Check Hybrid System

[TonyHSD]

Good to hear positive outcome. What is the mileage of the car, I am actually surprised the hybrid Battery has gone bad?
Thanks 

[AisinW]

4 hours ago, Will GX13 said:

Yeah, car is getting  a nice present for its tenth birthday, very happy planets aligned in my favour... 

 

In a very rare case it failed before warranty is over. The causes are:

1. Corrosion in bus bar from humidity,  not turn the ac on all year long or beach area. 

2. It was overheated from turn the AC off during summer.  It is air cooled and the AC is part of it. 

3. Not driven enough and ever gets discharged to limit. 

4. manufacturing bad batch. 

5. The most common is dirty Battery cooling fan duct. 

Hope the 2nd Battery last at least another 15 years. 

[Derek.w]

I am suprissed that its not just one magizine thats failed in the hybrid Battery.

Then its just Battery module replaced after the pack has its individual module voltage reset to a low value just to match the new unit installed.

[AisinW]

I believe if one module failed, the rest will follow soon. If one failed, the floating charge becomes very shallow. It means the charge discharge cycles becomes way more often and degrades the whole Battery faster.  Toyota had revised the NiMh Battery couple times and the newest generation last longer and better built. Although Li ion is replacing NiMh in many applications except for high burst load on truck, SUV, and minivan. 

[Will GX13]

Car has just over 105k miles on the clock, it is a daily so driven a fair bit, aircon is on pretty much all year round. dealer informed me that I'll have to pay for the fan filter but I suppose it is negligible cost so will not argue about it. I think for them it is easier to replace the whole batterypack rather than mess about with taking it apart, trying to find cells that failed, replacing, balancing and so on...

Dealer says 100k/ 10 years is not bad and the packs tend to fail sooner, they had few prius outside, 6 and 7 years old, waiting for new batteries. there was one 220k 5 year old one with failed Battery too.

So all is good until batteries fail. INot hard to understand why Toyota doesn't want to enter fully electric market... 

[TonyHSD]

Thanks for the update. 
I understand all cars get different use therefore some may last longer than others and in some cases one component will fail but in others completely different.
For the Battery I can see mine its on its way out but how long before completely dies we will see. The car still drives very good, acceleration, cruising speed, ev mode all OK , efficiency almost unchanged from when was new. What I noticed though since some time is that now the hybrid Battery quickly getting full and engine kicks in to reduce the charge. 
To date has done 242000 miles over the 12.5 years and its still on its original batteries. Not sure what I would do when the Battery finished, probably it will be a whole car replacement and the end of a long and interesting journey. 
 

[AisinW]

From what I learned statistically in the past 16 years in hybrid Toyota is: 10-12 years are common in hot weather like FL, CA, AZ, NV without garage kept.  The warranty alone shows the statistics nicely. 8 years/150k miles in USA, 15 years/unlimited miles in UK/Ireland. 10 years/unlimited miles accross mainland europe (spain, greek are the benchmarks). 

[Will GX13]

Aisin, this is not that straightforward in UK- you have service the car with main dealer, otherwise warranty is 3 years. they extend it for a year with every service....

[AisinW]

4 hours ago, Will GX13 said:

Aisin, this is not that straightforward in UK- you have service the car with main dealer, otherwise warranty is 3 years. they extend it for a year with every service....

Yes, i know it. You can just take Hybridsystem-Check for €32 to £55 depends on which dealer and country. I don't buy relax warranty scheme. It is just not what Toyota is. DIY friendly and will not break down in 10 years. It is not FIAT or BMW.

I take only hybrid Battery 10 y warranty for €32 annual Hybridsystem-Check. Just to have maintenance records in Toyota website for better resale value.

In UK you have up to 15 years prospect hybrid warranty if you want, depends when the car was sold. Don't have to be in dealership overpriced maintenance and irrelevant Relax BS.

[AisinW]

On 4/8/2023 at 12:35 PM, Will GX13 said:

Aisin, this is not that straightforward in UK- you have service the car with main dealer, otherwise warranty is 3 years. they extend it for a year with every service....

Actually hybrid system warranty is 5y/60k miles regardless where you maintain your car and no need for Hybridsystem-Check.  After 5th year, you need Hybridsystem-Check or if you maintained in dealership, the Hybridsystem-Check is already included. But you can get just the Hybridsystem-Check regardless where you change the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid, and still get 10-15 years Battery only warranty.

[FROSTYBALLS]

53 minutes ago, AisinW said:

Actually hybrid system warranty is 5y/60k miles regardless where you maintain your car

Not quite.

Probably applies to new cars bought and registered before 1st June 2021, but:

With the introduction of Relax, new cars come with 3 years/60,000 mile (100,000km) warranty, 3 years paintwork & surface rust warranty, and 12 years anti corrosion and perforation warranty.

Owners have the option of extending the warranty via the service generated Relax extended warranty, and using the hybrid Battery extended warranty applicable in their country.

[AisinW]

Thanks for the input Mike.  I just share what I knew since 2016

 https://www.toyota-europe.com/news/2018/hybrid-service#:~:text=Toyota hybrid batteries have a,km warranty%2C whichever comes first.

You guys in UK/Ireland are in unique position and have different rules.  At least accross EU mainland, hybrid system is 5y/60k miles warranty regardless where we maintain the car.

