We have a 2019 Prime with a charging port lid that will not open. This is the 2nd time this has happened. First time, we took it to the dealer (70 miles away) and they were able to open it. Several months later and it happened again. It does not have a smart lid locking system. The owner's manual has emergency procedures for opening the smart lid locking system, and I may try it even though we don't have the locking system. Just very curious why this keeps happening. We are careful to put the cover on top of the charging port before closing the lid. Any one else have this problem?
If you don't have the smart lid, there's nothing holding the lid closed except spring tension. There is no latch. You can just stick something into the gap at the rear of the cover and lift it open. I just tried it using my fingernails. Works fine. If eatriceyo's suggestion doesn't work, then the problem is with the little spring-loaded tower towards the rear of the port area. When it's pushed in, it should latch in. Push it again and it should release and rise up. If it's not doing this consistently, it needs to be replaced.
Are you sure? If your Prime is Premium as your profile says, then it does come with a smart lid locking system. Or at least it did on my 2017 Premium trim. The base trim (Plus or LE) does not have the smart locking system on the charge port. Have you tried opening the lid with the fob in your pocket? If it is the smart locking system malfunctioning, then the only way to open it to use the emergency procedures from the inside wall of the trunk.
You may have the smart locking system and be totally unaware of it. The charging port lid does not pop open automatically. You still have to press on it to get it to open. What the smart lock does is to keep it from opening unless you first unlock the car or are standing nearby with the key fob. Otherwise, pressing on the charging port door does nothing and the port door remains locked closed. Most of the problems reported here in Prius Chat have concerned someone closing the port door with the protective cap still in its stowage holder or with something keeping the door from being closed all the way. The door then gets stuck in a slightly open position and cannot be pushed closed or pulled open manually. The solution to that situation is shown in Salamander King's post above. If you are having a different experience, it sounds like there may be a problem which needs to be addressed by your dealer.
I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have the smart lid locking system too, but all our paperwork says it's a 2019 Prius Prime Premium. I've given up on messing with it, so we'll take car to the dealer since it's still under warranty. I will watch them closely when they work on it to see what they do, and asks lots of questions, including if the charging port lid needs to be replaced. First time they worked on it for same problem, we just went to the waiting room and they fixed it in about 10 minutes.
I'm sure we don't have the smart lid locking system as the car is always unlocked when we open charging port lid. The door is in the normal closed position, not slightly ajar. I suspect repeatedly pushing on the port lid is just making the situation worse. I think the charging port lid needs to be replaced.
The Smart locking works only if the car doors are locked when you try to open the charge port door. If your car doors are already unlocked, then the port door will just open without being stuck on a slightly ajar position. I am almost certain, that your 2019 Prius Prime Premium has a smart locking charge port as it did on my 2017 Premium model. I did not hear or read any changes on this feature in the 2019 models.
We had this happen this morning. There seems to be an additional latch that is employed when the doors are locked and you are trying to access the charge port. With the remote, I tried to unlock the doors, but that had no effect. I went ahead and tried to lock all of the doors with the remote and then unlock the doors, and the port would open at that point. I was able to access the electric port and charge the battery.
Salamander_King, thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much for this reply! This recently happened on my 2020 Prime LE. I will NEVER place the protective cover in its storage holder again. It was always awkward to fit it into its holder, and it's only plastic so no problem letting it hang while the battery charges. Thanks again!
