Help?!?

Your next step is certainly to check the charge on the 12 volt battery. I suspect you will find it quite discharged.

There could be a problem with the battery itself, though your story sounds more as if the battery is not being charged, for reasons that would have to be diagnosed. But the first order of business would be to measure it, then bring it back to a good full state of charge and see what happens.

In earlier decades, I had two experiences in conventional cars where the charging system went out on a longish drive, and everything just kept getting slower and dimmer until finally there wasn't enough to run the car. The better story is here. On the other occasion the car never did fully conk out; I nursed it all the way back to my driveway, by driving the last several miles with the radio, heater, and lights all shut off. It was just beginning to misfire as I pulled in. Adventures of the youthful and stupid....

 

yep 12v battery needs checking. They run about $220 at the Toyota dealer, a few bucks more to have them put it in.

Unfortunately it's a very weird size, you can't get an exact replacement anywhere else.

 

Is that still true?

Toyota’s battery application chart (PDF) says Prius c cars, for model years 2012–2017, use an auxiliary (12-volt) battery of size S34B20R, Toyota part number 00544-21181-320 (which replaced 28800-21181).

O’Reilly Auto Parts and Advance Auto Parts, for example, have batteries of that size in stock, at least in some stores. Their prices aren’t much lower than Toyota’s list price ($225.11, at this writing), but their hours and locations may be more convenient, or they’ll ship the battery at no extra charge.

 

You've just convinced me that it isn't. I hadn't seen these before, but they really do look like proper replacements.

I'm guessing that the aftermarket just didn't bother with this size until very recently, not enough replacements needed to make any profit. Now as the fleet ages more people make the part.

 

You have an 8 year old 12 volt battery.
Time to change it.

Z6201V ?

 

No, it's a phone.

You're seeing a slug of text automatically appended to davidc83's post, probably without his knowledge.

Apparently when you post to this forum from the mobile app, the app attempts to advertise the type of mobile device used for the post.

It looks like you've set or managed your app differently so it says "priuschat mobile app" on your own posts, but for others it auto-inserts a string bearing the device name.

For reasons unknown, it always appends a question mark at the end of the device name.

You are not the first to be confused by this.

 

I struggled finding a Toyota 12v battery yesterday. Not at an aftermarket store mind you - Toyota dealerships. Neither dealership in my area were able to get me a battery right away. I'm guessing a distribution center is out of stock because both locations told me 8 to 10 days.

AutoZone had one in stock - thankfully. I did get a chuckle though after he re-appeared from the behind the battery rack. He comes out with it, sits it on the counter and says he didn't think they would EVER get rid of that thing. The manufactured date on sticker said 1/21.

Sold.!!