What Toyota doesn't want you to know

Ditto. My last Honda Accord had over 200K miles when I sold it and, other than tire replacement and recommended maintenance work including a timing belt I replaced at 100K miles and brake pads, the most I ever spent on 'repairs' was to replace the AC knob. So if you're not accustomed to driving reliable vehicles, $3K may not seem too bad but I think it's outrageous.

 

This poll is incorrect or very misleading as well. It should CLEARLY state that the 100K warranty is for GI & GII batteries. My GIII battery is warrantied for 150,000.

And, FWIW, I don't mind paying the replacement costs for the battery if it gets me to 150,000. I'm saving $12/week in gas (at $3.00/gal) over that of my 1999 New Beetle that I used as a trade-in after having driven it as a commuter car to work for 11 years and it had 150,000 miles on it.

11 years x 52 weeks/year x $12/week = $6864 in savings during that time...and that's with figuring gas at only $3.00/gal for the next 150,000 miles- not a very likely scenario!

So, counting on battery costs going down between now and then and gas prices going up seems to show me that it's a no-brainer. Of course, that doesn't ease anyone's pocketbook if they have to fork over $3,000 to get their Prius up and running again.

 

I agree.
It absolutely sucks to believe yourself in a pretty comfortable bell curve, hoping to be smack dab in the middle or dare you hope, to the extreme favorable position only to find you've drawn the short straw and fall the the extreme unfavorable spot.

The question as I understand it is:

Did you just draw the short straw in the bell curve we all know and accept around the battery life or is the bell curve moving, and battery replacement costs are going to start effecting more of us sooner?

Disclaimer:
I'm posting "pre-coffee" again and may read this later this afternoon and think to myself WTH?

 

It is a battery. I know of no battery that can last 10 years. I also know that there is nothing that can be done to prolong battery life beyond a certain point. I knew that since the day of the rechargable calculator and cell phones. I am not buying the Prius to save money only. There are better cars for saving money. So I expect to have to replace the battery at some point. 100,000 is a good life. If it were 60,000, I'll be upset.

Also, if I were to get an all electric vehicle, I understand it is new tech and the batteries may not last that long either. It is unproven technology. If the Li battery in your computer last only 3 years, why would you expect that it is better in your car? The Prius was new tech 10 years ago. There is pride in being the first and there is always some risk in unproven technology.

A Corolla, on the other hand, should be expected to last and last.

 

No, 150K is CA and affiliated states. 100K for the rest of the country.

 

I had a printer once that failed one week past the warranty period.

I got no love at all from HP.

Stuff happens. Before we got our Prius, I would have LOVED to have a car that got 100k with less than $5k in repairs! Vans with bad trannys, carburetor rebuilds, fuel pumps that went bad, water pumps... oh, and that Olds diesel with the blown head gasket :gasp: Then, there was the Dodge Spirit with the cracked head, and all the money we put into fixing that, and the engine then overheated and it was toast.

If the worst we see with the Prius is a new Hybrid battery after 100k, I dare say we will consider ourselves very, very fortunate.

 

You bought an Olds diesel...oh, Rae...

OP: I didn't read the whole thread so apologies if I'm repeating here. Your unfortunate battery experience amortizes to 3 cents per mile. If you tell me how much you saved in fuel costs vs. the previous car, then we'll know how you're doing.

Not as well as most from all I have read (and I fear that may be more prius-postings than you can possibly imagine). Back before this thread I surely would have advised you to beg sympathy from Toyota. But they read here too you know, and I'm afraid you've p**ped in their rice bowl.

(it's just something we say over here)

 

Well, I sure knew this in advance from the research I did before purchase. Probably not known in 2001 though. I understand that there is a refund on the old battery when it is traded in, I read somewhere $200 or $300. I hope this is correct.

 

I think it's the opposite - most non-owners expect the battery to go catastrophically bad well before 100K miles and cost $5000 or more (and that it will sit in a landfill, leaching dangerous chemicals into our drinking water). I've had to correct numerous people on this. It's basically like replacing a transmission, in both cost and likelihood. Based on experiences I've read about on PriusChat, I've known for years it's only $3000 in general, and many people have gone more than 150K miles on the original batteries (I will probably drive mine 120K miles at the current rate).

You got the short straw on this one, but it was one of the very early Prii, and you were an early adopter. They have made various improvements since then based on real-world experience and I thank you for showing Toyota there was a demand for extra-efficient cars, and helping them evolve the hybrid to where it is today. :thumb:

I don't think you're wrong to have helped other people get a more advanced Prius, with many trouble-free years of fuel-saving driving.

 

Octavia, new avatar I see, nice

I agree with your post, in fact, my last one was pretty much redundant to yours (even the short-straw analogy), I should have read yours first.

Anyway, I think the important thing here is that the car in question is a 2001, so I would expect the bell-curve to be moving in the positive direction, as Toyota gains experience in battery management.

 

does anyone know whether you can disconnect the abttery at the end of its life and just drive the car as if it was a regular car?

 

Awesome! Thanks!

 

Huge congrats! :cheer2:

 

It cannot operate this way. That battery is required both to start the engine, and to make the electric transmission system work.

The transmission does not have a purely mechanical energy path between engine and wheels, a portion of the propulsion energy always flows through the electric motors.

 

Gas savings is just a part of the equation. What about the hybrid premium we all paid? Or the emissions inspection savings, insurance savings, environmental impact, etc?

In my mind it all comes back to whether or not it is acceptable to have a major failure (in terms of cost) after just 100K miles in this day and age with the most reliable cars commonly lasting well over 200K miles. My expectations are higher.

 

That's fantastic! Good on you and good on Toyota...so I guess "what Toyota doesn't want us to know" is that they're sharing the cost of a battery replacement for you???

 

Hey, what can I say -- it was the FIRST husband who decided on that one - and he had to pony up the cash to fix it.

My CURRENT husband is the one that said, "Sure, we can get a Prius!"

I'm not stupid

 

sory but you only have options i can not deside.
No one ever told me this
I was told something different
I don't care
You must be kidding
add something like
this is not bad news.. ( its te be expected at some number of cars and the 100K miles you have done are a lot )

 

It is modern engineering and to be expected. Basically, the engineers found that the average skill of the fixer is bad. If they go in to fix one part, they are liable to ruin something else causing a chain of failures down the road. In complex systems, it is best to replace whole subassemblies even though it seems like it is cheaper just to fix broken things. So from the space station to the car things are fixed by replacing subassemblies. Anytime you have a fix, you are looking at a big bill. So whole transmissions are swapped out when it fails instead of a rebuild.

Also, in the old days of low social mobility, you have super mechanics who spend their whole life fixing cars because they did not go to college. Nowadays, the supermechanic is recognized and promoted to management or goes to night school, gets a degree, and is a doctor, or wall street type making a lot more money, or host a show like "car talk".

But you can't argue with success, because of this, our cars are more reliable than our parents' cars. Actually fewer cars need the big fix so on average, everyone is better off. However, it always seems like you are hit with the big one when you get the bad car that actually needs fixing.