Regenerative Braking Failure

[mandon75]

On Sunday the 10th March I had a yellow (!) come up on my dash board.

I checked the car manual and it said that the car was still safe to drive but should be checked by an authorised garage.

My Wife took it into our local dealer,yesterday, who told us that the Prius was the best car in their range and had never had one returned with this fault light.

After spending over 4 hours investigating the problem they found it was the capacitor system that had failed.

We were told the Prius has an electrical braking system and the capacitor system decides where to take the power from (car Battery or hybrid battery), a fail safe just incase either fail.

The service rep I spoke to seemed some what smug in telling me that the grand total would be £665 including time spent investigating, parts and labour.

Just wondered if anyone else had come across this problem and to highlight that the yellow (!) doesn't mean that it's nothing to worry about.

[+Steve]

is that not part of the hybrid system and would that not be part of the warranty? Hybrid system has 5 years warranty?

[Chris Dance]

Has your warranty just run out? I had an issue on my previous Gen 2 and the warranty had only just run out the dealer still did the job under warranty. Se if your dealer will help out with cost.

I cannot recall your cars fault ever being discussed on this forum so it may be a one off.

Please let us know how you get on.

[mandon75]

The service guy at Listers Toyota told me that the '08 Prius only came with a 3 year warranty. If this is not true please let me know and I'll investigate further.

[johalareewi]

This is not true! 2008 gen2 Prius has really good warranty. 8 years or 100,000 miles.

http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/generic_editorial.jsp?navRoot=toyota_1024_root&fullwidth=true&noLeftMenu=true&forceText=%3Cnone%3E&edname=Owners-Warranty&id=Owners-Warranty&zone=Zone+Ownership&sr=Mall

[Chris Dance]

The guy at Listers is wrong.

I think Johalareewi is right. My 2007 Gen 2 was 5 years warranty and main batteries 8 years. I seem to recall the 2008 model was 8 years 100,000 miles. Looks like your fault is a warranty job.

[timberwolf]

Did it really take them 4 hours to investigate!? Or was your car just sat in their car park for most of that time?

Have you had any problems with your 12V Battery?

The first part of the investigation shouldn't have taken very long at all as they only have to plug in a scan tool and read off the DTC code. I wonder what codes they got and what they really investigated - depending on the code they are supposed to check fuses and harness wiring?

For further information you could try searching for "prius dtc c1377".

The brake control power supply (capacitors) is the black box next to the 12V Battery. It is a backup-backup power supply should either of the other sources of 12V supply fail (DC-DC Converter or 12V battery). If I recall correctly, the later Hybrids do not have a backup.

I think the title is a little misleading to call it a regenerative brake failure, because it also affects the friction side of the brake system. Lose all 12V supply including backups, and a valve usually held closed would open meaning you would have to push the brake pedal much harder to get the brake pads to move!

In terms of warranty, it was 3 years ordinary, 8 years hybrid and I've forgotten what the paint/corrosion warranty duration is/was! I think it is likely this fault would only be covered under the 3 year warranty as it is not part of the Hybrid system.

Maybe the dealer was smiling because they know how easy it is to change, I had to swing the capacitor box out of the way when I was replacing my 12V Battery so I can't imagine it being a difficult job.

[Chris Dance]

Sorry. The gen 2 was a three year warranty. Hybrid system 8 years. I think I considered extending the Gen 2 warranty to 5 years but then I sold the car. Hence my memory lapse!!

[johalareewi]

Sorry. The gen 2 was a three year warranty. Hybrid system 8 years.

Whoops. This Toyota warranty thing is a minefield.

[mandon75]

Thanks for your advise guys, I'm glad I've been away from my emails for a day and read every reply before contacting Toyota.

My car is now back on the road, cheers :-)