'05 Prius Battery Drain

No. I have had no further problem in this regard.
The vehicle is totally great, rewarding, and
pleasurable.....this from a man who was a dedicated
sports car afficianado not many years ago.
And, learning how to drive it properly saw my gas
mileage increase from 48.5 to 51.5, not registered
by the onboard computer, but by actual calculation.
Just remember to push the cancel button if you have the 'smart key' function. I do it automatically
now when I secure it for the night or longer.
Lee

Murray:
Thanks for your input.
I'd only had the car for a short time, and had not driven it for about 5 days. Pushed the power button
and nothing happened. So, I did what the book
said to do -- called the 800 number. A flatbed
arrived, put a jumper on it [by then I know to
pop the fuse panel cover], it started. Drove it
down the street and back, but did not understand
the system, so sent it to the dealer.
Next day I picked it up; they could find nothing wrong! Amazed, I researched the owners manual
from cover to cover, concluding that I needed to
switch off the 'smart key' button. Have had no further problems. This is why, though, that I put out the warning.
Really interesting that you have not experienced the
same. Thanks for the input. Lee

I just got my 2005 Prius about a month ago. I did quite a bit of research which included reading through this site. I really love my new car. I am a bit concened though now about the issue of the "battery drain" that you all are discussing since I routinely leave my car at the airport for a week and would hate to come back to it and not have it start. What is the reason that the "smart key" system should be disabled? Am i really going to run into a problem leaving this car for long periods of time? Help is appreciated on this subject. I have not encountered any problem so far for just a couple of days. On this subject, sort of, how do you all suggest the best way may be to "valet" the car without going into a 10 minute lesson on driving the car, so it isnt left on while we are dining. The last valet had a bit of trouble reading the tag we left with the key! Thanks for the help...

Lee,

Thanks for the information and the reply to my questions. Great point on the Valet issue, your originallity also gave me a good chuckle this morning.

Ric

I've been away for about a week a couple of times and had no sign of problems on returning to my Prius. That said - I have the model without the 'smart' key.

I've heard from other drivers about other problems with the smart key, perhaps it's not so smart after all.

A possible issue is where you leave the key, it seems that the car can detect the key at a much greater range than it operates, and if the key is close but not near enough, eg in a room next to the garage it keeps checking the distance to see if it should activate.

I have had my Prius for a year now, I have never had a single problem with the car, and in the last 3 months, due to nijury, I have only been driving it once a week. The car is the single greatest item I have ever bought!

Anyone: What about sitting in standstill traffic? I recently watched the blue bars drop one by one to the extent that I became quite concerned. I managed to exit the highway and all was well in a few minutes' driving. Yesterday, however, I watched the blue bars turn to two red bars. In neither instance did the gas engine come on to charge the batteries. Anyone know what's supposed to happen in situations like this? Would appreciate any insights you might have. Thanks.
P.S. I have scheduled a diagnostic appointment with the dealer for next week.

cdurnell:

Yes, I had the a/c on and probably the cd player. Thanks for the reassurance. I assumed it would kick on eventually, but didn't wait that long--for fear it wouldn't! I will see what my dealer says. In every other respect, my Prius is a superb vehicle.

I'm just now venturing out to investigate hybrid cars. I've been a Toyota aficionado for years (Celica was my first car in '85) and I now drive a Camry. This is why I'm headed to the Toyota dealership first to check out the Prius. My mom and dad are big Honda fans, so I'll be going there too to check out the Civic. I've read a lot of posts here on tips and suggestions for upping the MPG and I've seen some comments about air conditioners. I live in East Texas and "no air" is not an option for my family, but at the same time we don't ever run it full blast and I always have mine on the lowest setting and often cut it off and back on when things are cool enough. Question is, "How much does air condition use affect the MPG and what practices (if other than what I already do) should I be doing to help with the MPG?" Thanks for any comments you can share with me.

Robin

Search for long-term storage advice at
http://www.priuschat.com

Can you not arrange for someone to drive it for 20 minutes every two weeks or so?

I have some questions for any or all Prius owners.
I drive about 45,000 miles a year and untill recently I was just concerned about the rising costs
of gas but now need to do something. My questions
are is it good for alot of highway driving? Is it good
in the winter? I like to listen to the radio and need air or heat depending on the season. Am I still a good canidate for a hybrid?

