ANOTHER POINT OF INTEREST; I just traded in our 2012 CT200h with 24,000 miles on it last month on a RX450h. We never had any issues starting it. When the dealer went to certify it as a CPO the 12 volt battery failed load test so they replaced it before putting it on their lot.
Looks like the dealer knows how to keep customers happy. And congrats on your new RX!
last night my wife called me on the way home from picking up our daughter from school to tell me a bunch of lights on the dash lite up and she got a Hybrid System Failure message in the cluster.
I told her to take it straight away to the dealer. which she did.
Hybrid Battery Failed.
here is the kicker.. yesterday was the 8th year anniversary of the day she bought the car, the warranty on the battery expires @ 8 years /80,000 miles.
she had 79,955 miles on the car.
last day of the warranty, had we waited until today we would be forking over $3,000 for a new battery..
now FWIW the dealer said the battery pack is actually fine, what failed is the copper connectors between the batteries, they became corroded and were no longer making contact with each other.
they are replacing the battery, they don't repair them.
but if you are interested, this is the problem, apparently with all Toyota Hybrid battery packs:
My 2011 CT200h (no navi) has 64k miles and still on original battery when purchased brand new 4 years ago. Have not come across any issue whatsoever as far as start-up or electrical-related; however after reading up this thread, for peace of mind I'm going to get it tested out tomorrow at O'Reilly's auto parts and see what happens. Seems outrageous the retail price on the battery for our vehicle is $178 according to O'Reilly's website but considering the battery is from AGM technology, I guess it makes sense.
Well I got the battery tested today at Tire Kingdom (unfortunately Autozone and O'Reilly do not have the proper testing equipment for hybrid vehicles, FYI). The results showed my battery has a measured 359 CCA's (versus the factory rated 690 CCA's according to the electronic reader), therefore it needs to be replaced. The technician was surprised to see the OEM battery has lasted this long but of course fairly warned me that in Florida, batteries undergo more wear and tear than in other areas. I'm thinking, "Holy moly, tell me something I don't already know."
Still not convinced, I have made an appointment at JM Lexus on Monday to have the battery fully checked out and get an honest 2nd opinion. One of my friends is a service advisor there so it shouldn't be a problem for him to save me a little bit of money if the battery needs to replaced. If nothing at all, at least I'll get a free wash from them
The technician was surprised to see the OEM battery has lasted this long but of course fairly warned me that in Florida, batteries undergo more wear and tear than in other areas. I'm thinking, "Holy moly, tell me something I don't already know."
Why would driving in Florida be harder on batteries than other places?
Why would driving in Florida be harder on batteries than other places?
The sun here in Florida can take a toll on automotive batteries and exterior paint. It exists all year long but obviously gets the most extreme in the summers.
UPDATE: I ended up getting the auxiliary 12V battery replaced yesterday at JM Lexus. The load test showed the amperage rating is 60-70% below the stock rating, and so my service advisor recommends getting the battery replaced. Took a little less than 2 hours to do the work and with the car wash included. I've only driven for a couple hours with the new battery but here are some of the changes I've noticed:
Windows rolls down and up faster.
The cruising range mileage number on the instrument cluster is "reset" to a higher number than before. For example, when I filled up before the battery was replaced the cruising range showed 455 miles. With the new battery the cruising range shows 510 miles. Does that mean I will get more mileage out of every fill-up? We'll have to wait and see
The CT overall seems more responsive on the throttle even in ECO mode.
