one in stock right now, ready to install? Are the aftermarket folks buying up the stock to sell them at a discounted price to individual owners e.g., Gen 2 new OEM $2000 total with 3yr/75K mileage warranty vs dealer out of warranty replacement @ ~$3500 plus tax with 3yr/unlimited mileage warranty?

 

Contacted my local dealer (Cavender) who's footing the bill to ask about their inventory. Also out of stock, estimate 7-10 business days to get one, stated 31 batteries are currently in transit from California to the Toyota Houston distribution center, all as a result of orders, so it may be that one of those is destined for my car, as Sterling McCall has 28 on backorder. Will call them back tomorrow, as they had requested I call before 5pm local time to get a verification from the center. If that's the case I have no worries. Otherwise, according to Cavender, there are two other dealerships in San Antonio with the batteries in stock, might be possible to ship one to Houston from their inventory. But I won't learn any more this evening.

 

So the failure rate is increasing because they've reached or surpassed their life expectancy, putting a strain on the replacement logistics chain. If that's the case, I'm very lucky in the way they resolved this. As has been noted earlier, maybe my car shouldn't have even been offered for sale at all without the caution that the HV battery was on borrowed time. They expected it would fail, just not as quickly as it did. I wonder if that's the real reason they coughed it up.

 

So, no confirmation of an ETA for the HV battery, but they do expect it by sometime next week. In the meantime, Cavender Toyota stepped up and they're paying for a rental car for my daughter until the Prius is ready to go. That's far above and beyond.