Toyota Prius battery drain problems

Filed Jan 22, 2025 · FL

My small battery died and it is located on passenger side, inside, underneath tail light. There us no key entry. One must crawl to back if car and dismantle many pieces to access release. I had heavy 5 gallon jugs of water in back. There is no trunk release and no key entry. The only way to jump car is at fuse box under hood. Car needs a button inside, ideally up front.

Filed Apr 25, 2024 · Brakes · TN

Faulty brake boosters that crack and leak, making brakes unusable and draining the battery (diagnostic code C1391). There was a Toyota service repair where they exchanged the faulty brake boosters with properly working ones, but it has lapsed.

Filed Nov 11, 2020 · Body, Electrical · 133,425 miles · OH

My toyota prius was involved in a hit run accident. Yark collision completed work on vehicle. When picking up car from yark my car would not start spoke with one of the mechanic he said my battery died and I explained to them I had no issues ,prior to bringing my car to yark I had just had diagnostic test done at toyota. Vehicle sat at my residence over night and vehicle had died again. I contacted yark told them I was bringing battery in for them to charge because I was not sure as to what was going on since we had already replaced battery. Vehicle also had my skid plate in trunk prior to drop off and now I am having electrical issues my horn now does not work and I have children .I did not receive my car until 1 month and half due to insurance not getting back to us . Vehicle has been non drivable since pick up.

Filed Feb 21, 2020 · 1 miles · CA

Recurring "check hybrid system" issue = jov software update failedthis is my 2nd complaint (11298645)re. The non-safety of my prius. Dec 2019, the jov software update failed. I was lucky to be driving in a parking lot as otherwise I wouldn't be here writing to you. My car stopped working entirely & abruptly. I drove it only for 1.2 miles that day. It didn't go into a fail-safe driving mode & didn't go into neutral either. They're 3 witnesses. It got towed to toyota hollywood who accused the car's power loss on the regular battery. The bad overheated inverter caused it & drained the battery surely. Toyota's executive office send out a fts inspection who drove the car also to recreate the dtc code w/ tests & thereafter said it's safe to drive. False assessment. The hybrid warning msg appears again on january 16. I drove it only for 1.6 mi that day. I started my car, the warning msg remained on display until I drove it home for 1.6mi going 15mi/hr. The public knows: "the inverters have been overheating, causing the software that controls the vehicles to shut down the power or put the vehicle into what is known as a limp-home mode that is supposed to allow drivers to get to the side of the road safely." now, toyota culver city has my car since jan 18; they could only see a "low voltage battery" issue & aren't sure. ?toyota has found that in rare situations, the vehicle may not enter a fail-safe driving mode as intended,? The statement said. ?if this occurs, the vehicle could lose power and stall. While power steering and braking would remain operational, a vehicle stall while driving at higher speeds could increase the risk of a crash." what will it take for the largest auto manufactures in the world to replace my inverter? A crash. I hope not. Thank you for assuring safeness on the road. Sincerely, [xxx] redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *cc

Filed Jan 12, 2020 · 1 miles · CA

I was driving my prius 2013 model in a parking lot on 12/24/2019 when itabruptly (without prior warning messages) shut down with this message: "check hybrid system stop the vehicle in a safe place." my car would not move an inch, didn't go into limp mode and didn't go into neutral either.my prius had a 2nd recall software update in 2019 and itwas suppose to prevent my car from shutting downcompletelyand should have gone into fail-safe driving mode but that did not happen and the software update seems to be just a bandaid. It was towed to a dealership who didn't look at it for 2 days due to the holidays and the bad inverter drained the normal battery and the hybrid warning code with it. The dealership did not replace the inverter as they said they couldn't recreate the dtc code which I believe doesn't qualify for not wanting to ensure safety after I had 3 witnesses including myself,seeing the hybrid system inverter failure as well. Where is the original dtc code? It should not evaporate after a bad inverter drains the battery and I have the hybrid warning message on video but was told by the dealership andmanufacturer that it's not sufficient.and they did not offer to check theinverter orthe igbt to ensure itssafeness. Instead, I was asked to pick up my car after they fixed a 'battery cell' issue that was never the problem until it was at the dealership. I picked up my car today still with a bad inverter,an accident waiting to happen and I hope it won't be on a freeway.*dt

