have the majority of 2005 Prius Hv batteries already died?

Temperature is one of the most important factors in battery life. Art's Automotive is in California so in anywhere with colder climate batteries last longer. If you life in the hot climate then what matters is how has the Prius been kept? Outside in the sun? In shade? Air conditioned garage?

Condition and reliability of 15 year old vehicle has more to do with the previous owners than the build quality from factory.

If the car after fixing is worth more than what it's worth without the fix plus the cost of the fix then the repair is clearly worth it. If that's not the case then you'll have to think about the options. If you know the car you have and like it I'd say the repair is worth it even if the calculation comes out a bit negative.

 

With less than 100k miles, your car has a lot of life left in it. If the HV battery gives out, I would absolutely replace it with a brand new one from Toyota or one from newpriusbatteries.com, unless you have gotten tired of your ride by then and want to get something newer with the latest safety technologies.

 

I would "cross bridges as you come to them" with the hybrid battery. If it's not acting up, just carry on until it does. If it does. For sure research the options, but don't jump the gun.

Does Dr Prius work on second gen? It's a smart phone app, only about $10, and you need a bluetooth adapter in the obd port. It'll give some info as to voltage/resistance of the battery blocks. There's also dynamic tests you can run.

I've only done the first so far, with our 3rd gen. Also low usage btw, under 60K miles on our 2010.

 

Of course, we’re not privy to that information, but I’m inclined to say no

 

The Matrix. Those things are legendary.

 

Here's a pic of the cargo bay:


Kidding..., but here's the real thing, an older Toyota Matrix:



Newer ones were "improved", with drop-down-from-the-threshold and switch to carpeting.

 

perhaps you mean the Dalton?

Good times on the beaver slide.

 

nice! i drove mine to the the atlantic

 

With low mileage, ask yourself, "Is the rest of the car in reasonably good condition? Has it been maintained by the book? Has it been garaged or used mostly in mild climates?"

Personally, if it's in good shape, and still getting mileage close to what it did originally, *and you can save up for the battery replacement expense*, I'd keep it.

I had two 2009s at one point. One of them was totaled by a drunk driver in a pickup at 4:30 AM, while parked off the road in a suburban neighborhood. It had 186,500 miles on it. It got the same mileage as when I drove it off the lot new, in 2008, and it felt and drove like new before the wreck.

The other one, we still have. It has about 180,000 on it. It gets lousy mileage when driven short trips, but on the highway, it gets the same 46MPG we always got when we bought it used in 2012 with 49,000 on it. It, too, is in great shape.

Both those Gen II cars have been very reliable. The wrecked one had HID headlamps, which sucked out loud, and their entire assemblies leaked, shorted, and had to be replaced at a cost of $1650 for the pair. Otherwise, the two of them have cost maybe $2500 in actual other repairs, plus normal maintenance items like tires, 12V batteries, oil, filters, plugs... That's peanuts when spread over the time we have owned them.

We also have a 2010 and a 2015 Prius V, each with around 75,000 miles. We bought them when our twins went to college, so they could take the 2009s. The inverter failed in the 2010, but was fixed free of charge, the next day, under a special warranty bulletin for 2010s. The 2015 Entune radio/nav system electronics reboot randomly, every now and then, but that's mostly an annoyance... and a known issue,

We are looking at used Priuses now, to replace the 2009 lost in the collision. We'll get something close to $5300, the insurance settlement, I'm sure. If we have to put a battery in one of them, so be it. They're such reliable cars, I'm not too paranoid.

I know a reputable used car dealer who specializes in import vehicles. The owner runs a custom repair and restoration business. They love Priuses, and sell quite a few of them. They also love Corollas and Matrixes, Highlanders, Siennas, and Avalons. The Matrix hatchback is one of Toyota's sleeper vehicles. It is basically a hatchback version of the Corolla, so it's really solid. I'd consider it a decent alternative.

 

Unfort we have no data of Prius model year vs. batt fails since about 2012 or so when Consumer Reports did a survey. My perception is maybe 2008/2009's have better batt life, but just a hunch.

 

@2k1Toaster can answer all your questions about newpriusbatteries.com. I have no experience with them, but there have been good reports on them in this forum. If our Gen 2 had a 100k less miles than the 284k it has, and was in need of a new battery, that's probably the route I would take.

 

I have a 2005 with now over 370,000 miles and a 2008 with 223,000 miles. Neither battery has been tampered with since production. All original and going strong!

 

Today our 2006 Prius with about 80,000 miles turned on a row of four complaint lights (master red triangle alarm+brakes (yellow)+VSC+check engine). while operating normally. The dealer advised that the code was P0A80 and that the prescribed correction was to replace the traction battery. We opted for the dealer installed new build Toyota battery, for $3,000 + sales tax as installed.

While the car is garaged and weather when it is out and about is mild, about four times a week it makes a 4.1 mile round trip which traverses a 1,000 foot elevation change--so the battery cycles through a fair fraction of state of charge much more frequently than ideal. My wife is the primary driver and does not normally monitor the state of charge display. But when I got new tires for it some months ago I thought I saw faster state of charge reported change than when it was new on the same piece of road, so perhaps we got an early warning.

 

biggest issue is the low mileage and heat