12 V Battery Drained after 6 Days!--And worse??

The dealer telling that 6 days not driving a car is enough to drain the 12V battery is simply BS. Then a lot of cars out there, not just the Prius, would be dead.
The dealer simply has no clue or does not want to look further into this. I would escalate this to Toyota. Moreover, the dealer should show where on the owner's manual it is said that the car cannot be driven for more than 6 days in a row. Where is that written??? and I would wait for their answer.
I also agree that a statement like "you are jump starting your cars in the lot then, every 6 days, right?!?!?", would have been nice to say.
Let us know how it goes. Toyota does not really realise that dealers that behave like this affect deeply the image that customers and non-customers have of Toyota... I would remove the franchise from the dealer - if I were Toyota I would not want a dealership like this to represent my company.
This "6 days" is too much is the worst BS I have ever heard.

 

Agree. Question is : When is Toyota going to upgrade the 12V auxilliary battery so it compares with real world use, as is the case with other cars and other Toyota cars. Maybe they like being pounded in the head with 12V battery complaints.

 

Maybe Toyota Corp is tied into a long term contract (friendship deal) with the OEM Battery manufacturer and has to continually butter up to Panasonic or whoever makes the 12V Battery. Toyota MUST be aware of the deficiencies of thier puny battery. They pay for them all the time. The dealership does not care as long as they get reimbursed and end up in the plus column. So we can expect the dumb dealers to tell us almost anything that sounds plausible. They just havn't figured out the limits of plausibility yet. BS is the correct term. :cheer2:

 

Thanks. Didn't read the thread too carefully.

IMO, if there's ANY possibility it was caused by her, it's pointless to take it to the next level. Too many members here have wasted too much energy and time (usually encouraged by Bob Wilson) trying to reproduce a self-induced event some other ways.

 

How many 12v batteries have been replaced under warranty? I know of one--mine. The Prius battery is a standard Japanese size that isn't widely imported into the US.

IMO, without data the OP will just be wasting time complaining to the dealer or Toyota. Buy a ScanGauge or battery tester to read the voltage. If the numbers are low, charge the battery. If the battery won't hold a charge then there is a case.

Showing the Service Writer you know what you are talking about can cut the BS.

 

IMHO, the Gen 3 battery quality has a wide range of capacity base on the posting here lasting from a few days to couple of months. It has no evidence that there are bugs, hidden battery drains from after market accessories, nor user error.
This leads to the believe the quality of the battery used in the Gen 3 is inferior, translates to lower cost, which is consistent with Toyota tried every effort to reduce material cost in the Gen 3, like cheap hard plastic in the interior, to keep the low MSRP to attract buyer.

End of gripe.

 

LOL!! omg, i talk to people like you every single day. they believe because they got a device that has some issues that the entire company is out to rip them off

 

Does any other member have a view that the standard battery should be changed for a more substantial unit - I need to leave my Prius at the airport for 20 days - and do not wish to come home to a flat battery.

 

well many have done what you plan to do and did not have any issues. why i and a few others did, i dont know. now my 2006 battery has died twice and needed to be jumped but both times were user error and one was even predicted. SO washed car and llet son play in car for a few hours which included flipping lights on and off, etc.

 

I would prefer that a standard US battery be used so that the replacement would be cheaper & come with a longer warranty.

 

If the dealer service advisor and manager think 6 days is too long, filing a case with Toyota Corporate at (800) 331-4331 will get them going.

 

How many 12V 's replaced under warranty? Mine was, but only Toyota knows! If they return them to Japan, they must have a mountain full. Numerous posts on PC about problems with the 12V, from 2001 on. Some/many problems can be blamed to the customer. But 100% of the blame can be directed at Toyota for the design and capacity of the OEM battery. A new Prius owner cannot be faulted for much of the unfamiliarity of new science of Hybrids, in particular the non- technical person, So BS does not enter into the picture. The real BS comes from the Toyota Personnel who listen to thier workmates w/o finding out the facts. I have had no problems with my local Toy dealer, they have always been most helpful and informative. Of course it always helps to know what your talking about first! when explaining a car problem.

 

I had a problem with my 2010 Prius battery. I came home after a 12 day trip and had trouble getting into my car and trouble opening doors other then the drive's side door. The 12V turned out to be fine. The problem was the key fob battery! I got in late, after midnight, so a friend left the key (which I didn't want to take on my trip and loose) under the car. Apparently at temps under 40F the key fob battery gets sluggish. It was fine once it was in my pocket for a while.

 

If the key is in the SKS range for a while, it will drain your batteries (car and fob). It even states in the manual to not store the key near (within SKS range) the car.

 

Good to know but in my case the key was only put there the night I came back.

 

That is long enough usually. It is like leaving a dome light on. It will constantly poll the key. So I would not do that again.

 

Got back today after a biz trip and I left my Prius for a total of 15 days. I got back, saw the blinking red light of the "active lock" on the dashboard blinking - good, I thought. I then opened the hatch without issue and then drove off without any issue - everything worked as expected.
I was even then graced with the city consumption in commute traffic on my daily commute route, as per image attached...(16C, A/C set on Auto at 22C, Radio on, park lights on, some Eco mode and some normal mode, not really pushing it to save fuel).
So, luckily on this side of the pond nothing weird to report.

PS: when I bought the Prius last year, the salesman at the dealer told me that Toyota in EU had quality issues in Yaris and Auris models built in EU due to a change of 12V battery supplier. Apparently in an effort of reducing costs, they tried to use a Chinese manufacturer and had several cars found dead... for EU they learned and changed supplier and now they have no issues anymore. For the Prius built in Japan I don't know. I honestly don't even know where the 12V battery in my Prius is being built/supplier name. If you want I can check for you guys.

 

The battery of my Prius appears to be made in Japan. See pic attached. No, I did not unmount the battery...but there is a "in Japan" visible and other than English there was only Japanese on the battery. I could not find any marking of the manufacturer on any visible part of the 12V battery.