Other concerns addressed?

1/2 no more than in every other car on the road, 3. no idea .

 

Right on!

There was a time when reverse polarity jump starts, in fact a time when any jump start, could fry ignition modules or CCC units. The remedy today is the same as the remedy then; a good lawyer's letter.

A cursory read of the owner's manual shows exactly where under the hood to put the cables and supply enough voltage to start the computer. Once the computer starts, the main battery and associated circuitry supply the juice to run the computer and recharge the 12 volt battery.

You don't really "jump start" a Prius. A stack of D cells will do the job.

 

Geeze, I don't know. How many can you detail? Be sure and keep the valences correct as you do that.

 

i have seen complete cars fried from reverse polarity jumps (all the ecu's, etc).

 

Most likely the fuel tank will be 45 litres like the previous model's non-bladder tank used outside North America.

The others for people who deserve to live are non issues.
1/ be careful if you run the battery flat like you should be with any car. Switch off SKS if leaving the car for several weeks.
2/ You have no control so why monitor it? The car will let you know if there is a problem. Pre 1985 few cars had temp guages or tachos, it was a non issue then with a well maintained Toyota and many other cars.
3/ As above.

 

It is true that the Prius has a lot of electronics, so a lot of damage is done by reverse polarity. It is also true that every other new car has a lot of electronics. Reverse the polarity on any new car and you will be out thousands of dollars. Jumping a dead battery is a service procedure, should be treated as such, and done only by qualified individuals.

The Prius auxiliary battery, being smaller than most, dies more quickly than the one in most cars. Auto-off headlights and interior lighting would help. I don't know if this has been addressed on the 2010.

Tom

 

...until the 12V gives out, at which point they are auto-off, and auto-dead.

Tom

 

I would hope that a "qualified individual" is anyone who has passed high school science class, where they teach about basic electric circuits. That should be most Americans. "+" goes with "+", "-" goes with "-", or even easier, match red to red and black to black. And don't let the leads touch any other metal or you could cause a short circuit.

Or are most drivers too stupid to remember how a basic electric circuit works, or to apply their knowledge of a basic electric circuit to working on a car. I fear what the answer might be.

If the average driver can't be trusted to jump start a car, that says something about the educational standards in the U.S.

 

It's not exactly rocket science, is it? Judging from some of the posts on PC, even this simple procedure may be too technical for some people. These are probably the same people that think the CD drive on their computers is a cup holder.

Tom

 

Some posters have said that the Prius charging of the 12V Aux battery is apparently inadequate at keeping the battery fully charged up. It seems if you do a low annual mileage, or forget to shut the hatch/door properly, the 12V battery isn't going to be able to charge it to full capacity just by driving the car around a bit. As this car is partly sold on its environmental credentials, it doesn't fit that image to then hear that you've actually got to drive it a lot otherwise the 12V battery will die. There is a pre-delivery TSB that specifically covers making sure the 12V battery is fully charged before delivery to the customer, so it is known by Toyota that the design of the car is weak in this area.

 

Are you telling me Rick that on my 2008/pkg 2 Prius, if I open the driver's door then switch on the headlights, then close the door, the lights will not auto-off?

If that is the case, then the time-delay circuitry needs revision doesn't it?

 

Why would anyone open the door then turn on the headlights and expect them to turn off automatically? The current system works very well. Far out, you don't even have to put the Prius in park, it does that for you too, I guess that's a fault too?

 

So if the car is powered off, the doors are all closed, but the drivers side window is down, and I reach in and turn the lights on, they do not automatically turn off after a certain delay?

I can imagine a number of instances when that could be inconvenient. OTOH it does protect against a dead 12V battery, if they do auto-off.

Maybe I should just go and try it!

 

There is no time delay circuitry. Opening the driver's door immediately turns off the headlights. If you turn them on after the door is open, there is no signal to turn off the lights. They stay on until the battery dies.

Tom