“Replace Hybrid Battery” Code P0A80

2010 Toyota Prius One, 134k miles

Hey guys. I recently bought a new used car from a dealership, and within the first 2 days of driving it, after nearly exactly 200 miles, I experienced a problem where all the lights on my dashboard lit up; [check engine lights, orange warning triangle, and some others. Along with a message that displayed “check hybrid system”]()

My car continued to run but I noticed it was no longer running on electric. It was all gas powered. I have an OBD diagnostic reader that also doubles as a GPS and some other neat stuff, and so I pulled up the app on my phone and I got the code “P0A80” with the message, “replace hybrid battery”. I looked it up online and yeah that’s what it shows. So I started looking into how much it would cost this issue and it ranged from $3000 - $5000. I bought my car for $6000...

I looked up online for a fix. I found a thread that suggested to unplug the 12 volt battery, then remove the orange fuse from the hybrid battery, and plug it back in after 2 min. And it worked! All the warnings on the dashboard and on the OBD scanner disappeared, and the hybrid was working again. But the following day the issue sprung up again. I did the quick fix and it worked momentarily until the issue came back later that night.

I called up the dealership and let them know of the issue and they told me, oh yeah you don’t have warranty on it. The moment you leave the lot with it it’s your problem. Motherfucker... And you know what, I have a gut feeling they knew of this problem. The guy that sold it to me even told me he was driving this vehicle for a bit before putting it up at the lot. Way too much of a coincidence for this issue to have magically sprung up on me 2 days later and with only 200 miles..

I can’t afford a ~$4k repair. So I started looking more into it. Read up that it could be just a cell in the battery that’s bad. And that’s a much cheaper fix than replacing the entire battery. I bought a volt meter, some socket wrenches, and a mini VIM cable and cracked TechStream software on amazon which I installed and hooked up to my car. [Here are the readings](). So to explain what is going on. First picture is the current charge of my battery when doing this test. Btw it doesn’t show the warnings on the dashboard cause I did the battery unplug reset. The following pic is the voltage of each battery block. As far as I can tell there is nothing abnormal about it, I don’t see vast fluctuations in the number of voltages. No one cell looks more drained than the other. I test drove it around with the laptop and mini VCI plugged in and the voltage looked pretty consistent. It would drop some when the battery would discharge and then go back up when it got some charge. And as far as everything else in those readings go I have very little clue what they mean. I would really really appreciate it if someone with some expertise can chime in and let me know if there is something abnormal about it.

I plan on opening up the battery and giving it a visual inspection tomorrow. I watched a few tutorials on YouTube on how to do it so I’m gonna give it a shot. Any tips would be appreciated, on what to inspect.

This just all really sucks cause I bought this car for work. I do Uber and this was a big investment and I’m just really frustrated and let down that my first car off a dealership, and my source of income, was fucked with by some sleaze-bag that did me wrong. I’m giving that salesman the benefit of the doubt but it’s hard to do so when he told me he was driving the smart car himself for personal use before putting it up for sale. Anyways, sorry for the rant guys. Any help is REALLY appreciated.

 

Hey thanks for the response. I've made 2 separate threads on here and haven't gotten a single response. So I did call the dealership and let them know of the issue, and they told me, you don't have warranty so it's off our hands.
I'm going to look into the hybrid system warranty. Do you know any more info on that?

Would Toyota have anything to do with it since I didn't buy it from Toyota?

 

I just got off the phone with Toyota. My vehicle is not covered by the warranty since it has to be within 10 years since it was FIRST driven. Which apparently this vehicle was first driven in June of this year. So 5 months too late. I called a bunch of attorneys today and asked if my car qualifies as a lemon car under the lemon law, and it does not. Called a dealership fraud auto dealer ad they told me that since they sold it As Is with no warranty, then there’s nothing I can do there either. Legally, my hands are tied. I need to resolve this problem one way or another.