My 2015 Prius C gave me a message that the cooling on the hybrid battery was low. I went to the dealer and they said it's the filter located in the rear panel.They replace it and expected $50. I am only at 27K and after some hassle they agreed to no charge. They claimed this is a "new" item needig to be checked every 10K miles. Anyone hear about this?
if it was clogged, and they replaced it, why wouldn't you pay them? do you carry pets? if it wasn't clogged, i'm not sure we have the whole story. toyota added a filter to the intake grille at some point, perhaps the maintenance schedule in your o/m shows how often to check it?
Toyota's grill/filter looked like window screen material, IIRC. I can't see how that would ever need replacement; at most a blow-out with compressed air and a little brushing. Maybe that's what you got for $50?
Thanks for the responses. After your advice I viewed this process on the net. It was the cleaning of the screen material and any debris in the fan. I refused and wasn't charged for this service because I felt it should have been checked in an earlier scheduled maintenance.The dealer original thought was Toyota recently told them to check this at 10K. I didn't buy that nor give them the $50.
I'm sure that they LOVE you at the service department. Other filters service is NOT covered by warranty, why would you think that this one IS ?? Never mind. Rhetorical question. In the future if you do not intend to pay for this service, I suggest that YOU learn to do it yourself.
First of all THANK YOU for this post!!! I was sitting in my car today (key on - parked) and it's the second time I've noticed the fan sound from the rear of the car. I wasn't motivated enough to start searching for the source of the sound in a church parking lot... but (like the first time I noticed it...) I quickly forgot about it... surely to hear it again sometime and wonder what it is (and probably do nothing, again to determine the source). Now at least I know what that fan sound was! ...But I agree with the earlier post. Your air filter should last (whatever...?) time interval, under "nomal use", before it requires changing. But if you have been off-roading your Prius in a dusty field that they're mowing hay next to and it's in the wind... and you're sucking it all in... that's not the dealer's fault. Some conditions might cause a filter to clog prematurely to what the manual says. Expecting the manufacturer to account for your (insert aforementioned "missing back-story" here) is not reasonable. They spend a lot of time determining how long things should last under normal usage... and it's generally pretty conservative (i.e. most of us could probably count on a longer service life than what they project). There's a reason why it was clogged at 27k... and it's doesn't lie in Toyota's testing or specs (I didn't see any fellow users piping up that it's happening out there like wildfire). You should worry about correcting THAT problem... not putting replacement of a changeable item like a filter onto the mfr.... because it's likely going to happen to you in 27k again if you don't change something about the way you operate the vehicle. Clearly you experienced a failure prior to projection, and presumably you aren't driving off-road as I suggested - so please don't respond narrowly to that point. But something bunged up that filter early. To me it would have been smart to have asked the mechanic who cleaned/replaced it to characterize the material that was clogging it (unless you already have an idea why it was already clogged up). Since the fan is audible inside the car, it's probably something you've carried inside your car, not something it suck up from outside. I think Bisco was on the right track to suggest considering something you carry/carried in your car (pet, insulation, a coarse powder or something fibrous that can become airborne [assuming it IS just a screen, like Mendel Leisk suggested])... unless you drive with your windows down most of the time.
