frustration, question, no service

arrived at work today in my recently purchased 2005 prius (4 weeks old, 1100 miles on it) at around noon, left work at 6 and returned to a car that was honking repeatedly -- kind of like what i imagine an alarm to sound like but not very loud.

the car had no power (had to use the physical key), and i realized i had left the lights on and assume that this drained it (and that maybe when the battery dies the alarm goes off or something?). so with an office mate's jumper cables and car tried to jump it, to no avail (we were following the instructions in the manual).

a couple things happened:

-- it was extremely hard to get a good connection on the positive terminal of the prius battery (we were using front, not rear battery)

-- when it seemed like we DID make a good connection, there was a clicking sound coming from the battery which we hoped meant it was charging (i don't think it was)

-- the green light on the "Park" button would flash for awhile, and then not

-- the 'theft protection' light in the dash (red car with a key in it) would flash

-- when i would try the power button it would sometimes turn red, sometimes do nothing.

never did we get the car to start. i called the dealership where i bought it a month ago, no one seemed to have any freaking idea what to do -- no one could talk me through the process or offer a helpful "the light flashing means X" or "that light flashing doesn't mean anything" or "stop trying to charge it, it's definitely dead" -- they seemed to have no knowledge or experience other than to say "try to get a better connection on the battery, and if that doesn't work i guess we'll have to tow it in."

this was an extremely frustrating experience trying to get the car running, standing out in the cold for an hour and a half, made only worse when the guy started to say "well you might need to buy a whole new battery, and it's your fault for leaving the lights on... and we can't get you another car to drive tonight because we're about to leave and go home ourselves" etc.

ANYWAY typical frustrating car stuff except i don't know what to believe since i'm new to the Prius world and the people i bought it from seem to be too!

so, question:

-- could i have drained the battery by leaving the lights on for 6 hours, and drained it to the point where i need a whole new battery?!?

-- it seems that in my experience with this car, the lights go off automatically when you power off the car; am i wrong about that?

-- could it be somehow related to the theft protection system and not the lights?

anyone with insight into this who can answer me would be much appreciated! i anticipate trouble when dealing with the service people tomorrow if my 4-week old car all of a sudden needs a major investment and they say it's my responsibility... unless maybe it really IS my fault?

thanks for any help!

 

thanks for the quick reply; the car SHOULD have been off, but i remember what i did when i left the car upon arriving at work (ie before it died):
i left a cd in the cd player that i wanted. i walked back to the car, opened the driver's side door (sks opened it), leaned in and hit the power button, ejected the cd, then hit the power button TWICE til i saw no lights on in the dash or elsewhere, closed the door & locked the car.

in the process of doing this, i suppose the car could have been left in a mode other than totally "off" but i THOUGHT i had it completely off.

maybe i should stop using the SKS if it's this easy to drain the battery.

i asked the guy from the dealership (which was only about 8 minutes away, making their lack of help even more frustrating) about the roadside assistance and he just kind of blew it off... i had a ride there waiting for me so i took it but maybe if i hadn't been late to relieve the babysitter & put the kid to bed i might have tried calling them.

who makes the "jumper boxes" you mention?

if the battery was drained, is the guy on the phone right that i could need a whole new battery? seems kind of insane that i own a car wherein leaving the lights on could result in something so drastic... but maybe i don't.

thanks again!

 

yes! you are so right -- what was i thinking, i don't know why i even mentioned it but i won't again.

 

thanks! and for all the quick replies, very reassuring, and much more helpful than the guys at the dealership.

until now, and likely after this incident is over, i'm completely psyched about the car.

still working on getting the best mileage i can, but i've been reading up on that on this site...

 

strange news from the dealership this morning -- they took a jump box out to the car in order to drive it into the service area, but before they could jump it THEY STARTED THE CAR WITH NO PROBLEM....!?!?

still waiting to hear back what their diagnosis is. obviously last night i spent a couple hours trying every combination of things -- fob in the slot, sks, foot on the brake, foot off the brake, standing on my head, etc to try to get the car on, with nothing happening at all.

it makes me think, unless somehow these things recharge themselves, that we HAD actually charged it but that the Theft Protection somehow wasn't re-setting properly post-charge, and THAT, not the dead battery, was keeping me from starting it up.

we'll see when they get back to me with further analysis.

richard -- if my battery is indeed never the same again, how soon would you say i'd need to replace it? i don't even remember how much these batteries cost, though i know i asked the dealer when i was buying the car...