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Toyota Prius (First Generation)

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Comments

  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    "Prius Owners Do It with Ni-MH"
    "Prius Owners Just Do It Battery" (groan)
    "My Car Keeps Up with Current Events"
    "I Get a Jolt Driving this Car"
  • dtauberdtauber Member Posts: 5
    I am writing on behalf of my friend who owns a Prius and was wondering about aftermarket cruise control. He didn't get it on his 2000 and regrets it. I think the dealership wants 600-800 to retro fit it. Any tips or help appreciated!
    Dan-o
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Coastal Tech has a cruise control kit http://www.coastaletech.com/ hope this helps.
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    News Briefs [5/29/02] Two rallying amateurs will enter the motorsports record books in June as the crew of the world's first gas/electric hybrid rally car. http://www.motortrend.com/
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Prius tops in JD Power's survey for Quality for the small-car segment http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/pressrelease.asp?ID=2002040
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
    The Town Hall is about to take on a new look in an effort to make content more easily searchable and accessible.

    Have you seen the Letter from the Town Hall Manager on the Town Hall Welcome page? If not, you might want to follow that link to have a look.

    And hang on to your seats. Change is never easy - for any of us - but resolving the Search problems we've had will be worth the pain.

    Pat
    Sedans Host
  • thegeneraltsothegeneraltso Member Posts: 25
    i am leaning toward a hybrid vehicle as a daily commuter. i heard that one can drive singly on a high-occupancy-lane. is this true or just a salesman's trick? i couldn't find any confirmation on this issue. i live in dc metro area and the commuting is long.
  • rbw98465rbw98465 Member Posts: 1
    Edmunds reviewer says, under Cons, that the Prius has: "Funky styling, weak performance compared to gas-engine cars, technology doesn't come cheap."
    A) Styling NOT a con - I am constantly getting praise for a cool looking economy car.
    B) The reviewer has not driven on if he calls it weak performance. Its not head snapping, but torque and acceleration are more than adequate for all driving if you know how to drive it and are not afraid to rev it up.
    C) The price delivers value in more ways than I can count. The Prius is comfortable to drive, can seat 5-300 pounders in comfort, and most importantly has a continuously variable transmission which is quiet and silky smooth. The CVT makes the car quiet and does away with all the jerks and grinds of an automatic low hp engine.
    I am sure something better will come, but there is NO reason to delay choosing a Prius if you want a comfortable, capable, economy, SULEV car with cool styling - and it is less than 1/2 the price of a gas guzzling "cool" car such as a higher performance level.
  • christhatcherchristhatcher Member Posts: 5
    Here are my test drive impressions of the Honda Civic Hybrid 5-speed, but first a little background.

    Last month my girlfriend and I researched and test drove the Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid (both with automatic transmissions). We bought the Prius primarily because it has much better acceleration (off the line, and at speed) and better exterior colors than the Civic Hybrid. After driving the Prius for a month, we both love it. If I had to change anything on the car it would be the brakes. They are pretty weak and grabby. You have to brake differently than with a normal car.

    But now back to the 5-speed manual Civic Hybrid test drive.

    The 5-speed version of the Civic Hybrid is only a little bit faster and peppier than the automatic version, but is still underpowered. If Toyota can make a peppy hybrid sedan, Honda should be able to also-- but Honda has fallen short of the mark with both versions of their current Civic Hybrid.

    The colors are still plain-vanilla boring and awful. We got our Prius in a nice navy blue.

    But get this! In the Civic Hybrid, there is an opening in each of the front wheel wells of the into the engine compartment! I didn't notice this on the automatic version, but maybe I missed it. The opening is about the size of a dinner plate and I was shocked. Having lived through 5 Colorado winters, and many more in the Northeast, I can't imagine all the saltly slush and icy crud that usually gets caked into the wheel wells now getting sprayed into the engine compartment! Are they out of their minds?

    The Honda salesman said that the holes were for ventilation to cool the engine, but I think he was feeding me a line. If the Prius doesn't need dinner plate-sized holes in the wheel wells for "ventilation" why does the Civic Hybrid?

