Hi Folks - I am a happy owner of a 2014 Prius since the past 2.5 yrs (bought it certified-used), and I recently noticed that my car battery is dead. I don't think I had left any lights on when I parked the car in my garage, and I noticed that the battery died (pressing the start button doesn't start, cannot unlock trunk, no lights inside car...) after about 1 week of the car sitting unused in my garage. Yesterday, I had a towing service guy come in to jump start my car, and that didn't work either. He had the jump starter connected but I wasn't able to start the car, nor unlock the trunk. The key fob battery is fine, I can see the red light blink whenever I press any button on the key fob. I spent a lot of time yesterday researching what could've gone wrong - my guess is that the towing guy didn't connect the jump starter correctly, or didn't leave the jump starter connected long enough (it was connect for about 3-5 mins) or there's some other serious issue with the car. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do next? Is it a good idea to try to jump start again? I am trying to avoid having to tow the car to the toyota service center unless it's really needed. Thanks in advance!
Yes the towing guy probably didn't have a good connection at the jump points. Most likely a dead battery that's 6 years old, it's a little early for it's death, but it happens. Good time to get a new one
Your original 12v battery is probably defective. The tow truck person may not have connected the jumper cables incorrectly, he or she might simply not have used a good ground when trying to restart your car. 1. You're going to want to get a replacement battery and put it in the car. If you cannot do this yourself then you can at least manually release the rear hatch for the next jump attempt: Fortunately.....the good folks over at @NutzAboutBolts made a video showing you how.... 2. You will want to avoid taking your car to the dealership for this problem. Good Luck!
Might be worth thinking about getting a jump starter of your own because it might come in handy later either for yourself or to become a Good Samaritan for someone else even if it does not solve your immediate problem and you have to buy a new battery now anyway. I bought this one, although I haven't had occasion to use it yet: Sorry: I don't know why the link I posted previously doesn't work, but it's Amazon item B07DWSYYZR
Thanks for the your responses folks. I am going to try to jump start again, and this time I'll make sure to confirm that the jump start is done correctly. Once I get the car to start, I'll go and get the battery replaced.
