That 12v battery (again!)

[inteli7]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:03 PM, Chas G said:

I bought my Yaris Cross to celebrate my 70th birthday for the same reasons. Thankfully I have a garage so can just plug the car in every time I come home. 

Thank you to whoever suggested running the battery charger cable under the car back door. I had a look and the under door seal is very soft so not a problem to close the door on the cable.

It's so much easier than having to get in the car to lower the window and then get out to put the cable in and connect to the charger and then get back in the car to raise the window and turn the car off.

Ps if anyone wants an unused bm2 battery monitor pm me and I will send it to you but uk only. 

Hi Chas,

Do you still have the bluetooth Battery monitor? How much will you want for it?

 

Thank you,

Dave

[Chas G]

1 hour ago, inteli7 said:

Hi Chas,

Do you still have the Bluetooth battery monitor? How much will you want for it?

 

Thank you,

Dave

Sorry, the Battery monitor went to another forum member a week ago.

[inteli7]

Just now, Chas G said:

Sorry, the battery monitor went to another forum member a week ago.

No worries. Thank you 🙂

[anchorman]

On 2/24/2024 at 4:11 PM, JurS said:

Just a quick update on my situation, as posted earlier a couple of weeks ago I couldn't start my 2022 Yaris Cross because of a flat battery. The dealer tested and charged the battery (and left me 2 days without a car) and told me that it is still in good condition. I have a solar panel charger that I plug in whenever I park my car at home (the front window faces SW) but that clearly was insufficient to maintain the charge.

I got a lead to connect the battery to my motorbike Optimate battery charger, and the dealer kindly fitted that for me last week (it is a bit of a pain to have to hold up the seat with one hand and try to work the battery bolts with the other, so I asked them to fit it for me). So far so good.

Today I hooked up the battery to my charger (leading the lead out under the tailgate, good tip that). My Optimate charger, which also tests the battery, reported that it was very depleted (again) and is now re-charging it. This after a week where I went on a couple of trips of about 100 miles in total.

I think that this battery is on the way out. It really should not have discharged so much again in such a short time. I may try to get it replaced under warranty, but I'm sure that would mean another stay at the dealer for testing, another couple of walks up and down to them ( 30 mins each way) and another couple of days without the car - plus possibly some arguing that I can do without. I may not bother and get an independent garage to fit a replacement battery. 

Halfords advise a Yuasa HSB202 Silver for £113 inclusive of fitting. That has a 45Ah capacity. There is also a Malvern Tyres shop around the corner from me and I may drop in there to get their advise.

Has anyone here replaced their Yaris Cross battery, and what replacement did you get? Was it an improvement? Thanks!

Yes, a Yuasa 5000 Battery will end your problems unless you park it up for weeks on end.  

[Chas G]

@JurS can you please post how you get on with Halfords fitting the Yuasa Battery to your Yaris Cross. Also did Toyota actually do a proper load test on your Battery? Thanks Chas

[Chas G]

On 2/16/2024 at 10:03 AM, anchorman said:

I watched a news clip on Fords that routinely catch fire and Ford do their level best to walk away.   

 

 

[anchorman]

9 hours ago, Chas G said:

 

 

The ones I was referring to were ecoboost petrols that sprayed oil on the exhaust.   

[JurS]

21 hours ago, Chas G said:

@JurS can you please post how you get on with Halfords fitting the Yuasa battery to your Yaris Cross. Also did Toyota actually do a proper load test on your battery? Thanks Chas

I haven't yet replaced my original Battery. The dealer installed a charging lead to the Battery, and now I charge it once a week using my motorbike charger in my garage. We'll see how it goes. I'm also hoping that with Spring arriving my solar charger will be better able to maintain the charge.

If it goes flat again I will definitely replace it.

[Chas G]

9 hours ago, JurS said:

I haven't yet replaced my original battery. The dealer installed a charging lead to the battery, and now I charge it once a week using my motorbike charger in my garage. We'll see how it goes. I'm also hoping that with Spring arriving my solar charger will be better able to maintain the charge.

If it goes flat again I will definitely replace it.