    The ONLY things that the Civic Hybrid beats the Prius in is better brakes, and the convenience of standard Civic parts.
  • dgallondgallon Member Posts: 4
    I'm trying to decide between getting a Prius or a Civid Hybrid. Can anyone share their feelings on the two? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What could be improved upon? Thanks!
  • thegeneraltsothegeneraltso Member Posts: 25
    hello:
    i didn't get a chance to read all the posts here ... hopefully i am not rehatching old discussion. i want to know if anyone has any experience with haggling down the price. my dealer won't deal at all. thanks
  • cwaggamacwaggama Member Posts: 6
    Hi,
    I am a new owner of a Hybrid Civic and have not driven a Prius. I bought the Civic because I wanted a 5 speed, otherwise I would have seriously considered the Prius. I like the looks of the Prius (sort of Echo like) but some don't. The Civic looks like a Civic- does that appeal to you or not? The Prius comes in more colors. The Prius seems to rely on electric power a little more than the Civic (others can correct me here). For example it uses only battery power in very low speed maneuvers, whereas the Civic does not. The standard Civic does better overall in crash testing than the Prius. That made a difference to me. The Prius has slightly more room, I think. I would call acceleration a toss-up with many disagreements among owners of each. I really think you need to drive both- I suspect they both take some time to get used to. Gas mileage between automatics appears to favor the Prius, though there is debate here and I am very satisfied with mileage with my 5 speed Hybrid Civic. I think both are good cars and they are both from good companies and cost about the same. I would guess that after you test drive both, your personal choice will be easy to make. Hope that helps.
    Craig W.
  • lamphamlampham Member Posts: 1
    Hello to all Prius people,
    I am new at this website and I am considering to buy a Prius. There are some questions I would like to ask the Prius people or anybody can help out : 1) I understand the Prius is targeted toward CITY DRIVING, best fit for STOP and GO. However, cruise control is now available for the 2002 cars.That means we CAN set cruise control on the freeway(let's say 65mph to 70mph), but for how long? 3 to 4 hours straight or 2 to 3 hours in order to keep the batteries "alive"? What is the safest time period for cruise control?
    2) I will mostly drive in the city, but occasionnally, can I make a one way trip 100 miles with my Prius?
    I appreciate any responses and thanks for your help.
  • jrct9454jrct9454 Member Posts: 2,363
    ...all day or all night or all week - doesn't make any difference. Drive 10 miles or 1000 miles - doesn't make any difference. Remember the batteries are being constantly charged as long as the engine is running. About the only way to run them down is to climb steeply for many, many miles, at which time the battery assist will gradually decrease until the load goes away and they can be recharged during normal load conditions. But you can't "hurt" them in any way - the worst that happens is that you lose the extra kick that the batteries provide until they get back to a full charge. Remember it is primarily a GASOLINE engined car that has an electric "afterburner", if that analogy means anything to you.

    What you've got here [and same for the Civic] is a car with a very small, very frugal gasoline engine, that by itself, isn't capable of providing much performance...but combined with the electric motor when you demand it, you get something approaching "normal" acceleration [0-60 in 12-13 seconds or so], but with supernormal fuel consumption. But these cars were not designed to be babied - buy it to do everything else you want to do with a car this size. Lots of people take them on cross-country trips.
  • eandlcubedeandlcubed Member Posts: 78
    hello all:
    just got my prius last night... it was silver and had 20 miles on the odo. i have enjoyed the car so far. however i do need a few questions answered by you experienced users.. do the switches around the window light up at night? same goes for the dimmer and mirror switches? with respect to speed, i have to struggle to keep it above 70mph, anyone else has the same concern? let me say that the car i traded in was a 2000 merc e-wagon. i need the prius to drive on the high-occupancy-lane. :-)
  • mellismellis Member Posts: 150
    Can anyone give me their experience purchasing an '02 Prius since they have gone off special order and can now be found on the lot? How much off MSRP are people getting. Anyone lease?

    Also, how much for the 6 disk CD changer. Dealership had no clue.

    Cliffy1?

    Mark
  • thegeneraltsothegeneraltso Member Posts: 25
    hello mark:
    i got my prius this june 30 (of course it was the last day of the month and quarter too). they gave me 500.00 off msrp. mine didn't come with a 6-cd just a single cd. he did quote me a price on a 6-cd but i couldn't recall. hope this help...
    i do have question for others... does anyone know what all the blanks below the mirror adjustment and light dimmer use for. thanks
  • amyjokimamyjokim Member Posts: 1
    After months of research, I finally brought an '02 Prius a week ago, and so far I'm THRILLED with this car. Drives great, looks cute, and I got an average of 40 MPG with the FIRST TANK OF GAS. I expect this to get better over time.

