Door and tailgate closing and opening issues

[Auto-engineering Geek]

Even though I use my 5-month old 1.8 Corolla TS regularly, and not just for short distances, I am experiencing sporadic (at least once week) problems that I would expect to be normally associated with low state of charge on the 12 volt Battery. The problems I have had are the inability to close the power tailgate, and sometimes inability to lock doors and fortunately more rarely to open doors. I have taken the car back to the supplying dealer on two occasions. The first to check the Battery health and state of charge, and on the second occasion to charge the 12 volt Battery overnight. They assure me the battery is not faulty. The dealer did offer me the option to purchase a solar panel to trickle charge the battery, but I question why I should need such a device as my car is used regularly. I just wondered if anybody has had similar problems.

[Paul john]

What is the Ah rating of your Battery?

[Auto-engineering Geek]

The Battery is the one supplied with the car new when it was registered on 1st March 2024. I have just checked and it is 12v Varta 45 Ah Battery

[Paul john]

1 minute ago, Auto-engineering Geek said:

The battery is the one supplied with the car new when it was registered on 1st March 2024. I have just checked and it is 12v Varta 45 Ah battery

As discussed here it may be worth pushing that up to a yuasa 55ah

[Auto-engineering Geek]

Thanks for that information. I am going to keep a log of all times I experience problems over the next few weeks and when I go back to my dealer with this I will raise the issue of upgrading the 12v as you suggested. As the car is only 5-months old and if the upgraded Battery would solve the problem I will clearly argue that the Battery in the car as supplied is not fit for purpose to ensure an upgraded Battery is supplied under warranty.  

[Paul john]

13 minutes ago, Auto-engineering Geek said:

Thanks for that information. I am going to keep a log of all times I experience problems over the next few weeks and when I go back to my dealer with this I will raise the issue of upgrading the 12v as you suggested. As the car is only 5-months old and if the upgraded battery would solve the problem I will clearly argue that the battery in the car as supplied is not fit for purpose to ensure an upgraded battery is supplied under warranty.  

No worries. Have a search on this site for examples of the 2024 issue. It is cross model. 

[TonyHSD]

So when you have a problem, just open bonnet and measure the voltage, if it’s less than 12.2v take a picture of course tell the dealer that your Battery is gone and push for new warranty replacement. 
It’s a brand new car and should not have Battery problems, unless not used regularly, been only used for short trips under 20 min each time, left unused for over 2 weeks at a time. 
Toyota owners post 2020 seems to have a lot of 12v Battery problems and I know why it’s the case. There are two major issues- connected services and unnecessary clutter - cameras, auto functions that you should disable because these drain your battery- parking brake, folding mirrors, home lights, even the power gate. Only use these before you switch off the car, doing so will not drain your small 12v battery and you will not have problems. 

[Auto-engineering Geek]

Thanks Tony - I have measured the voltage of the 12 volt Battery directly at the terminals after a drive with everything switch off and it's reading 12.04 volts which is clearly very low. I have measured the static/no engine running terminal Battery voltage of other cars in our family and they read 12.78 volts and 13.14 volts. I have emailed photos of my measurements to the supplying dealer (Steven Eagell - Worcester) and I am waiting for a response. It would not be good PR for them to still refuse a Battery replacement. Should this be the case though as well as posting the outcome on this forum I will be contacting Toyota UK directly. I agree with your thinking regarding the additional load on the 45 Ah battery on recent cars of course which my car is one (March 2024), Toyota clearly need to consider a heavier duty battery.

[Auto-engineering Geek]

Central locking and tailgate closing issues continue on my 5-month old regularly used Corolla TS. The root cause is clearly the deteriorating sate of the 12 volt Battery charge after even just 24 hours of the car not being used. Measuring the terminal Battery voltage yesterday after the problem occurred yet again it measured just 11.7 volts, and after a 6-mile drive it was still only reading 11.82 volts. On the previous occasion the problem occurred it was measured at 12.04 volts. I have spoken to several suppliers of car batteries I am told that the resting terminal voltage of a healthy Battery should be at least 12.6 volts, as is the case when measuring the voltage on all the other vehicles I own. Despite Steven Eagell Worcester originally insisting my battery was fine and hence it could not be replaced under warranty, I am pleased to say after my recent phone call they have agreed to replace the battery this coming Friday. I would like to say though, other than this issue I have been so very pleased with both my Toyota Corolla TS and Steven Eagell Worcester the supplying dealer.

[Auto-engineering Geek]

UPDATE - New 12v Battery just fitted under warranty by the supplying dealer (Steven Eagell - Worcester) to replace the original faulty Battery on my 5-month old Corolla Excel T.S. I am confident all my previous issues will now be fixed, i.e. sporadic failure to close/open tailgate and general central locking issues which have occurred despite regular use of the the vehicle. It is interesting to note the faulty 45Ah Vidor Battery has been replaced by a new 52Ah Toyota battery. Furthermore, Steven Eagell Toyota - Worcester, has also kindly provided me with a complementary solar panel trickle charger which I will most definitely use when leaving my car in airport carparks when on holiday.