We are about to buy a Prius ourselves, the deposit has been placed and now we do the WAIT for the highly sought after vehicle. We have heard some 'folk-lore' that when the hybrid battery dies, it costs $5000. to replace. Is this true? I realize the battery is guaranteeed for 100,000 miles, but I am wondering if this 'rumor' is true........please let me know what you may have heard. thanks!

I know this is very late, but to answer the questions about battery life, I read that the life expectancy of a Prius battery is about 15 years with normal use and approx. 12,000 miles per year--and that's on a 2001 model. So I can only imagine that the later model batteries will last even longer. Hopefully, it's true. 15 years of lower gas prices sounds good to me!

I have a beat up 93 toyota camary. In city/ hwy milage I get about 25mpg with the ac on full blast. Most of my miles are on the hwy above 90mph, I travel for business and wonder what the MPG of the prius around 100mpg which is my normal crusing speed. Thanks.

talking about batteries, i think i either have a lemon or my dealer is giving me the run around. No matter how long I drive the car, the top two or three bars on the battery display never seem to fill up. Do I have a defective battery or cells? Or am I missing something? I recently took four trips of 600 miles (almost all flat driving) one way, straight driving except for brief gas/potty stops. Max number of bars displayed was 7 out of 9. I tried alternative driving techniques/cruise control and steady as possible foot. I am doing something wrong or expecting the impossible.

Also I can't seem to get over 35 mpg in town (crowded city, lots of stop and go) or 45 mpg highway..... about 70 mph. Any tips on what to do to get better mileage.

I just returned from a nine day vacation to find the power button dead on my 2006 Prius. I had read in the manual about turning off the smart key when gone for two weeks or more. I did turn it off, but now I'm not sure if maybe I drove it for one last errand before we left and forgot to turn it off again. So I'm not sure how long the battery will last with or without the smart key turned off, and no one, neither the dealer nor the tow guy could tell me either.

I had been told by the dealer who sold it to me that if the battery dies, always call Toyota and have them come out and fix it or tow it. I also paid $1600 for the extended, full 7-year, 100,000 mile warranty. I naively took this salesman at his word that all I had to do was call the nearest dealer, or the service number, and Toyota would be there in a flash to get me up and running again.

First, I called the dealer who sold it to me, and the service guy said that it was my responsibility to tow it into them (although theoretically I would get reimbursed for the tow charge), and they wouldn't be able to get to it until the next day at the earliest. He told me I should just jump it myself, but I told him I was not comfortable doing that because the salesman had told me not to do that, but rather that I should call their service center and have Toyota send someone out who knew Priuses.

Then I called Toyota's service number that was listed in the warranty document. They were closed--only open from 7am -7pm. So then I called another dealer in Minneapolis who I had been using for oil changes because they were closer to where I lived than the dealer I bought it from. Their service guy also suggested I jump it, but I told him I didn't want to do that because of what the salesman had told me, and because I'm unfamiliar with the Prius' two-battery system, and because I couldn't open the hatchback without power to get to the back battery. He did finally get a towing company to call me back who had experience with Priuses.

This towing company guy came to our house after finishing some other towing jobs after about two hours. This guy definitely had experience with Priuses, and was knowledgeable about them. But even so, it took him about an hour of troubleshooting to figure out how to jump start the car, especially since it was in a single car garage, and there was no access to the back battery because we couldn't open the hatchback because there was no power.

He finally figured out that we had to pull off a plastic cap of an electronic panel, located on the far right side looking back under the front hood of the car (that can be opened without power). There he finally located an innocuous postive battery post sticking up. He said that the location of this positive post had changed from the 2005 Prius. He then hooked the jumper cables (which were long enough to reach from the back of the car to the front) to this positive post, and then attached the second negative cable to a screw post sticking up from the car frame nearby, and we were able to jump start the car with no problem.

This towing guy's recommendation was to invest in a small, $15 battery charger, and hook it up to the rear battery if you're going to be gone for extended periods. He said that should keep the battery alive.

Some summary points:

1) Buy the $15 battery charger and hook it up to your rear battery if you're going leave your Prius parked for extended time periods.

