Okay I’m new here and wasn’t quite sure where to post, so I have a few questions cause I just discovered there is a chat directly for us Prius drivers! I’ve been needing this for months. Okay anyways, I just had my daughter a month and a half ago and have only driven my car a few feet since then. Today I went to go drive it and the automatic unlock wouldn’t work, no lights on the dash will come on not even the light for the push to start, completely dead I’m assuming. Somebody told me I should take the battery out and get it charged at an autozone would it be the battery in the back that needs charged? Or the one in the front? I already toke the back battery out thinking it’s that one so I’m hoping it is. Tried to jump it from the front but it didn’t work, so I’m assuming the battery in the back is the one I need to go get charged? Also, this was my moms car before mine and when she would drive on the highways it said “check hybrid system” then slow down, she would pull over and unplug the car and it drove again like normal, after she drove for a certain amount of time it would do it again. It hasn’t happened it me, but I don’t drive it on highways and don’t go over 60mph. I unplug it and let it sit before I leave just incase and hasn’t happened to me, but I haven’t tested it. What could the problem be?
You should use a scan tool that can retrieve all trouble codes from a Prius, and find out why the car wants you to check the hybrid system. It most likely is something that ought to be fixed. If the only way to see the problem is to make long trips on highways, there might be a problem with the cooling pump for the inverter. But it would be better to see actual trouble codes.
There’s the big, high voltage hybrid battery. And there’s the traditional, much smaller 12 volt battery. Both are in the back. I’d start the latter. Instead of taking it to auto zone, I’d get a decent smart charger, rating 3~5 amps, use it anytime the cars going to be sitting idle for days on end. No need to remove it for this. Your current 12 volt battery is likely too far gone though, in need of replacement.
