New 2024 Prime XSE, 12V battery dead 4 times in 18 days... dealer admits it's a known problem.

My GF just purchased a beautiful red 2024 Prius Prime XSE Premium, new. During the first 175 miles and 18 days the 12v battery has failed 4 times, having to be jumped each time. It has been taken back to the dealer 3 times. I have made sure not to jump the car myself, to avoid giving the dealer something 'we did' to blame the problem on. Their explanations:

1: "Oh, you must have left the lights, or something on".

2: "Oh, you didn't drive the car long enough or fast enough after jumping it (drove it for 30 minutes as instructed by the roadside service guy). The battery was low, so we gave it a full charge."

3: "Oh, the battery was actually defective, so we replaced it."

Then, finally....

4: "We brought the Toyota engineers into the mix. The engineers said it is a KNOWN PROBLEM with cars coming from a particular factory. The car's internal wi-fi system does not shut off while the charging cable is plugged in. The only solution currently is to disable the 'Toyota Connect' system/services." This means, no remote app connection, no Toyota GPS mapping, etc. So you can't control/monitor charging remotely, anything that you would use the app for. They disabled all of the above , and the problem has not repeated (though we still only have around 200 miles on the car) They said "We'll let you know, if and when there is a fix to this problem." (!!!) Until then, the car remains neutered.

It is absolutely absurd that these features must be disabled just to make the car reliable enough to start every morning. That is NOT a solution. It's equally absurd to jump through the work-arounds that that others have had to come up with just to get a BRAND NEW car to behave the way it should be expected to by design. One shouldn't have to baby and troubleshoot a NEW, high technology car every time it is driven. One shouldn't have to ask "Did I drive it far enough today?, or else be faced with a dead car.

My GF was SOOOO excited to get this car, it was exactly what she wanted after much research. She drove a hard bargain to get a reasonable price. Now she just wants to cry.... this bad taste has taken so much joy out of the experience.... spontaneous joy that is permanently lost, even if we do resolve the problem.

We know that there is the California Lemon Law option, but we don't want to go there, if avoidable. We just want her to have this exact car, just functioning as advertised.

Before deciding on this car, we watched lots of YouTube videos, all very positive. I think now it's time to make my first YouTube video to warn the general public of the potential crap-shoot you are exposing yourself to in buying this otherwise wonderful car.

Any comments on similar experiences are welcomed.

 

Yes, the battery was replaced on her 2nd visit

The June 10 TSB was for leaving the car plugged in for extended periods after fully charged. The "Toyota Engineers" "discovered" that TSB on the third visit and applied the update (why did it take 3 visits to "find" that a current TSB had not been applied?) This is a brand new car, and she was not leaving it plugged in beyond the overnight charge (which takes 11 hours). Once they neuterd the Toyota Connect services the problem went away, but so did a lot of features that she paid for.

Thanks, and yes, I have seen the recommendations and will consider that somewhere down the road, but for now, this is a brand new car that had less than 10 miles on it when we first experienced the problem. The battery has been replaced, and we are not doing any of the "user errors" that have been mentioned. I simply expect them to provide a new car that can be relied upon and works as advertised. I don't want to add any aftermarket work-arounds, that would just give them an excuse to say the problem is related to something we did. The maintainer and monitor is a good idea, but not at this point.

Thanks. To address your points:
(1) We are not leaving the charging cable plugged in for an extended time after charging is complete.
(2) The TSB was finally discovered and applied during the third visit to the dealership (why did it take that long?)
(3) OBD2: Nothing plugged in there... brand new car, we haven't touched it and we confirmed that there are no dealer installed trackers, etc.
(4) On the second visit, the tech confirmed that the battery was defective and replaced it (we verified the new battery)

Once they neutered the car's Toyota Connect wi-fi and "smart features", the problem went away, along with many of the features that she paid for. They said this is a KNOWN PROBLEM with cars from a particular factory, that they don't have a solution for. My battle with them now is to aggressively stay on this problem until it's resolved or replace her car with the same make and model of new car that works properly.

When we made the decision on this car, it was influenced strongly by the many positive YouTube videos online. If we can't get a prompt and satisfactory resolution, I think it's time for me to make my first YouTube video, explaining the crapshoot that lurks for those considering this vehicle.

Thanks for your comments!

 

I thought about whether to post this there... but now don't want to run afoul of 'cross-posting' etiquette? But I will at least look there... Thanks