Hybrid Battery Charging

[loumaule]

I have owned a Prius T4 since 2004. For the first 7 years the 'State of charge' indicator turned green only very occasionally. For the last few months, however, it shows green most of the time. I suspect that either something has changed the capacity of the Battery or the computer is controlling the charge and discharge rate differently. My garage insists that nothing is wrong, but I am suspicious that they may be waiting for the warranty to run out so that they do not have to pay for replacing the Battery. Can anyone explain what is happening? Can the computer be tweaked?

[ian rooke]

Hi are you not allready out of warrantee I thought it was 8 years for the Hybrid side.

[loumaule]

Yes, you are correct but I took out an extended warranty with Warranty Direct.

[ian rooke]

When I tried warranty direct they would not insure the hybrid side at all.

[Parts-King]

You would have been better off buying a lucky bag than a Warranty Direct warranty......Sorry

Check your small print and maximum claim limit

Kingo

[acetip]

you could try another dealer for advice. give them the storey you are say on holiday and this 'problem' has just shown up is it ok to keep driving the car. or should you abandon your holiday and get home whilst you can and have your usuel dealer sort the problem.

[loumaule]

I can quite believe that Warranty Direct will find an excuse to not honour their warranty. Isn't it amazing how nearly all insurers can find a reason to not pay out. I've a good mind to take it up with "Rip-Off Briton".

Thank goodness the Prius is one of the most reliable cars on the road so I probably won't have to claim!

[korat102]

Mine's almost always green unless I run it in EV mode for a while. Has been like that since I bought it 8 years ago. Occasionally drops to blue, only once has it gone purple and that was only for a few minutes.

[loumaule]

That is interesting, Phil, my 10 year old T4 has only just started behaving that way. I would be keen to know what consumption you get on a long motorway journey. I haven't done one for a long time but I used to get about 65mpg(according to the built-in average consumption meter). I shall be doing a 300 odd mile single journey in May so I will be able to measure it again then. Incidentally, the Toyota garage told me that the car is likely to have a shorter life than the propulsion Battery, experience will tell!!

[korat102]

Don't think I've ever averaged 65mpg on my T-Spirit. Taking things easy in the summer months I'm normally showing around 55-58mpg. At the moment, with winter tyres fitted, it's dropped right back to the high 40's.

Doesn't help that my journeys nearly always start and end in Milton Keynes - land of the roundabout...those things destroy your fuel consumption figures. I try to catch up on the dual carriageways but the damage has been done!