    I'm trying to decide whether or not to purchase the extended warrenty that my dealer is offering (or should I say pushing). It covers parts going bad for 7 years, rather than the standard 3. It's about $1400.

    Any opinions about this? Have you other Prius owners purchased this warrenty?
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Ben & Jerry's is holding a sweepstakes, where the grand prize is a 2002 Toyota Prius. It's part of their campaign to fight global warming (with their One Sweet Whirled promo)


    http://sweepstakes.benjerry.com/

  • rdeschenerdeschene Member Posts: 331
    That Ben & Jerry are holding a sweepstake to "fight global warming", when cattle are major producers of methane, and B&J sell dairy products is really funny. I don't know if they've had a sweepstake to "fight cardio-vascular disease" yet or not.

    I assume they realize the irony of this, but maybe not. Either way, it's good for a chuckle isn't it?
  • britton2britton2 Member Posts: 305
    thanks for the link to the Ben & Jerry's sweepstakes - I can't wait to get my new Prius! :>)
  • flj168flj168 Member Posts: 12
    I noticed a few used 2001 Prius with <15k miles going for around $17.5k in the S.F. Bay Area. Is this a good buy since this was the first year that Toyota shipped the Prius to the U.S. What's been the repair record on this model? Does anyone know when the 2003's are arriving to the showrooms, I wondering if the dealers would discount the 2002's under $20K?
  • mrgreenjeansmrgreenjeans Member Posts: 28
    Hello all! It's been a long, long time since I've posted a message at this site. I've missed a lot of good messages and "insights", to be sure. I have had my Prius since December 18, 2000 and continue to be in LOVE with this car. At the moment, I've driven almost 21K miles and must say that the more I drive it, the more pep it has. This past fall, I averaged around 48 mpg. During the winter, I averaged 43 mpg. In spring, I averaged 45 mpg and now..in the summer, I'm averaging 50 mpg. For those who have not followed my previous posts, I live in Connecticut, which typically experiences harsh winters, cool springs and...at the moment...a HOT summer. The curious thing about this car is that I find I get better gas mileage doing highway driving during the cooler months compared to my city escapades. I am certain that my Prius is more fuel efficient when the engine is warmed. Since my drive to work is short, I often loose with regard to gas mileage. As far as maintenance is concerned, I have followed the scheduled maintenance suggested in the owner's manual. Well, that's my update so far. Can anybody tell me if there are any new features for the coming up 2003 Prius? Since I am leasing my current car, I will have to make a decision next summer as to whether I should keep this car, get into another Prius, or try something else. As always, your input and suggestions are very helpful. Thanks for reading my post. Take care all you Prius People! KEEP IT GREEN! :)
  • automiteautomite Member Posts: 17
    have had my 2002 prius for a month with now 700 miles. breakin is 600 miles so all of my miles are in city/residential driving. my onboard mpg calculator is consistantly 53mpg. with steady 45mph driving it has been 60mpg. the weather has been warm [detroit]. when i checked my fuel mpg by topping off tank, it was 59mpg instead of 53.4 mpg on onboard computer. when looking at costs, my favorite website is priceline.com...it's clear and easy to view.
  • kelver777kelver777 Member Posts: 4
    Got done with my test drive today. I must say very impressive, thought it would drive like a golf cart...

    Anyways dealer mentioned to me that in MD there is no sales tax for this car, which is great, but also mentioned that there is a $2000 ish federal tax rebate that comes off your income taxes... anyone know anything about that?

    Thanks
  • jrct9454jrct9454 Member Posts: 2,363
    ...and it's not a credit, it's a DEDUCTION, and that's a huge difference. The actual value of the deduction depends entirely on your tax bracket - 15% means you save $300, 28% means $560 saved in taxes, etc. This is hardly the same as a rebate or credit.
  • espinaldoespinaldo Member Posts: 24
    There is both a credit and deduction for federal. The irs states that hybrids that are not primarily powered by an electric motor are not elegible for the 10% credit. They did not make the case for honda or toyata as to whether each hybrid is primarily powered by an electric motor. Since the prius cannot run without the motor and it can only start rolling with the motor, you can make a good case for taking the credit. In my case, the AMT made the credit less than the $2000 deduction. Read the tax section carefully, a casual read may lead to an incorrect interpretation. The instructions are phrased to say something like ...hybrid vehilcles (like the toy prius and honda Insight) that are not primarily powered by an electric engine do not qualify for the credit....Folks can argue semantics all they like but the bottom line is, if you interpretet the phrase according to English grammer rules, the instructions say only that prius and insight are examples of hybrids. The IRS did not determine whether or not they qualify for the credit.


