I blew up the inverter????

Amen to that!

The Prius only draws about 30 amps on starting from the battery. Thus, if you're jumping the Prius, you don't have to pull 100s of amps through a starter. In the Prius, reverse polarity protection could simply be a 100 amp (or so) diode in series with the jump start terminal. Polarity correct, the car starts. Polarity reversed, absolutely nothing happens.

This would also prevent the Prius from (trying to) jump start other cars. Given the Prius' dinky 12Volt battery, this too would be a good thing.

(My PhD in Electrical Engineering is good for something!)

Such diodes are a few cents each in quantity.

Grrrrrrr...

 

been wondering if there are any updates on this and if the media helped.

 

Hello Ginney, Sorry you are having this problem I sell Toyota Cars and Your 3/36K warrenty does not give you roadside asst.You may want to read the Warrenty book that came with the Prius it will give you full details on the warrenty. Good Luck,

 

If there car died because of a problem that is covered under warranty, then the tow to the dealership that is required to have it repaired it should be covered as well.

 

Ginny,

If I remember correctly, free roadside assistance (through 3 years/36,000 miles) came with all Priuses through the 2005 model year. It wasn't offered from 2006 on, but if you happened to buy the official Toyota Financial Platinum extended warranty, then free roadside assistance & a free rental car come with that warranty for whatever extended warranty period you chose. It also covers the '04's & '05's that are out of factory warranty (like mine) until you max out the mileage limitation you chose.

I don't think wmveal read the part about all Ginny's books & manuals being trapped in her car 85 miles away from her. I wouldn't want to drive that distance just to find out if her tow is covered (under the factory warranty---which it isn't) but she should know if she purchased a separate extended warranty & if it is the official Toyota Financial Services one (in which case it should be).

That's one advantage (besides lock'g out any future price increase) of getting an extended warranty (if you want to do it) as soon as possible after the purchase (from here & not at the dealer's unless they sell the right one at the right price). Don't let a dealer talk you into buying anything other than the Toyota Financial Services warranties for no more than $990 for the 7yr/100,000 mile/$0 deductible one.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Hi Ginny,

Any updates (hopefully good news).....

 

Get a lawyer.

 

I have to second that. This is turning into a major cluster f*** now

 

You have a lemon law? Good. They're already in violation. That works for you.

How long have you been without this car? And who is paying for what you are driving now? Their fault. They pay.

Have you been documenting everything? Get a lawyer. Get a lawyer now. These people aren't going to do squat because they see a woman they think they can push around. They're not going to listen to you. Get a lawyer. A male lawyer. They'll listen to him. Give him all of your documentation. I hope you've been keeping a diary with dates and conversations of what they said. (If not, write it up NOW and then continue to reread and revise. You'll remember more as you go along.) Print all of the e-mails. Photocopy all of the letters, estimates, etc. You need to treat this as if it was an accident and they other guy is at fault and isn't going to pay. Give copies of everything to the lawyer.

Have the lawyer send them a firm (I repeat firm) letter.

You don't want this LEMON car back. You now what a new car.

And have the lawyer give them a deadline. Hear from them by this date. Resolved by this date. Otherwise....see you in court.

*That* will get their attention. Even if someone is on vacation.

 

I read that it very very easy to damage the electronics of the Prius, especially if you reverse polarity. Reversing polarity is easy to do. Do you put the positive + cable on the positive + terminal, or do you put the negative - cable on the positive + terminal? What color is negative, black or red? What color is positive, red or black? If they told you over the phone, there is even a bigger chance to get the two switched.

What I am learning from your dilemma is to tow first (especially if you have road service or AAA and get towed the first 12 miles for free), rather than try this on your own.

What do you do now? I would go to the television and newspaper consumer advocates, but first write an open letter to the dealership, service department heads of your vehicle and cc them the media. When they read the cc they will begin to see that unless they satisfy you and help you they will get more than $4,500 of negative publicity, and the Prius Hybrid movement isn't going to be exclusive forever. Other companies are vamping up their hybrids for sale too. Squeeky wheel gets oiled. Keep squeeking.

 

Have you read the entire thread?

 

Or ANY of it?!

Icarus

 

Ginny,

I must tell you as a prius fan, i didn't read the entire thread! There was a ton of great posts i read. Patrick Wong is really smart! My brother is a Master Technician for Toyota here in California. I like to read forum stuff so I just joined today, because i have been bugging him to death about your situation and i wanted to share some info he gave me. I should have joined earlier to try and help you sort some of this out.

He tells me that you probably had a bad 12v battery from little driving habits. Thats not bad, but it doesnt keep the 12vbattery at a very good charge. He mentioned that you can pull some fuse or something, (can't remember for sure, but he says its in the owners manual) if your going to leave the vehicle undriven for some time.

Secondly he agrees with Patrick that the low state of the voltage and more than likely some spike to the system damaged the fuse block and sub-sequentially the inverter.

He says his dealership often warranties the 12v battery because in many cases they can't prove if that 12v was bad from driving habits, lights left on etc.. he told me that the batteries will often fail the test after the vehicle has been towed in!

I do know that this has to remain somewhat hush-hush as he doesn't want to get in the middle of this, and have toyota question his involvement with another dealer. He did tell me that in situations like this the tech often has to open a case with toyota regarding the findings! I might be able to bribe him with steak and beer ( LOL ) to find out about the case! Let me know if this would be helpful in your fight.

I've read enough of the posts to see that you are having a rough go of this, and i would like to help you as much as anyone else here has!

write me back soon and i will do what i can for info

 

BIG RED FLAG.

They cannot deny you getting a second opinion.

Get a lawyer. Get one NOW.

And then generate some bad PR. See if you can get on any local TV or Radio show to tell the story of how the regional Toyota manager is scamming you out of $5,000, blocking a second opinion, refusing to honor warranty, etc. Make them look really bad and dishonest. Because that is exactly what they are.

 

HUGE RED FLAG...I can hear the sirens going off in the background!
I've owned a Toyota since 1995...and this does not sound like the company that I have known.

I just started reading this thread about your car problems today. At a minimum, the new dealership should be allowed to give a second or third opinion on the damages to your car. I would contact the manager(s) and owner(s) of the new dealership to request that your vehicle be diagnosed by their service department and an itemized list of damages be prepared for you. Make sure the new dealership is not owned by the same company or person(s).

I did not read all of the posts here, but I did read all your posts. I know that you do not wish to hear this again...but you may need a lawyer eventually. It is possible that the first dealership damaged the inverter or it failed due to a manufacturing defect. I've not heard anything that "screams" fault on your part.

I do not blame you...I would stay clear of Toyota products in the future. Just the hassle of dealing with this situation would do it for me. It sounds like Toyota's warranty has become be worth less than the paper it is written on. I want to hear the resolution...your comments has brought my respect for Toyota into question.

 

The fact the Regional Service manager called the dealership you took your car to and told them not to touch it is a huge red flag.

Get a lawyer. They are doing this to you because you are a woman, they figure you'll just cave in and pay the money. Like you're doing. They don't expect you to fight this.

Get a lawyer.

 

Have to say you have surely saved many Pri owners a lot of money and grief.
One of my neighbors asked me to jump her car,I had to turn her down.
I will never,ever let jumper cables within 10 feet of my car.
I have not read all of the post on this subject but I do remember reading a salesman
guided you through the process.
Could this be the reason they are intent on closing your case?
If you did as he told you then he is acting as a dealer rep.
Seems that would make them responsible?