SOC after Parking

I assume this doesn't happen when you park it at home overnight?

My guess it is that they are not turning the car off! Even if they remove the FOB from the car they have to turn it off with the power switch or it will run all day. The only solution is for you to either educate them or talk them into letting you park your own car.

I doubt your battery is damaged the Prius protects it's battery pretty effectively.

EDIT: I will go one step further. The fact that the HV battery is lower by a significant amount and not the little 12V battery means the car could not have been powered down. When the car is turned off with the power switch the HV battery is diconnected and will not discharge. It might go down over a period of months but not in a day or a week. Unless there is a problem in which case it would do it other places as well.

 

I don't know (for sure) what they are doing to the car, but the symptoms that you are describing are what would happen if they were leaving the car ON for all the time you were away (i.e. in "Ready" or "IG-ON").

What happens if you leave the car on is that the battery runs down into the Purple/Pink, then the gas engine comes on to recharge it, then turns off, then the battery runs down again, the gas engine comes on to recharge it, etc. . .

Note that as long as there is gas in the tank, the Prius is designed to *not* let the battery run down all the way and, therefore, it probably hasn't done any long-term damage to your car.

I doubt if leaving the FOB in the slot all day could run down the traction battery (although I could maybe see it running down the accessories battery). When the car is off, the traction battery is electrically disconnected from the rest of the car's systems (remember that "click" from the back seat when you turn the car on and off?), so I think it's more than likely that your valets are leaving the car on.

 

With SKS enabled, even making sure the key is removed from the slot doesn't ensure that the car is powered off (as i'm sure you know). Instead, in situations like this, you almost have to disable SKS and make sure they remove the key from the slot. of course, the other alternative is to convince them to let you park it yourself... that way, even if you have to leave the key in the car, you can make sure it's turned off first.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mynew06 @ Jul 21 2006, 11:40 AM) [snapback]290050[/snapback]</div>

Yes, some of these guys can most likely break anything. But I think since there is no better solution it's what I would do in your place, and just hope they don't break it. Make a big sign and put it on the dash that says "PUSH THE POWER BUTTON TO TURN THE CAR OFF BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE KEY FOB!!! IF THE FOB WON'T COME OUT YOU HAVEN'T TURNED IT OFF" or something like that.

Then hope they can read.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mynew06 @ Jul 21 2006, 01:40 PM) [snapback]290050[/snapback]</div>

I assume you did not get the valet cards that are supposed to accompany all new Prii? Our dealer left a whole stack of them in our car and here in Kansas City I don't think I'll ever use one...

Here's a link to a 2004 version:

http://www.eaa-phev.org/wiki/Imagerius-v...-card-small.jpg

 

I also got a stack of valet cards but when I first saw them, I thought the dealer left their stash in the car. I assummed that it was for the new owner's education. Good stuff though. Hopefully in the future, more and more peeps will know about this as a lot of cars are coming keyless!

 

yeah, a big sign saying "PUSH THE POWER BUTTON TO TURN OFF" would probably be good... i would stick to just calling the fob a key to those guys though.... they'd probably be confused by calling it a fob!

 

It might also help to remember that you can not take the fob out of the slot unless you power off. So if you convince them to remove the fob (key) they have to turn off the car. I agree that they are leaving it running all day. They don't hear the ICE running so they assume the car is off. How has your gas mileage been? Any chance of using another lot?

 

You didn't say whether or not you disable the SKS - as other's mentioned, definetely do that. I always disable it before valet parking.

There are 2 other things you can probably do.

1) make sure the radio is on - if they hear it playing when they stop, maybe they'll figure out it's not off.

or alternatively,

2) Turn off the radio and anything else that would drain the battery. I've never tried it, but I would think if there is no power being drained that it shouldn't need to kick in the gas engine that much. Unless it would start up just to keep the engine warm - I've never tried this myself though.

Last thing to do is make not of your fuel economy. If it is running during the day, it will drop. You may see a drop anyway, but it would be much more noticeable if the car is running.

 

If all of the above suggestions fail, hide your mobile in the rear cubbyhole on the righthand side. Come back after they have parked the car and ask to retrieve your phone. You will have to go the the vehicle because they would not know how to find the cubby. You could then determine in what condition they have left your Prius - power on or power off.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orf @ Jul 22 2006, 12:19 AM) [snapback]290325[/snapback]</div>

Another option would be to plug an electronic device (PDA, phone..etc) that has a low battery into the console outlet - if it's got a higher charge when you get back then when you left it, then they are leaving it on. None of the outlets will remain on if car is off.

 

I have found the same problem at my local Car Wash. It seems to stem from parkers not knowing how to START the car. So now I sit and watch until they figure it out.

You should contact the Valet Parking Manager and explain the proper sequence for starting and stopping the car.

To Start
1. APPLY BRAKE.
2. Push On Button
3. Select D or R.
4. Move the Vehicle

To Stop
1. APPLY BRAKE
2. Push P to set Parking
3. Push Off Button.
4. Make sure all data on Dash is off.
5. Get out of car
6. Lock door.

The valets may not have the experience of starting/stopping the Prius, like we owners do.

What may be happening is that they get in the car and just start pushing the On Button without the brake. (This is the problem at my car wash) Eventually they do things in the right order. But until they do, they just keep starting and stopping the Accessory mode.

Talk the Valet Manager and hand him/her one of the Valet instructions.

 

Here is a question?

Since you say that their is a whole line of cars that all arrive there to park...and the valets do not immediately park your vehicle...couldn't they be leaving your car on for a while before they ever move it? I assume that probably keep turning the cars on and off to move them up the line until your car is the first in line and can be parked. Assuming this takes some time, your battery could easily run down by then (especially if they are running the air during any of this period).

If they were truly leaving the car on for that long...the ICE would be kicking on and off...and by the time you returned for your car later, you would easily notice a significant amount of gas missing...and the MPG numbers would be way, way down.

More likely, they are just running it low before they park, then turning it off correctly.

 

On those occasions how many bars were there when you left it?

 

Are you able to find your car in the garage without the assistance to the valet employees? If so are you able to walk up to your car when it is parked there and check for yourself? If you knew where your car were, you would just need to look through the window to see if it were powered on or not. Kind of like just showing up at my son's daycare unannounced to check on my son.

Thanks,

Chris