Any Prius side effects from the sweltering heat?

i never had a problem w/ my '04 which i drove for 100k. my brother still has it w/170k, still no probs.

 

I was on the way for our Sunday morning donuts when I turned on the air. Only got hot air out the vents. Had me really worried. Then I realized I had set the cabin temperature to 88. That works fine to cool when it's 102 out but not at 80 today! Operator error....Don't out think the Prius.

 

Whenit is that hot outside you should do your best to keep the interior cool. Park in the shade, use a windshield shade, run you AC etc. Prius Hv batteries have a higher incidence of failure in very hot climates like Arizona. Use the simple rule of thumb "if you are uncomfortable then so is your hybrid battery".

 

i would also highly recommend tinting the windows. sometimes there is no shade to be found. with all that glass its like a damn greenhouse. and it looks cool.

 

I know this is the Gen2 forum, but the only thing I have noticed on my 02 is that my MPG is hovering around 38mpg from the normal 48ish mpg, due to A/C usage..

 

If there is no shade to be found, is it better to keep tinted windows rolled up or cracked a bit or fully open to allow breeze through?

 

IMO park with the front of your car facing whatever direction the sun will be most intense before you leave. Use a sunshade to block solar radiation and crack your windows to allow hot air to escape.

Methods for controlling heat buildup in your car:

1. Park in a shaded area. Under a tree may help but a better tactic is to park on the eastern side of a large building. As the sun moves to the west in the later portion of the day, the building will block the sun from hitting your car. With your windows cracked, the heat from the earlier part of the day will dissipate faster than if you parked your car in the full sun the entire day.
2. Tint your windows
3. Use a high quality windshield sun shade. Priuschat shop has a very nice one!
4. If you cannot park on the east side of a building try parking your car facing the west and use a quality windshield sun shade. This will reduce the number of windows directly facing the sun and thus not allowing as much of the suns radiation to enter the car.
5. Drive the car for the first few minutes with all the windows down to circulate the hot air and direct it outside.

Best Practices for A/C usage and maintenance:

1. Use the A/C sparingly or use the crossflow venting technique (see below)
2. Crossflow Venting - Roll the driver side window down approx. 3" then do the same for the passenger side rear window. This will create a nice cross breeze and will not adversely affect aerodynamics in a noticeable way
3. Use a setting that is high enough for maximum efficiency but makes you comfortable. 78 degrees seems to be sufficient for most drivers
4. Ensure your A/C system is charged to spec levels and operating efficiently. i.e. condenser is clear of obstructions, bugs, etc.
5. Use Eco Mode if your car is equipped with the feature

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/how-to-reduce-mpg-loss-because-of-a-c-use.97814/#ixzz1zZT6x2mf​

 

Last year several owners of '07 models (myself included) had the rubber gasket on the rear hatch melt. Mine finally caused the latch to quit working altogether and was replaced under extended warranty. See how it does this year, could have been a bad batch of rubber.

 

now that i think of it, my '04 had the dash warp just a little, above the glove box. at my old job, parking sucked. you had to take what you could find. it was in the sun all day. the front window shade might have kept it from warping if i wasn't too cheap to buy one...

 

The warp probably was not due to sun exposure. Rather, this likely was caused by the end of the upper glove box door spring breaking out of its normal position, thus lifting up the dash panel.

The proof of that cause would be if you should find the upper glove box door no longer remains in the open position after you open the door. Later 2G model years had an engineering change so this problem is less likely to happen.

 

nope. glove box worked perfectly; i assume if it does get funny acting my brother who still owns (and loves) it will let me know.

 

My 2007 Prius is now experiencing its sixth summer in St. George, Utah where the AVERAGE daily high in July is over 100 degrees. (June and August average highs are in the high 90s). It has behaved like a champ with no special coddling. Of course, you want to set the interior temperature to a very comfortable temperature because that's what cools the battery pack.

 

MPG seems to drop with heavy ac usage. Considering the $ that's still saved with even higher Prius gas usage, I just don't look at the gauges as much during hot weather so I can keep

 

My 2008 went from 49MPG to 44MPG with the 100 degree temps and running the a/c

 

It's not a good idea to go without the AC in very hot weather. The passenger compartment air is used to cool the Traction (HV) Battery. If you turn off the AC, the battery could over heat and die an early death.

JeffD

 

This trick does not work on my car maybe because I have side window deflectors installed. (See my post here
WeatherTech window deflector install tips with diagrams | PriusChat
for the installation experience.) I tried opening the two windows ~ 3 inches below the edge of the deflectors (i.e. there was ~ 3 inch vertical gap between the glass and the edge of the deflector) and there was hardly any breeze coming to my face. Then I tried open all four windows - the front ones flush with the edge of the deflectors (i.e. no vertical gap between the glass and the deflector edge) and the rear ones half way between the edge of the deflectors and the top of the window frame (i.e. no vertical gap except a small one at the end of the window where it slopes and the deflector does not cover the slope). In this way there was a breeze coming from the right hand (passenger) side somehow.

 

Mine too, weird huh?

 

2009Prius, my guess is the deflectors deflect the air too far away from the window to allow this technique to work. Does that make then less aerodynamic?

 

Actually, when you consider that the compressor is electric and is driven by the traction battery, it makes sense that MPG would drop some when running the A/C at higher ambient temps. The system is working that much harder to cool down or at least maintain the setting you are running, therefore the higher the ambient temp, the more electrictity that is needed to keep you and your traction battery comfortable. Gen 1 owner's take a higher hit still as the compressor is driven by the ICE, rather than electricity in the Gen 2 and Gen 3 models.

If you want to minimize power usage when running the A/C, set the temp on the highest comfortable setting you and the other's can tolerate. 78 - Auto vs 74 - Auto will yield quite a bit of difference on the length of time the fan/compressor will be running at the highest speed. The longer the compressor/fan is running on high, the more electricity that will be used. Since the ICE provides the electricity to the battery, the end result is the ICE will run more often to maintain the level of current needed for the Prius to operate everything including the A/C.

Do this simple experiment and you should see just how fast the traction battery will go down from a full charge.

1. Force charge the battery until it shows green, then with the air on and set to 70-Auto, time how long it takes for the ICE to start up.

2. Force charge the battery until it shows green, then with the air off, time how long it takes for the ICE to start up.

I have seen with the two above scenarios that 1. would make the ICE start up in 5 to 10 minutes time. In scenario #2, I have seen the ICE not start up for at least 60 minutes.

Both of the test's were run at similar outside ambient temps. with similar elctrical loads with the exception of the A/C being switched on and off.