Toyota needs to step up hybrid battery support. The reality is, the only thing the dealership will do is replace the entire battery if there is absolutely anything wrong with it. They need to either train the hybrid technicians better to be able to fix the battery, or have a nationwide battery rebuild center where they can be fixed at a lot more reasonable cost and less environmentally damaging way of bringing the car from the dead. I think this would give potential hybrid buyers a reassurance about the long-term cost and it would also negate the bad environmental image of toxic battery disposal.
Everything they do in the dealer garage is about time. Time is money. Meaning that something or parts is broken you apply for new parts when it arrives you just bang inside the car. Done. The faster they get it done the more money and bonuses they get. So, no the fix battery thing won't happen. They have traind hybrid technicians but all they required to do is how to take anything off and put a new one in. They don't fix any I mean ANY parts in the dealers.
when i bought my 04, i asked the salesman if anything ever goes wrong with the battery. he told me that every now and then, a cell goes bad. and the hybrid specialist straps on the big rubber gloves, wades in and removes the bad one and solders in a new one. not happening?
Interesting comments. But how many are offended when a dealer repairs a warranty item ... they demand a new replacement. How many would be happy with an ICE, still under warranty, where a dealer replaced a main bearing?