Thanks. I plug mine in, in my garage after every time i use the car and I don't find it inconvenient now the Battery leads have been fitted. I have had my yaris cross since 14th November 2023 and so far I have only done 990 miles in nearly 4 months.

[Susanjones]

I purchased my Toyota Yaris 2022 in October 23. I have just recently broken down for the first time in this car. The AA said it was the Battery. Toyota after insisting on testing it themselves have said it’s because I do a very low mileage, I need to be doing 9,000 a year for a hybrid car. I was never explained this at point of purchase. I can’t believe they can do this surely it’s a not fit for purpose situation. I only do about 2,500 to 3,000 miles a year and I’m going to keep breaking down. I have read through this thread but I am a retired lady and cannot deal with connecting all sorts of different contraptions. My old Yaris was 15 years old never let me down once. I can’t believe I have now got an unreliable car. 

[Max_Headroom]

2 hours ago, Susanjones said:

I was never explained this at point of purchase. I can’t believe they can do this surely it’s a not fit for purpose situation. I only do about 2,500 to 3,000 miles a year and I’m going to keep breaking down

It is wrong that sales do not ask how often you drive and how far they know about the  12v Battery problem would they sell one to their grandparents knowing they do few miles i doubt it.

The problem with them fitting a new Battery is you are going to have exactly the same problem in a few weeks for the same reason you could try exchanging it for a non hybrid as this is the only solution to your problem if you dont want to mess about, i but doubt they will give you a refund even though it stinks how they are treating customers.

[Derek.w]

3 hours ago, Susanjones said:

I purchased my Toyota Yaris 2022 in October 23. I have just recently broken down for the first time in this car. The AA said it was the battery. Toyota after insisting on testing it themselves have said it’s because I do a very low mileage, I need to be doing 9,000 a year for a hybrid car. I was never explained this at point of purchase. I can’t believe they can do this surely it’s a not fit for purpose situation. I only do about 2,500 to 3,000 miles a year and I’m going to keep breaking down. I have read through this thread but I am a retired lady and cannot deal with connecting all sorts of different contraptions. My old Yaris was 15 years old never let me down once. I can’t believe I have now got an unreliable car. 

In most cases it just one plug with 2 pins for the Battery and another plug for the mains electric once a week.

[Chas G]

@Susanjones sorry to hear of your plight. I am 70 and was in a similar position with my 22 Yaris Cross as I do about 3000 miles a year.

The only solution is to put the car in ready mode for a couple of hours a week or use a smart charger to charge the battery 

I have a garage so Toyota fitted a lead on to the Battery for me which pokes out from under the back seat.

I drive my car into the garage, turn the car off, open the drivers side back door, plug in a Ctek 5 smart charger (Halfords c£80) into the lead and close the door. The door seal is big and very soft so doesn't damage the cable. I leave the car on charge for anything up to a week.

When I want to use the car I simply unplug the charger and put the lead on a hook on the garage wall. I don't bother to turn the charger off, I just unplug it.

Click on the photos below to enhance each image and you will see what I mean.

[anchorman]

10 hours ago, Max_Headroom said:

It is wrong that sales do not ask how often you drive and how far they know about the  12v battery problem would they sell one to their grandparents knowing they do few miles i doubt it.

The problem with them fitting a new battery is you are going to have exactly the same problem in a few weeks for the same reason you could try exchanging it for a non hybrid as this is the only solution to your problem if you dont want to mess about, i but doubt they will give you a refund even though it stinks how they are treating customers.

You won’t necessarily start having problems again, we have reason to believe that there are bad Mutlu batteries out there that fail to recover if they’ve been left low in charge.  It might have been addressed now.   I had a mate who’s Yaris was regularly letting them down but after fitting a Yuasa has never once done so after quite lengthy stands.  

[Max_Headroom]

17 hours ago, Chas G said:

@Susanjones sorry to hear of your plight. I am 70 and was in a similar position with my 22 Yaris Cross as I do about 3000 miles a year.

The only solution is to put the car in ready mode for a couple of hours a week or use a smart charger to charge the battery 

I have a garage so Toyota fitted a lead on to the battery for me which pokes out from under the back seat.

