Thanks to all of you who offered advice on my first post about my car "dying" for 10-15 seconds and then the trip odometer and clock resetting. I took it to my mechanic today. Of course I had no problem starting it and driving it there. However, when I got there, it totally died for a good 10-15 minutes. It wasn't until he got to the battery in the trunk and giggled it did everything work again. It ends up the battery was just loose and he tightened it. Hopefully the problem is fixed. However, this brings me to a new question... when the car died, we used the manual key to open the driver side door. But, to get into the trunk, where the battery is, was very difficult. My car doesn't have a automatic trunk opener from inside and there is no place to insert the manual key into the trunk from the outside. So, my mechanic had to climb into the backseat and pop the seats down to get into the trunk. My question is if my battery really dies at some point and I have to get it jumpstarted, how do I open the trunk if the car is dead? Thanks!
You climb into the backseat, and there is a manual release somewhere. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/25542-manual-trunk-release.html (The latch release is actually on page 44 of the PDF that is referenced in that thread) ETA - You can jump it from under the hood. See owner's manual or other threads on jump starting..
Note that 2G Prius has a dedicated jumpstart terminal located in the main relay/fuse box near the inverter. Remove the cover of the box and find a little red hinged cover within. That covers the positive terminal. Connect the negative jumper cable to bare metal, such as one of the nuts that secures the top of the strut assembly to the body of the car. Or, if you want to access the battery directly, you have to do the same as the mechanic: pop the rear seats down, climb into the hatch area, lift up the folding hatch floor, then find the little access panel on the black plastic tray over the spare tire. Open the door to the panel and find the manual release for the hatch. Or, replace the 12V battery after the car is 4 years old as a preventive move, since you live in an area with cold winters. This should reduce the likelihood that you have to deal with a jumpstart situation.
Or if you want to gain access to the trunk, instead of clambering over the seats, use the jump start point to temporarily power the Prius and then open the hatch in the normal way.
There is a way to carry a small rechargeable 12v power source with you and restart the car without leaving the driver's seat. See this thread: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-.../42651-dead-12v-battery-glove-box-remedy.html
