Water spill near hybrid battery vent

By all means get the dealer to check but it's highly unlikely that any damage was done. The actual battery is quite well buried and water, the small amount you describe, would only get to the battery if the fan was operating at a high enough speed to spray it into the battery cavity. Even then things are well insulated in there and short of flooding the whole compartment, it would be difficult to do a lot of damage.

Additionally, it is highly likely that the warmth in the battery compartment and the air movement occasioned by the fan would have dried any remaining moisture.

 

I would also suggest that you keep a small reliable torch (flashlight) in the car. You never know when it might get you out of real trouble.

Perhaps also some other bits and bobs but I will leave their suggestion to others in the US more familiar with your location.

 

Not knowing your location, I'm not sure what you mean by "torch", it means different things in different countries.
I personally would not report it to the dealer. I would be afraid of the "warranty void" stamp in your books.

BTW, I have one of these products and it works very well keeping things dry and free of mold (in my boat in very humid climate): Portable Dehumidifiers | Eva-Dry

 

I doubt there's any problem.

First off, the fan behind that vent runs at various speeds, perhaps off much of the time. With a near-new car it's not likely it was running at high speed.

Also, when the water spilled it likely just ran down the spines of the grill, nothing more. Behind the grill is a duct that leads to a barrel shaped fan, and from there air is blown across the top of the battery.

If the fan was running, any drops, if they made it through the grill, just clung to duct surfaces somewhere along the route. And the cells themselves, at the battery, are plastic cased.

To see what's happening directly behind the inlet grill, there's a single bolt, between the seat and back cushions, reachable with a ratchet wrench with extension (think it's 12 mm socket). Once that's removed you can pull out that portion of the seat back, with grill off. There's a few hooks on it that need to be wiggled off.

You can also pull up the hatch area floor panels. There are a lot of tenacious fasteners. I took a look at ours, and left half of the fasteners out when reassembling, and it's still very secure.

Here's a few pics of what it looks like:









(the white material is over the inlet grill, acting as a filter)

 

Liscifan, I think Mendel Leisk's photos should reassure you. Short of flooding there is little risk of the water reaching the battery. The filter is something of a personal choice. Some owners, particularly pet owners or taxi drivers, have found that the fan can get clogged with dust and fur. I have dismantled my fan(again recently at 100,000miles) and other than a small amount of dust my fan was clog free ( I live in a rural area and do a substantial amount of dirt/dust road driving). The filter will reduce the amount of air the fan can pull in and push over your battery, so unless you do carry pets or lots of people with clothing that sheds lint my personal choice would be to not install a filter.

 

Hi friendly, a torch is what you US'ns strangely named a flash light, even though they rarely flash.

 

friendly_jacek,

I am in the UK exactly as my profile mentions.

I well know that The English language is mangled by others around the world which is why I put the word 'flashlight' in brackets after my mentioning a 'torch' so there would be no doubt.

 

Always wondered about that. What do you call a torch then? The actual flaming kind.

Anyway, I hand my toddler drinks all the time in the backseat. If you think a bottle of water in the backseat will take out the battery, you have too few thing to worry about. The chances of a bottle of water hurting the battery through that vent is zip. The most I worry about is my daughter dumping the milk all over the upholstery.


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Umm, the flaming kind we call a torch.

 

I don't know. A flashlight doesn't flash often but it can. But when I ask for a flashlight and I get a flaming torch because it's the same word...? Sounds weird to me. Just like "penny wise, and pound foolish." But eh, we can go on forever about why American English is different than British English.


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The thing I have been wondering is if you can stick one of those minicam-lights down there to check on the the fan. Which in a Gen2 the fan can get clogged. I noticed Walmart was selling those cam/lights for $50 I was tempted.

 

No one still sells flaming torches, even here in the backward Antipodes. Though we may occasionally use the vernacular "Give us a flamin torch will ya mate!".