I think for UK, It still has validity for just Hybridsystem-Check until 15 years. No need relax warranty for hybrid Battery alone. So £55 a year is enough. 12x£55  = £660. It is not too hard to swallow for 15 years hybrid Battery warranty. New Battery costs at least £2000. 

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/toyota-warranty

[FROSTYBALLS]

Relax is a Europe wide programme, and the site you linked dates back to 2018, before Relax was introduced (2021).

[AisinW]

4 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Relax is a Europe wide programme, and the site you linked dates back to 2018, before Relax was introduced (2021).

Thanks. So, it is valid then. The first 5th year all hybrid system is under warranty, regardless where the car was maintained. I know that mine still have 5 years warranty/60k miles before Relax warranty exists.

Relax warranty is a curse for us in Germany. It makes the annual maintenance/inspection cost 2-3x more expensive. What a rip-off for commoners like me. Oil change service alone was used to be €180 and now more than €280.  

[FROSTYBALLS]

Just now, AisinW said:

it is valid then first 5th year all hybrid system is under warranty.

Should be for cars bought new before June 2021, but may not be the case for vehicles bought new from June 2021.

As I said the page you linked dates back to 2018 so may not be applicable to new cars bought since June 2021 when Relax came in.

[AisinW]

https://www.cumminscarcentre.ie/finance-and-offers/offers/toyota-hybrid-service-promotion

It is 5 years default hybrid system warranty regardless there is relax warranty or not. If we are not sure, we can call Toyota rep. directly by phone or chat to clarify it. Just in case different countries has different rules for hybrid system warranty. I believe it is 5 years. Just hybrid system alone, inverter, transmission, hv Battery.

[Will GX13]

Just a quick update folks.

Hybrid Battery replaced, picked up the car, drives normal, filled up the tank full, showed range 480miles, did 120 miles, mostly motorway and some windy hills B roads and after 120 miles its showing range of 383, so i think it's getting back to normal. Wasnt unusual to get actual 560miles from the tank without trying much, we'll see.

Also, the transition between ICE and electric motor is now seamless again, there's been a little jitter for last few months.

Chap at the dealer told me that old Battery died because the fan was clogged up and not sufficient cooling due to that, they of course charged £60 for cleaning. And £90 for diagnosing the problem in the first place. All in all could have been worse.

So now, as car is over 100k miles and will be "celebrating" its 10th birthday next month, relax or whatever you call it warranty ended. There is warranty on the hybrid Battery as it's new, but that's about it...

I'm bemused that they do not inspect/ clean the fan if it is a known cause of problems but there you go. Clean regularly and chances the battery will last are increased significantly...

cheers. 

[TonyHSD]

Thanks for the update. Enjoy your car  👍 

[Devon Aygo]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:29 AM, Will GX13 said:

Just a quick update folks.

Hybrid battery replaced, picked up the car, drives normal, filled up the tank full, showed range 480miles, did 120 miles, mostly motorway and some windy hills B roads and after 120 miles its showing range of 383, so i think it's getting back to normal. Wasnt unusual to get actual 560miles from the tank without trying much, we'll see.

Also, the transition between ICE and electric motor is now seamless again, there's been a little jitter for last few months.

Chap at the dealer told me that old battery died because the fan was clogged up and not sufficient cooling due to that, they of course charged £60 for cleaning. And £90 for diagnosing the problem in the first place. All in all could have been worse.

So now, as car is over 100k miles and will be "celebrating" its 10th birthday next month, relax or whatever you call it warranty ended. There is warranty on the hybrid battery as it's new, but that's about it...

I'm bemused that they do not inspect/ clean the fan if it is a known cause of problems but there you go. Clean regularly and chances the battery will last are increased significantly...

cheers. 

You can keep the Battery under warranty up to 15 years by servicing or Hybrid health check annually/every 10k

[TonyHSD]

14 hours ago, Devon Aygo said:

You can keep the battery under warranty up to 15 years by servicing or Hybrid health check annually/every 10k

Sounds good. Is there any mileage restrictions or just the years? My car is 13 years old and at 244k miles. Wonder if I go for a Battery health check would I get another year of warranty on the Battery ? 

[Cyker]

Interestingly, I've noticed my dealer has been replacing the vent filter for the hybrid Battery in mine as part of the services. Is this a new thing??

[Devon Aygo]

6 hours ago, Cyker said:

Interestingly, I've noticed my dealer has been replacing the vent filter for the hybrid battery in mine as part of the services. Is this a new thing??

Yep Toyota are adding replaceable paper filters on newer models which are changed at every service, Currently NG Yaris, Yaris Cross, Camry,MY19> C-HR, Highlander & MY23 Corolla

[Will GX13]

15 hours ago, Devon Aygo said:

Yep Toyota are adding replaceable paper filters on newer models which are changed at every service, Currently NG Yaris, Yaris Cross, Camry,MY19> C-HR, Highlander & MY23 Corolla

This was supposed to be done on mine but apparently this model hasn't got the filter. so cooling fan was clogged up and eventually killed the Battery. 

Considering making one myself, any ideas?

[TonyHSD]

3 hours ago, Will GX13 said:

This was supposed to be done on mine but apparently this model hasn't got the filter. so cooling fan was clogged up and eventually killed the battery. 

Considering making one myself, any ideas?

Just use the same plastic mesh behind the grill. If you keep interior nice and clean and have no pets in the car you should be alright without a filter. 👍