2) Turn off your smart key switch under your steering wheel on the left (see owner's manual) if you're gone for extended time.

3) Find out from your dealer who they use as a towing company, so that you get one that knows Priuses. Then get their number and just call them diretly if something goes wrong. DON'T wait until the battery goes dead, or something else goes wrong to find out how little help the nearest Toyota dealer might be. I was glad I had not stalled out on the freeway somewher late at night. DON'T assume that if you call the Toyota service number after 7pm that they will be there to get you help. DON'T assume that the dealer will necessarily be of much help either, even if they happen to be open.

Sounds like the 12v battery may be going bad.

In a "normal" car, you know your battery is going dead when the engine cranks S-L-O-W-L-Y. But with the Prius, the big 200v battery cranks the engine, and the 12v battery only has to run the computer.

So the 12v battery can go 99% dead before you notice a problem.

And the biggest problem is, unless you know how to "dive" into the hidden menus, there is NO indication as to how low the 12v battery actually is!

I have a 2007 prius and just let it sit for three weeks in the wisconsin winter. Had the smart key off.when I went to start it I had no problem. I do have a question though. Why do the blue power bars turn green?

Bob: you got bad info.

Putting the car in "B" mode reduces the recharging of the propusion battery. "B" mode is for long downhill slopes where the battery cannot absorb all the braking energy. "B" mode is a mechanical engine brake similar to the truck "Jake" brakes.

If you are driving around in "B" mode, the propulsion battery is NOT being recharged every time you hit the brakes.

The bar graph display shows the status of the propulsion (200V, 1.6 Kw hour) battery. It has NO relation to the 12V battery that runs all the accessories, AND the computers that control the entire car.

The propulsion battery should begin to recharge when the computer calls for the engine to charge it OR when you are braking to a stop. The little arrows from the engine to the battery should show you when the proplulsion battery is being charged.

My battery just died and had to be replaced after 3 years of normal use. The dealer changed it at no cost to me (had to pay car rental for one day). Now I have 5 years on the warranty left and that worries me. A new battery costs $3,500! I have to get another car for my daughter soon and though the Prius gives great mileage, I am hesitant on getting another one.

We have a 2005 Prius and have noticed that the battery seem to be draining overnight. How do I know this? The car seems to struggle in the mornings because of the low battery trying to get charged and the night before, it is fully or 95% charged. Is this common for a 3 year old Prius?

Just got a 2008 Prius and I noticed this morning (after three days of driving) the battery s down to two purple bars. I had noticed that the blue bars (no legend on the manual) never rose above one over the halfway. I drove around town for an hour and let the car sit...just checked and I see two purple bars (down from half). We will see in the morning...

Thanks for all the information regarding battery drainage! I'm going to be in Hawaii for 3 weeks and leaving my 2006 Prius in the driveway. I don't have the Smart Key system, just the basic key fob. for locking/unlocking the doors & starting the car. I typically drive it everyday day, 5-10 miles, and at least one freeway trip of 120 miles/week. Please confirm that I don't need to have my cat-sitter add starting the Prius to her list of duties! I live in the Pacific Northwest where we "typically" have mild winters...:)
I love my Prius, and want to keep her healthy!

I have not yet had to replace the battery in my 2005 prius.

However, no purveyor of batteries will guarantee you a standard car battery will last 4 years! Some would say you have done well. My other car (not the prius) has had two battery replacements in the last 10 years.

I recently turned my 2007 Prius to accessory mode by pressing start button without foot on brake. Forgot it was still on and left car for 30 mins or so. Came back to dead battery. Anyone know what's going on? Other cars can be in that mode all afternoon with radio on and not drain battery.

I have a 2005 that we bought new. Has been great but now that I am approaching 100,000 I was concerned about the Hybrid battery life. Your comments have eased that concern.
I do have a bone to pick about the aux. battery though. No warning indicator to let you know it may be going bad like in most other cars. It went out when I was on a long trip and many miles away from home. It may only be an aux. battery but the car won't work without it. Could have been really bad except the little town had a Toyota dealer, just did not carry the aux. battery. I had to wait a day in a small town in the middle of Nevada for a battery to arrive.
My suggestion, check the aux battery when you have regular servicing to prevent any surprises.