2011 Prius IV dead as a door nail.

There is a manual hatch release, you'll have to crawl in the back and remove a cover on the hatch, it's location is in the owners manual.

 

The rescue guy is clueless. People have left their 3rd gen Priuses unattended for weeks w/o issue (although it does become sketchy if the 12 volt is dodgy). 2010 II 12 Volt Battery Dead After 17 Days of Parking | PriusChat is a case of a guy leaving his Gen 3 unattended for 47 days w/o issue.

I personally have my 2nd gen left unattended (on the original battery, changed to a Yellow Top many months later) for 3 weeks in December 2010 but I had the smart key system turned off via the button under the steering column (button doesn't exist on the 3rd gens). My friend took me to the airport to go for my trip to Europe using my Prius. He picked me up in my Prius 3 weeks later. If he had to jump the car, he sure didn't tell me about it.

There is a for TSB for 3rd gens that tells dealers what to do. See 2010 II 12 Volt Battery Dead After 17 Days of Parking | PriusChat.

There are some clueless dealers that have killed 12 volts. See Closed Minds | PriusChat.

Driving the Prius for 10 miles will charge 12 the volt, but not fully. One doesn't actually need to be moving in a Prius since the 12 volt is charged by the DC-DC converter.

Patrick Wong (repair expert) at 2005 Prius beeps when door is open, then won't start | PriusChat suggested leaving the car in READY mode for 8 hours to charge.

Doubt it for both of the above. Them checking the voltage isn't that helpful if the car has been driven recently. It's helpful if the car is left for many hours or left overnight.

We've already found dealer "tests" for the 12 volt to be useless. See Prius beeps after being turned off, then won't start | PriusChat.

Problem w/ my '05 Prius | PriusChat

Really? Care to point to a few? At what points in time do they check the voltage?

The warnings I've seen usually point to some problem w/the alternator or charging system, not a low or bad 12 volt. I never got any sort of warning lights before the 12 volt on my former 350Z was insufficient to start the car. It was no surprise though as the original 12 volt lasted a lot longer than I expected. IIRC, it lasted ~7 years.

I don't recall any warning lights on my previous conventional cars either, before the 12 volts gave out and required replacement.

 

Just to chip in here, when we brought our two year old Prius from our local dealer, I know for a fact that the 12v was left to go flat on the forcourt at the dealers as the salesman couldn't open the car with the smart key.

I thought nothing of it and we picked the car up a few weeks later and was happily driving around for a month with no problems at all.

However, apon reading some of the reports on this forum about the 12v problems if the battery is discharged I decided to test the battery myself. It showed up as being around 10v when load was applied. So I popped back to the dealers and spoke to them about it. An appointment was booked so they could test the battery themselves.

They tested and found that the battery had either a dead cell or a shorted cell so they replaced the battery with new there and then. All covered under warranty and not a penny to pay. Now, I am in the UK and the car came with 12 months unconditional warranty when purchased as it is a used car, but it certainly should be covered if your car is new.

We were lucky in that I managed to spot the problem before it manifested itself as the car was behaving normally, but who knows what could have happened if we'd have left it as that battery would have died in the very near future.

Hope you get some good news from the dealers and they replace the battery. And I wouldn't worry at all, we are so happy with our Prius it's a fantastic car and the best that both my wife and I have ever owned.

 

I've owned my 2011 Prius for 124 days (but who's counting) and I've put over 11,000 miles on it. I've left it parked for up to seven days several times. It has always started when I returned.

 

I would tend to discount anything I heard after someone said that the solar roof had anything to do with the battery being down.

 

In February, I went to a dealer and tried to buy a Prius on the show room floor. The dash would not come on to check the milage. The salesman said that the battery was dead from people playing with accessories. He said that it happens all the time and tried to jump the car but it still would not start. We could not get together on price and I bought an identical car at another dealership. I am glad that I did not buy the non starter.

 

My 06 went dead on me twice.

First time was at year 4 of ownership. Had it towed to dealer. It was in the garage and it had to be dragged out and onto the flatbed with the wheels locked. Came to find out my grandson left the dome light on. Dealer charged the battery for 4 hours and gave it back to us.

Second time was at year 6.5. It was unused for about 4 weeks. We left the key on a table a few feet away from the car. It seems the constant communication between the proximity key and the car killed the battery. I bought some jumper cables, left the cables connected between the power lug in the fuse panel under the hood and to my ford for 20 minutes to put a surface charge on the battery. The Prius computer then came back to life. There is a switch to turn off the proximity key receiver when parked for long periods.

After that I ordered the Optima battery and installed it. I thought 6 1/2 years was good enough.

Jerry

 

Every once in a while, a battery goes dead quickly (in the first year of service). This is called the bathtub curve of failure rates. After that very few go bad until they start to wear out.

Chill out and replace the battery...

 

Starkie,

Now that you have a new (and hopefully undamaged) battery, I wouldn't worry about leaving the car standing for a couple of days. Let that "fact" go down the path to oblivion......because it wasn't a fact. A Prius with a damaged/nearly dead battery shouldn't be left standing for several days, as you found out. But you don't have a dying/nearly dead battery anymore.

 

You forgot to add:

g) never to believe what some lowly "Rescue guy" says again

 

Interesting reading your progression of comments, yes the 12v is defective when new, but, nobody knew.
Any chance of turning blue till your next episode?
Even your optima will die in 1/2 hour if left in acc mode, sounds like your remote A/C switch put's the car into acc mode, drew down the 12v and once down the oem battery never really recovers-recovered.
I put the 12v from my '06, after filling it with distilled water and charging it (completly dry inside) in my lawn mower, works great

 

Glad things are working out.

Some batteries, along with everything else that is manufactured can come right off the line defective.

 

Bingo Starkey.

I'll buy your "lemon" for $10K right here, right now. I'll ask you no questions and won't even kick a tire. Let that awful car be my headache.

 

One time I left my 11 Prius sitting for two weeks (it was about 6 months old). I had left it in the garage and therefore did not lock it. The car would not start with the key in my pocket. I then put the keyfob next to the power button, punched the power button and the car started. I assume that that meant that the 12v was low. I've not had the problem since, but I've never left the car in the garage for two weeks either.