    There are toyota dealers that sell warranties for less than others. Try this link for one dealer...I haven't figured if they are the cheapest. They sell genuine toyota platinum warranties. I would not recommend buying a non-toyota warranty or a weak warranty. You choose the number of months and the mileage so you can get a 6 year 100k warranty for cheaper than a 7-year 100 k warranty. This lets you match your annual mileage to the warranty. Remember, a warranty is just another product that dealers sell. I guess this dealer figures that they can make money on volume.

    http://www.toyotawarranty.com/

  • natiellonatiello Member Posts: 1
    I recently bouthgt my new Prius. It has 1,000 miles on it now and only gets about 39 miles per gallon, with an even mix of city and highway driving. I would attribute this to constantly cranked air conditioning (but not on the "Max" setting) in the hot NJ summertime, but other posts say they are getting 50 mpg in this weather. Is something wrong?
  • canccanc Member Posts: 715
    I don't wish this to anyone here, but have any of you Prius owners asked what would happen with a Prius in a crash? There is a lot of sophisticated equipment in a Prius, and I heard that Toyota engineers must inspect the car to make sure everything is OK before you can drive away with it again, all this costing a lot of money. Is this true?

    Anyway, I'm considering a Prius as my next car, and I just wondered about this. Thanks!
  • marcbmarcb Member Posts: 152
    Well ! Now you can qualify for the full $2000 tax deduction (-;

    I can only hope Canada will have something similar soon.
  • automiteautomite Member Posts: 17
    my car is at 900 mi. mark. on this tank of gas my mpg calculator has been steady at 55 plus mpg. i'm sure warm weather and not using a/c are 2 important high mpg factors. i rarely use air. i like my window down [one of the few left]. remember your gas engine is running more with air on. 2 driving habits i find important in getting high mpg: [1] as best you can, take your foot off the gas pedal and coast to red lights or stop signs [it helps to stay in right lane to let the road warriors go by]. remember your gas engine stops when you take your foot off the gas or put yor foot on the brake. and [2] be as light-footed on the gas pedal as possible. whenever you push down on the gas from a dead stop you are loosing about 0.5 mpg on the mpg calculator. it then takes you some time and distance to regain that lose. you really have to be in a different mindset when getting into this car. first time drivers in my car are too interested in stepping on the gas to see how fast it goes. they miss the point. i think the mpg screen does a good job of teaching the driver how to reach high mpg. every car should have one. for those drivers who do mainly expressway driving, i think a corolla automatic getting 38mpg hwy and being $5,000 cheaper whould be a better bet.
  • coolstuffcoolstuff Member Posts: 4
    "Also, your comments on highway driving illustrates why Toyota has asked us not to sell these cars to people who do a lot of highway driving. They know that this is not its ideal environment. The car is not intended as a long haul car nor will it be marketed as such."This was posted by a Canadian Toyota Dealer named Cliffy1 here on the boards.This statement really creeped me out.I am seriously considering buying a Honda Civic Hybrid because of the highway statement made by Toyotas OWN salesman.What is the truth?I am nervous about buying.
  • britton2britton2 Member Posts: 305
    A while ago one of the network morning shows had a segment about hybrid cars - they talked about the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Prius - I remember at one point they said that the Prius was actually more of a hybrid than the Civic - I think they were pointing out that it uses the battery more than the Civic - I guess that's why in city driving the Prius gets better mileage.
  • mrgreenjeansmrgreenjeans Member Posts: 28
    I'm back for a quick remark to posts # 894 and # 895. To post # 894, you are right. Toyota's Prius is more of a hybrid in that it does rely more on it electric motor in stop and go traffic as is the case while doing city driving. Because of this, it does get better gas mileage while in a city as compared to its highway performance. HOWEVER, it gets its best mileage when the motor is warmed. For those of us who live in cooler climates such as that found in New England, short commutes on cold days can ruin gas mileage performance. I have found, in fact, that I get better gas mileage on the highway compared to city driving when it's cold outside. Even with my worst gas mileage readings, I did far better than the Honda Insight or, I suspect, the Honda Civic. It is my opinion, that Toyota has built a better car..period. Now a quick response to post # 895. I have NEVER had a problem doing long distance driving with my Prius. During the summer of 2001, I drove from Hartford, Connecticut to Paducah, Kentucky and back within a week's time. It was scorching HOT in Kentucky and my Prius handled it like a pro. While other cars were overheating when stuck in traffic in Columbus, OH or Cincinnati, OH, my car was on electric and outshone them all. I'm not a huge "air conditioner" person, however. On that trip, I averaged 51 mpg. going at an average speed of between 65-70 mph. That says a lot to me about it's ability to navigate around some pretty hilly terrain in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. If using your Prius to make long trips is a concern, fear not. I have every faith this car can drive with the best of them. Until my next post, KEEP IT GREEN PRIUS PEOPLE!
  • scwt47scwt47 Member Posts: 13
    Ref: #863

