Dorman Battery Experiences

Yes, the spark plugs were changed, and the engine and inverter coolants were both changed. Want this car to last as long as possible.

 

That is reassuring. Thank you.

 

Well, less than five months later, I have had ANOTHER Dorman battery fail you guys. Shop quoted $1709 to replace with a Toyota battery or, of course, free if we want another Dorman battery. I think I'm ready to just take the free battery swap and trade this Prius in and be done with hybrids for a long time. Such a disappointment.

Just to let you know, the only warning sign I had of impending failure was 6 days before... after driving on the freeway for an hour, the battery showed 6 or 7 bars. When I got back into the car just an hour later, the battery only showed 2 bars.

 

So for those trying to keep score, you've had 4 doorman failures, correct?

 

Are you paying for labor on these warranty batteries?

 

No. They bill Dorman.

 

That's a pretty good warranty, I would stick with it for the 3 years. Free replacement and free labor. How the heck does Dorman make money?

Which shop is doing the work?

 

Yes. The original failed at around 9 months. The first 2 replacements failed on install, and now the 3rd replacement failed just shy of 5 months.

 

I'm not sure. lol!

The owner sounded concerned that Dorman might not honor the warranty again, and he mentioned something about an inventory issue at Dorman??? Dorman has not reimbursed any of my car rental expenses. The shop is Murrieta Auto in Murrieta, California. He is going to call them back in the morning to discuss. I paid nothing for the work last time, but I had to pay for 2 weeks of rentals.

 

This car has been "in the shop" 8 times since Thanksgiving week 2016 for various reasons: a new inverter, new batteries, new tires, new brakes, regular maintenance, etc. It's supposed to be our workhorse, so it's not worth it for us to chance it anymore.

 

You must have paid for the battery through the shop? That's probably why you got the labor warranty. They would have to honor that for the full 3 years.

but the downside is the rental charges, there's no way they'll reimburse you for that.

 

In all fairness, the problem isn't with hybrids, or even Toyota... it's that you keep installing used batteries.

That's like saying this: I live in a 3 bedroom Cape style house. I needed to replace the front door, but I got a really good deal on a replacement window instead. The problem is, I keep banging my head on the window every time I crawl in. So I've learned my lesson: my next house is going to be a colonial.

 

I don't understand what is up with the unusual battery experience you are having. I have worked on hundreds of hybrids and installed more batteries than I can remember. I have installed new ones as well as Dorman but never have heard of so many failures. I have customers who were some of the first Dorman installs years ago and are still running on those packs.
Sorry to hear of what's going on over in your neck of the woods.

 

It is definitely unfortunate but I have encountered several customers who have had these type of problems with commercial companies rebuilding and shipping batteries: falcun, greentic, hybridselutions... The most recent one was falcun, who shipped a battery to a customer in Iowa for $1,400+. The customer paid to have it installed independently because the dealership wouldn't install it. It immediately through the bad module code for a leaky module/voltage to the frame so they shipped another one, had to pay for another install and never bothered with getting the first one back. I bought it off CL for cheap. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with rebuilding/recycling/reconditioning batteries and getting as much life out of them as possible. We have customers who have had our rebuilt/reconditioned batteries in their cars for 2+ years, saved lots of money and are very happy! I would say their biggest problem is quality control.

 

ReInvolt was "bought out" by Dorman. You see it's main guy in the Dorman commercials. I got the sense from watching the old ReInvolt videos that this was an outfit that cared, and their products were good. Maybe the quality control has slipped with the takeover, cutting too many corners?

 

My ReInVolt was still working well at 93k miles and almost 5 years when I traded my 2004 for my shiny red 2016 Prius so I agree with Mendel.

JeffD

 

We have to remember that back when reinvolt was in business, the pool of supply modules were much younger. I think the overall reliability of the refurb'd battery business will be a continual decline as the pool of good modules gets shallower and shallower.

Just my 2 cents.

 

+1

And as the pool of modules gets shallower, the demand is steadily growing as more Prii are getting to be "of a certain age".

 

Dude. Whatever.