Ok, I think I figured out what the orginal issue was to my car not starting that I posted about in my other thread. (I would have posted on that thread BUT I couldn't edit the title and I have something urgent to check on) So anyway my issue was my car wouldn't start cause my battery got wore down. I thought it was because I didn't properly shut a door tight. A jumpstart worked and I let my car sit on for 8 hours. Then drove to the store. When I was loading my groceries in my hatchback I found that the hatchback wouldn't shut right at all. I made sure nothing was blocking the inside latch. Nothing blocking it. Tried shutting it several times with no luck. So this must be what cause my battery to go dead yesterday. Maybe since it wouldn't close it left my dome light on? Now the important question now is how do I make sure with the hatchback not closing that my battery doesn't get wore down again. I shut off the dome light. Is there anything else I need to worry about or need to shut off? I just want to make sure all lights are turned off etc. I'm not able to lock the doors since the hatchback won't close properly. I won't be able to get to Toyota until Monday morning. Will I be ok until then? I have an extended warranty. Will my hatchback not shutting properly be covered under that? I'm hoping there is someone on that can at least answer my urgent question. I don't want to wake up tomorrow to a dead car again. Thanks in advance for any help! Tracy
Nice catch. Play around with your car in the dark at night ( like now) or in a dimly lot garage. I'm 99% sure shutting off the light as you've done ("door"--> off) will do the trick though. The hatch should be covered as long as it obviously hasn't been damaged or altered by the user.
I doubt that the rear hatch closing mechanism is truly broken. I suspect that the electronic closing mechanism is in the closed/locked position with the rear hatch still open. How it got that way may be related to the discharged battery. The same thing happened to our car when it was rear-ended. It was corrected when the car came out of the shop, but I don't know exactly how they cycled the mechanism. It could simply be using the switch on the hatch to activate the closing/locking mechanism, even though it is not closed. I'm sure your dealer can handle it. Since the hatch won't close fully, you should turn off the pathetic little hatch area light. It is on the driver's side hatch area interior panel.
Hi tracy..., I have commented a few times that an unclosed hatch, even though it looks closed, will do this. The dome light may be off, but how about the storage area light? Its a small light about 9 inches above the load floor in the hatch area on the drivers side, about 9 inches in from the rear of the car. With the hatch down, and the cargo cover in place, one would not be able to see that light. On the hatch not shutting, its due to the latch on the hatch door being set closed, when you go to close the hatch door. I had this problem when I did my 12 V battery replacement, but do not remember the specifics of how it was caused. I used a screw driver to open the latch, and then the door was back to its usual. My guess, based on this, is that your 12 V battery had died, and you need a new one. As, it was when I had my 12 V battery out, that the latch got misconfigured. That latch is only operated by a solenoid. There is no mechanical operator. So, it kinda makes sense that loss of 12 V would result in it ending up in the door-closed position, when the door is open.
Check out the manual unlocking procedures. The one I'm talking about is the handle in the under storage area. It is used when the battery is dead and you must open the hatch so you can get the hatch open in order to change the battery. H
As Hal suggested above, the best bet would be for the OP to try to fix the hatch lock now rather than allow the 12V battery to continue to discharge over the next couple of days. Remove the folding hatch floor, which reveals the black plastic tray over the spare tire. Find the small rectangular opening on the side of the plastic tray nearest to the hatch lock. If you look through that opening you will see a small shiny lever. That is the mechanical hatch release. Play around with that release to see if you can free up the hatch lock mechanism. The OP had mentioned in another string that a fob is not working. In that case, try to replace the fob battery, you will need CR2032 which you can buy at any drugstore. Do not expect your warranty to cover the cost of fob battery replacement. Instructions to replace the fob battery can be found via a PriusChat search.
Do note that the door lights will also probably be on if the hatch is not closed. I've never been able to actually see them with the doors closed, but I see no reason they would not be on. So without actually -fixing- the open hatch it's not possible to fully stop draw from the battery.
Oh I was guess that the issue in the first place was that the hatchback wasn't closing right and that is what left my dome light on and caused my battery to ware down. I didn't think it was the opposite of that. Especially when all my doors had been shut tight. (except I couldn't tell the hatch wasn't closing right at the time) Maybe that it is what your guessing though.
Oh shoot. Ok I gotts go see if I can get to that hatch light and get it shut off then. I was thinking there was another possible light besides the dome light that I had to worry about. Going out right now to see if I can get that hatch light off. Should I just permanatley leave it shut off?
Oh I re-read this again and see that your talking about door lights now not the hatch light. Crap I need to get this hatch to close right. Going back to read how to do that and see if I can figure it out. I need a barney type explaintion.
Ok this is kinda barney style. I think I understand where the black tray is. Is it the tray that has my jack in it and stuff? If so I take that out. Then what I'm looking for next is inside where the tray came out of? Lmk and I will try to tackle this. My car is still starting fine so far. Just had to pick someone up and it started no problem. BUT if I can get the hatchback fixed on my own I want to try anyway.
Yes, but you don't actually have to remove the plastic tray, if you can find the rectangular opening in it that faces the lock mechanism; and then look through the opening to find the mechanical hatch release. Also I suggest that you use a flashlight to inspect the hole at the center of the hatch floor opening, which is where the hatch's U-shaped metal piece fits into, to see if anything has fallen into the hole, thus preventing the lock from engaging. Good luck.
Just because the door lights are off doesn't mean the hatch is properly closed. Locking the car is a dead give-away. This was more prevalent on the Gen2 as it has happened only once on the Gen3.