    "I am leaning toward a hybrid vehicle as a daily commuter. i heard that one can drive singly on a high-occupancy-lane. is this true or just a salesman's trick? i couldn't find any confirmation on this issue. i live in dc metro area and the commuting is long." - generaltso


    Answer from the Left Coast:

    Salesman's trick. Or, at best, a poorly trained salesman. My sister bought a Civic Hybrid 2 weeks ago and the salesman told her the car qualified for solo commuters in HOV lanes. But he was WRONG (imagine that). In Calif. there is a specific ruling one can look up at the California Air Resources Board. Basically they say "no hybrids". Solar, electric, biomass, propane, any kind of alternate fuel you name is OK for HOV lane solo driving (but you need a CARB sticker first), but if it burns gasoline in any fashion then do NOT venture into HOV-land with too few occupants! Only Zero Emissions Vehicles allowed with solo occupancy. See for yourselves:


    http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm


    Buyer beware. Perhaps the rules are more relaxed in the DC area, but don't count on it....


    By the way, my sister loves her Civic Hybrid just the same. She just has to live with her commute as it is. Am sure the Prius is just as good or better.

  • espinaldoespinaldo Member Posts: 24
    I live in CA and, while I'm disappointed that I have to say that scwt47 is correct, I am hoping that some legislation that has been bantered about but is not yet reality gets passed so that hybrids can use HOV lanes. The CA logic is that the car needs to be clean (SULV or better) as well as pass an EPA decree that the car use an alternative fuel--no gasoline allowed. CNG, LP, and electric meet the grade. I have heard that other states allow hybrids in HOV lanes (e.g. Arizona). I suggest that you search your state website for HOV and hybrid. If no good returns, try HOV and single -- or other similar combinations.

    I personally believe that CA hybrids should be able to drive in the HOV lanes--especially now that they just installed new HOV lanes on the final 6 most crowded miles of my morning commute.
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Here is another Motortrend review of hybrids

    http://www.motortrend.com/aug02/hybrid/hybrid_f.html
  • sivtecsivtec Member Posts: 8
    From Kiplinger.com

    http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2002/July/ahead/green.html


    "And seven states -- Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia and Utah -- exempt clean-fuel vehicles from HOV restrictions"

  • jrct9454jrct9454 Member Posts: 2,363
    ...Hybrids are NOT exempt in California, no matter what Kiplinger thinks. Only pure electrics and certain alternative-fuel cars qualify, for whatever reasons...
  • tvblaketvblake Member Posts: 1
    Virginia does allow solo-occupant hybrids in HOV lanes during restricted times:


    However, you have to obtain special "clean-fuel" license plates before driving solo in the HOV lanes.


    And this exemption is set to expire July 1, 2004 unless the General Assembly extends the law.


    Source:

    http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel/hov-rulesfaq.asp

  • thegeneraltsothegeneraltso Member Posts: 25
    thanks everyone for sheding light on the hov restriction... i live in the dc area and i can take
    hov by myself.
    regarding the posting on mpg, my car now has almost 5000 miles on the odo and i only get around 41.9 no matter how i drive with or without ac around town. i drove to nyc and back with around 41.5 (ac on in august 2002) and just recently went to detroit and back with 41.7 (no ac in oct 2002) (odo is reset on both trips). i am impressed with everyone who got close to 50 !! please tell me the secret
  • flj168flj168 Member Posts: 12
    What's the market supply of the 2002 Toyota Prius around the San Francisco Bay Area? Is there a backlog of Prius still in transit due to west coast dock strike? Is the 2003 model worth waiting for since there are no sales incentives on the remaining 2002 models?