I drive my car into the garage, turn the car off, open the drivers side back door, plug in a Ctek 5 smart charger (Halfords c£80) into the lead and close the door. The door seal is big and very soft so doesn't damage the cable. I leave the car on charge for anything up to a week.

When I want to use the car I simply unplug the charger and put the lead on a hook on the garage wall. I don't bother to turn the charger off, I just unplug it.

Click on the photos below to enhance each image and you will see what I mean.

That is a neat solution but a lot of people dont see why after spending £25,000 on a car they should have to go through this every time they are going to park for a few days and rightly so. 

[Chas G]

@Max_Headroom not a perfect solution I agree but it works for me at the moment and only adds about 30 seconds to starting and backing my car out of the garage.

I was very tempted to change but I didnt want to lose £6.5k trading in the car.

The next car I buy in about  12 months time will be petrol only and sadly not a Toyota.

[Andrew Harrison]

35 minutes ago, Chas G said:

@Max_Headroom not a perfect solution I agree but it works for me at the moment and only adds about 30 seconds to starting and backing my car out of the garage.

I was very tempted to change but I didnt want to lose £6.5k trading in the car.

The next car I buy in about  12 months time will be petrol only and sadly not a Toyota.

Toyota should take responsibility, I bet the number of people affected by this not fit for purpose scandal runs into the many thousands, many older people, maybe a TV consumer programme should investigate, like watchdog?

[Roy124]

Susan, I know exactly what you mean.  If it is any consolation other manufacturers' hybrids suffer the same issues.

Chas has illustrated  a sensible solution,  one that I use myself.   If you garage your car or have easy access to a mains point then that would be a good solution. 

Now, I would ask your garage, at the very least, to replace the Battery and

to fit the charging tail compatible with a specific charger.  You could also press them to supply the charger - if you don't ask ......

[anchorman]

5 hours ago, Andrew Harrison said:

Toyota should take responsibility, I bet the number of people affected by this not fit for purpose scandal runs into the many thousands, many older people, maybe a TV consumer programme should investigate, like watchdog?

You have to be careful with this term “not fit for purpose”.  It is fit for purpose but there could be a Battery quality problem.   That makes it a warranty issue.  I believe the calculation for Battery output are correct because it’s exactly the same for the new LBX.  

[Andrew Harrison]

20 minutes ago, anchorman said:

You have to be careful with this term “not fit for purpose”.  It is fit for purpose but there could be a battery quality problem.   That makes it a warranty issue.  I believe the calculation for battery output are correct because it’s exactly the same for the new LBX.  

I refer to the Battery not the car

[anchorman]

8 hours ago, Andrew Harrison said:

I refer to the battery not the car

So do I.  

[Max_Headroom]

15 hours ago, anchorman said:

You have to be careful with this term “not fit for purpose”.  It is fit for purpose but there could be a battery quality problem.  

There are way too may threads/posts about this for it just to be a Battery manufacture issue it would be interesting to see how long members have regularly left their car parked for days with no problems.

[Roy124]

My Yaris Cross,  when new, was left for 12 days.  The following year for 15 days.  Although I have a BM6 I forgot to check the voltage after the last lay up.

No problems so far.

I have another planned in June and will try and remember to check.

[Max_Headroom]

3 hours ago, Max_Headroom said:

There are way too may threads/posts about this for it just to be a battery manufacture issue it would be interesting to see how long members have regularly left their car parked for days with no problems.

Thread now open - 

 

[anchorman]

3 hours ago, Max_Headroom said:

There are way too may threads/posts about this for it just to be a battery manufacture issue it would be interesting to see how long members have regularly left their car parked for days with no problems.

I must admit I rubbished the notion that batteries were faulty and didn’t really accept that it wasn’t people just not using the car enough but then I got first hand experience of friends cars that were being used enough.  I go a bit bleary eyed at the Battery thread but there were contributors suggesting that the Battery won’t recover.  I’ve charged very neglected batteries in the past but these Mutlus won’t recover.