Dead at the Curb - 2014 Toyota Highlander Limited Long-Term Road Test
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Dead at the Curb - 2014 Toyota Highlander Limited Long-Term Road Test
A dead battery leaves our 2014 Toyota Highlander test vehicle high and dry.
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Sounds like a larger problem to me. I still don't understand why manufacturers can't have a system setup to automatically shut off everything to the battery if it reaches a certain level. That, or have some small starter battery that provides just enough power to get the engine and alternator going.
I know that some GM vehicles had that in the past. My 1996 Sunfire had battery rundown protection.
On my 2010 VW Jetta TDI the car will ding and displays a message on the radio that reads "Car battery is running low! The system will shut down soon. Please start the engine or turn the system off." This message appeared when I was sitting in my car listening to the radio without the car running for a while in the middle of winter. Happened to me twice over the winter due to it being unusually cold last winter. And yes I instantly started the car and it fired to life without any hesitation.
My '03 Chevy S-10 has battery run-down protection as well. Shuts everything off after 20 minutes if the engine isn't running. I'm hoping for Toyota's sake that this is some kind of vehicle specific issue, and not a lack of battery protection software.
The "run-down" protection referenced above will only work if it was something normal that was left on that caused the problem. There is a difference between shutting the radio off to protect the battery and cutting power to everything to protect it.
It will be interesting to see if this happens again. Like everyone I would expect the Toyota to have rundown protection that shuts off accessories/lighting if by chance they are left on. I would also expect the car to "ding" loudly and annoyingly (like my VW R and CX-9) if I left the headlights or ignition in the "ON" position.
Maybe the battery is just crap and has a bad cell. I also found out the hard way that the high pressure fuel pump of direct injected engines really don't like weak batteries. My girlfriend's Sonata wouldn't start one morning even though it was cranking. I never thought it was the battery because it seemed like it was cranking normally even though it was a cold rainy morning. After several attempts of long cranking the battery died. Hooked some jumper cable to it and it fired right up.The HPFP is mechanically connected to the engine by a lobe on the camshaft. The starter has to spin the engine pretty fast for the pump to build pressure. I always wondered why a 4 cylinder Hyundai had such a large 600 CCA battery, now I know.
Great story-telling + all the facts = great post!
The service tech doesn't see anything that was left on - so? Does he own one of these things? How about you - did YOU check to see if anything had been left on? Before you ascribe it to "user error," maybe you'd better figure out exactly what the error was, huh?
My 96 Grand Voyager had battery rundown protection (yes, 18 years ago), but my 09 Sedona does not. So the Sedona has had a flat battery a few times due to negligence, and it's annoying. An expensive Highlander certainly should have rundown protection.