Dorman battery appears to have failed after 3 months

I emailed Dorman on Saturday. I got the P3000 code and the tech said three cells read low. I emailed Dorman on Saturday. I called today to follow up. The guy handling my claim left early so another guy was looking into it. I gave him my number, he did not return my call. I called back at 4:37, they close at 4:30. I can't say I'm impressed. Tomorrow's call will be more involved.

 

If I ever get this battery replaced, this car is for sale. This isn't worth it at all. I will order the disk and wire to get the info so I can send it to them and be done with this experience and hybrids. Gas is cheap compared to the effort required to get this taken care of.

 

I never buy "new" cars. I drive 30k plus miles per year. I'll buy an Accord (Manual trans) with 100k and drive it for three or four years. My 03 Acura CL-S 6M (6 Speed manual) has 200k but it takes premium so I may sell it. I'll never own another Prius unless battery prices and quality get better. This experience has been enough for me. I can get 32MPG from an Accord. Another 12 or so MPG from something that causes this much of a headache isn't enough incentive.

 

Actually, that's the only reason I bought it (to save money). Doing the math with today's gas prices, it will take 2 years to spend $1200 (in the Accord) at the current gas prices. A reman battery is just over $1200. I'll pay the $1200 in gas and happily replace a timing belt. My Acura has the original clutch (at 201,000 miles). The only items I had to deal with on the Acura were an alternator, 1 12V battery, tires, brakes, belts, oil etc. All things that would have been needed on the Prius. Don't get me wrong, if you buy a NEW Prius with a warranty, it would be a great car. As much as I drive, I can't take that much depreciation.

I like the hatch and the gas mileage but with my schedule and the fact that I don't want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere with another battery issue, this just isn't practical. The morning the battery had issues, I was heading to an appointment 2 hours away. Had that happened there, I would have had a tow bill and a rental car.

The Dorman people replied today after I sent an email to several people at once. They still don't have the info they need to decide if the battery is bad. All I know is the two scanners I have had read the codes both gave codes that said to replace the hybrid battery. The battery goes from dead to charged and back to dead quickly. Apparently they need more detail. I understand their need for info but a reply to an email is nice, especially since my email was discussing the second trip to get the codes read.

 

I use a car to get from point A to point B to point C. If I drove 5 miles to work and back, I wouldn't care. As I depend directly on a vehicle to make my living, I want something I can depend on. Economics, maybe. Benefits? A hybrid offers me limited benefits as my time has value and using my time to troubleshoot the battery issues isn't of any benefit to me at all. If I can't be going to my appointments, I don't make money. Please don't think I'm being sarcastic or rude, I'm really not. This type of car saves me money on gas but I could easily lose any and all benefits in lost productivity. Again, this probably wouldn't be an issue if I wanted to invest in a "new" Prius. If the battery on my gas car checks out, I get a jump or roll it down a hill and dump the clutch. Problem solved, back to making a living. 30 minutes at a parts store and $100 later and I can still make all of my appointments.