    Thanks,
    Fred
  • scuttlerscuttler Member Posts: 1
    I need to figure out hauling around 4, count 'em, 4 bicycles for my family with the Prius. What's the bestway to do that?
  • gstormgstorm Member Posts: 1
    I really want to purchase an New Prius, been doing lots of reseach on this board and on Yahoo Group, comparing it to the civic. I like the geek factor of the Prius, so have become 95% commited to Leasing one for the $269 offer on the commericals. Just as a precaution I checked with my Prudential Insurance agent, she looked the car up and said it was on their not insurable list. Have any of you current Prius owners experienced a problem obtaining insurance? What was your rate for a year? given that you're Male in the 35-45 range and have good driving record?
  • jrct9454jrct9454 Member Posts: 2,363
    ...not only is the car anything but new, but it could hardly be judged a high risk by any standard. Go online with one of the insurance sites and get somes estimates.
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Oct 25, 2002
    BY JOHN LIPPERT BLOOMBERG NEWS

    Toyota Motor Corp., the world's third-largest automaker, plans to use gasoline-electric hybrid engines in all vehicles by 2012 to increase fuel efficiency and reduce tailpipe emissions, an executive said.
  • marcbmarcb Member Posts: 152
    in an article from auto.com it was mentioned in passing next gen Prius will come out 2004 and be bigger than current compact. Other than that, no other info was given.
  • rfruthrfruth Member Posts: 630
    Here is a summary of what I have learned about the traction battery so far.

    Traction battery: geek-speak for the high voltage battery, the larger of the two batteries located in the trunk. Various stickers in the engine compartment refer to the battery by this name.

    The traction battery consists of 38 modules, each containing six NiMH cells, for a total of 228 cells. The nominal voltage of each module
    is 7.2 volts, and they are connected in series to give a nominal voltage for the entire battery of 273.6 volts (although in actual use
    the voltage varies from this figure quite a bit). The specified capacity is 6.5 Ah, and the internal resistance is in the region of 0.5 ohm. The battery can deliver a peak power of around 38kW, but in the Prius the maximum power is limited to 21kW.

    The battery has an astonishingly high cycle lifetime - many hundreds of thousands of charge-discharge cycles. This is achieved mainly by
    controlling the depth of discharge - the battery is not allowed to fall below 40% of full charge, and is not allowed to rise above 80%, with the preferred state of charge believed to be 56%. Accelerated lifetime tests have shown the battery to be comfortably able to survive for 150000 miles, with the longest real world mileage known to me being 175000 miles and still going strong.

    The battery contains a computer known as the "battery ECU", and this provides quite a high level of built in test capability.

    For diagnostic purposes the battery is divided into 19 blocks, each consisting of two modules (twelve cells). The battery ECU can measure the voltage of each of these blocks, as well as the current flowing into or out of the battery and the temperature at five locations throughout the stack of modules.

    Diagnostic information is extracted from the battery ECU (as well as from all of the other ECUs in the Prius) using a special service
    instrument called the "Toyota Hand Held Tester", which plugs into a white socket located below the steering wheel. Typical information available includes (according to a table in the repair manual):

    o State of charge
    o Current
    o Voltage of each block
    o Historical minimum voltage of each block
    o Historical maximum voltage of each block
    o Difference between Max and Min state of charge for each block
    o Internal resistance
    o Temperature

    Several diagnostic procedures which can assess the health of the battery without removing it from the car are given in the repair manual. These procedures are not for the faint hearted, but here is an outline of one of them:

    1) Park the Prius in a suitably uncluttered safe open place.
    2) Apply the parking brake and chock the wheels.
    3) Start the engine and allow it to warm up.
    4) Command the hand held tester to monitor battery block voltages.
    5) Put the shift lever into REVERSE.
    6) Keep the brake pedal firmly pressed throughout.
    7) Listen to the engine cycling on and off:
    8) Press down on the accelerator when the engine is not running.
    9) Release the accelerator when the engine starts up.

    This procedure works by comparing the internal resistances between blocks. When the engine is running and the accelerator is not pressed, the battery is being charged. With the engine stopped and the accelerator is pressed, the battery is being discharged. While this is happening any difference in the internal resistance between blocks will show up as a difference in the block voltage. The maximum permitted difference between blocks at a given instant during the charge-discharge cycle is 300mV.

    I imagine that if a battery were to fail this test, it would be exchanged for a good one and the defective one would be sent back to a repair facility so that the quality assurance people could get their hands on it.

    Happy Thanksgiving all !
This discussion has been closed.