2005 Prius 45,000 Miles and P0A80 error!

start with the 12v health, but the battery likes to be used, and time is more of a factor than miles.
if you are going to keep the car, shop around.you might be able to get a new oem installed for a little over 2k.
if you are only keeping the car a year or two, you can get a cheaper rebuilt battery, but you would have to find a reputable shop who will stand behind the warranty, and most are fly by nighters who don't show when you need them.
if you are only using the car for local trips, you'd be better served with a corolla or something else.

 

In all honesty, at 45k miles in ~14 years, even a YUGO would have probably been extremely reliable. As for warranty, you'll never know if you don't ask. Call the people in the Customer Care Ivory Tower and see if they'll help. You're way past warranty expiration (time wise), so don't be surprised if they choose not to assist. Most likely, you have a car that is still in extremely excellent condition. If you really like the car, I'd put a good battery in it and keep it. It's just up to you to decide "how good" of a battery. If you go with a rebuilt, I suspect you're going to have problems due to very low usage. Prii that spend a lot of time sitting tend to be tough on "used" batteries.

 

The car does not have a 13 year warranty on the battery.

Best would be 10 years.
So you are 3 years even beyond that.

Do you drive this car every day?
Does it sit for more than a few weeks unused?

 

I have an 06 with similar mileage (52,000). Previous owner was a "little ol' lady" who only drove around town. HV battery lasted a little over 8 years before they sold it to me. Bought a new Toyota battery in 2017 and all is good.

 

You can have the P0A80 code cleared after you assess the 12 volt battery's health. AN old Windows 7 laptop and a cloned mini VCI cable running Toyota's Techstream and you can diagnose your DTCs as good as your Toyota dealership can and make informed decisions from there. If the P0A80 returns after being cleared, well I think you know what that means. Honestly if this '05 is in as good of shape for its age as it should be with 45K on the clock I would have a new Toyota HV battery installed and move along. .02

 

tough one to diagnose over the inter webs, sometimes dealers are just poor communicators.

 

I imagine that corporate WILL demand answers from the dealer. And I suspect that, with this kind of communications slowdown, they'll expect dealer to make some in-house changes, too. I'd be like I have ants in my pants if I was you, but try to be patient a couple more days.

 

In mu opinion spending moneymfor a new battery on a 13 year old car with only 45,000 miles would be worth it. With a new battery IIwould expect it to last as long as the original. So another 13 years.

Not sure why you sensed something wrong when they offered a discount. Offering a discount to win a customer is pretty common practice when possible.

If one of the 2x codes is a P0A80, as you know, that is a replace hybrid battery code.

Corporate Toyota is a separate entity from your local dealer. There may be a discount that the dealer can offer. (Like the 10% they told you)

Separately, Toyota Corporate may offer their own discount. But I don't think most dealers would think it is their repsponibility to chase that down.

Doesn't sound like any bluffing to me. Pretty straightforward stuff. Just takes time to sort through and go back and forth exchanging information.

Ultimately it sounds like you will get some sort of discount.

Pretty good considering your car is several years out of warranty.

Not many manufacturers would give you a single penny given the amount of time since the warranty expired. It's not like it is a few days or weeks.It is literally, years.

And maybe I'm missing or misunderstanding something.Why would charging you $3k for a car with a Replace hybrid battery code P0A80 be fraud?

If I had the codes and data and front of me I could give you a pretty decent diagnosis.

 

Hello friends!
From what I’ve been reading, it almost seems like a low mileage older Prius is more likely to experience hybrid Battery Failure than an average mileage older one. Would that be a fairly true statement?

Anyway, here’s my story:

Bought a 2006 with 101,000 miles on it on September 29th 2017.
This car was pristine! Very lightly worn. In the 7 months I’ve had it, I’ve not only put on over 10,000 miles, but hauled furniture etc in it, So that now, it actually looks like a used car
Yesterday the master warning light came on along with the check engine light, and, on further investigation, the “hybrid system warning” (red car with exclamation mark) on the digital display screen. While In IG mode, the ABS light and icon for regenerative braking system were also lit.
Took to the mechanic next door who hooked up his scan tool and it did not read any codes. Called another local shop that said they don’t touch hybrids. Took it to autozone and the tool there also gave no reading. Well, I think it indicated the hybrid system, but no additional info. Ended up at a Toyota dealership and the results are in the image below.
The advisor offered me a loaner car while I think about it, but had also said there is no way of knowing how long it will run before total failure. Since it got to the dealer fine, except that I noticed the battery charging up and losing charge quite rapidly, I told him I’d take the car home while I think about it. However as I was leaving the dealership, the car actually started to lose power. I drove a couple miles, and the battery was not charging. I think it got two purple bars max, but would drain again. I was afraid of getting stuck on my way home so I took it back to the dealership and had a friend pick me up. I took said friend to the airport and have the use of her car for a week.

I’m looking for any feedback from this group.

I feel like the car itself is in great shape and has a lot of life in it! It is 12 years old though...

Is their diagnosis definitely true? FROM what I’ve read, it does sound like when P080 code is present, the battery is finished...

I live in upstate New York - Pawling to be exact. Does anyone know of any independent and reputable hybrid mechanics in the area?

Would it benefit me to take it back to the dealer where I bought it? I do think it got most of its service there over the past several years.

Do you think it would have left me stranded? None of the indicator lights were flashing yet.

Thank you for any and all input.

 

The battery is over a decade old. So it wouldn't be suprising for the battery to fail.

The lights you mentioned are all ones that can point to a hybrid battery failure.

It's been 7 months since you purchased the car. I don't know what kind of warranty you were given. I would think a year warranty would be unlikely, but I don't really know.

I am especially leery of any hybrid battery that sits unused for more than a month. Even more so as the battery gets older. Better for the car to be driven even a few miles each week, as opposed to sitting for months unused.

 

My '06, with only 44k miles at the time, failed two years ago under the added stress of years of sitting in the south Texas heat. It's just a matter of time now as all of these OEM batteries WILL fail.

If you want to keep it for a good long time (I suspect you did since you just bought a low miles unit), bite the bullet and get another OEM battery. Caution: many rebuilders describe their refurbished old batteries as "new"; some even charging the same prices as a new OEM unit.

 

Thank you both for your input!
I actually didn’t purchase any warranty. I did cal the dealer where I bought they car, and they quated me nearly $600 less! I hope there’s no catch, like a refurbished battery or something. I’m looking into some independent shops as well...

 

Definitely make sure they get you a battery with NEW Toyota batteries.
Do not accept used.

I hope you are able to make the best of a tough situation.
Sending positive thoughts your way!