Filed Jun 21, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 14,000 miles · CA

After toyota power management software recall installed "power management upgrade" software in my car I immediately experienced serious problems with my ignition /start of hybrid/gasoline engine. After pressing ignition, I had to wait 15 to 20 minutes and press start button on/off repeatedly until the gasoline engine ignite but hybrid failed to start. It is not normal because a prius hybrid engine starts first not the gasoline engine. Toyota has disabled some important functions in its power management recall software update that affects the hybrid engine performance and failure to start. I drive my prius 3-4 times a month and I did not have any problem before the recall software upgrade because prius owners manual clearly says that the battery with be disconnected by battery saving function when your car is parked for long time, several days, weeks. In fact, when your car is parked for just days, toyota power management software (recall) is draining the car battery and reconfiguring the relays to power up the gasoline engine. Toyota owners manual clearly states that when you are parked, "power management software disconnects the auxiliary battery from the hybrid system." however, after the recall, not only auxiliary battery is not disconnected but there are lots of "activity" in hybrid engine that drains the batteries. I called the toyota service and they now say you have to keep the car on a charger all the time when parked for several days. Of course , it is a huge safety problem to keep the car on a charger all the time when parked for days because the battery is housed in the cabin and the ventilation does not exist unless you park your car outdoors. At the same time toyota recommends keeping the car on a charger , it also warns of explosion caused by charging the batteries in a garage.

Filed Oct 12, 2015 · Electrical · 575 miles · NY

Within a 6 day period, the main 12 volt battery died and the car which was only 3 weeks old would not start. Also the cable used to charge the hybrid battery trips the circuit breaker in my house each time even though it is a ground fault outlet and a 20 amp breaker. I had to call out a tow truck to jumpstart the battery both times. Car was parked and directions were followed exactly for charging it. I took it to the dealer who found nothing wrong and was told I should have a dedicated line to charge the car, even though I wasn't told this by the salesman. The electric service in my garage in brand new. This is ridiculous to go to this expense and not be told in advance, and to have a new battery need charging. It had to be charged before I could even test drive the car but that did not matter. I was told I could not get a new battery as it tested "good".

Filed Aug 26, 2015 · 29,000 miles · CA

Left car running the night before. Didn't know it. Locked car that evening. Battery dead next day. Shouldn't there have been a warning when I locked car, that car was not off?

Filed Aug 24, 2015 · Body · AR

We purchased our prius in 2008. Approximately 3 years after purchase, we noticed that the handle on the back hatch started to melt. At first it was just a nuisance as it left a black goo on your hands. As time passed it became progressively worse and the hatch became harder to open due to the melted handle. Last week (aug. 2015) our 12 volt battery died over night and we couldn't start the car or get anything to work. Of course, we could not open the back hatch at all to access the battery. We called a tow service to tow our car to the local dealer. We were able to jump the car and drive to the dealer. The service technician said that he had never herd of this happening. It was determined that the melted handle shorted out the wiring for the rear light and drained the battery overnight. After a little research< we found that this is not a localized problem but is pretty common on 2007 and 2008 prius'. Toyota is not willing to fix ts own design flaw and we are out $250. This poses a serious safety issue if there is a flat tire or dead battery and we are unable to open the back hatch.

Filed Jul 22, 2015 · 122,000 miles · OK

The rear hatch handle cover - which appears to be rubber - started deteriorating rather quickly in the summer heat about 2-3 weeks ago and has turned into a rubbery, sticky black mess. The deteriorating rubber has interfered with the use of the hatch release handle. A couple of days ago, the car would not start and was completely dead. We discovered that the rear hatch had not closed completely and resulted in an interior light remaining on which completely drained the battery. There are many complaints on internet blogs and chat forums from other prius owners having the same problem. I believe this could easily result in a safety issue due to the inability of the rear hatch to close properly and potentially opening during operation of the vehicle. My local toyota dealer charged me $208 to repair/replace the latch. In my opinion, this appears to be a vehicle defect which should require a recall or a warranty extension from toyota and a refund of any monies paid by prius owners to fix the problem.