Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - zog

can the hybrid battery on a lexus 450 fail without warning and if it did can the car still be driven on the petrol engine alone

Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - elekie&a/c doctor
What is the problem with the battery?is it not covered under warranty?I guess you can drive on engine only,but it will be front drive only,as the rear wheels are driven by electric motors.
Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - The-Mechanic

No. There is no starter motor on these. The engine is turned over by the motor/generator which is incorporated into the transmission. If the hybrid battery fails completely, the car will stop as there is no way that it can turn the engine over. There is no conventional starter motor on these or the Toyota hybrid cars, basically the hybrid battery powers the motor/generator and it in effect, bump starts the engine when it needs to.

Once the engine has started, it will power the front wheels and then the motor switches into a generator mode (hence it's name) to power the rear wheel motors and also recharge the hybrid battery if needed.

Also, there's no alternator to charge the 12volt auxiliary battery. This is charged by the hybrid battery too by clever voltage sensing. If the 12volt auxiliary battery is flat, the car won't go either. You can jump start the 12volt battery if it has too low a voltage to wake the system up (see your manual for instructions), but if this doesn't work, get it recovered to a dealership, DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE HYBRID SYSTEM. It's very unlikely the hybrid battery will just fail without warning. If you go poking around in the boot there is 288 volts DC and at the inverter under the bonnet 650 volts AC so more than enough to cause a serious case of death.

Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - madf

The hybrid battery is a collection of hundreds of smaller batteries. (see tinyurl.com/od4p9st)

So an indivual cell can fail and not affect teh overall performance. For the entire system to fail, you need a wiring fault or a major electronic failure.. - judging by reliability stats.. rarer than engine failure.

Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - elekie&a/c doctor
My thoughts also.I wonder if the op is getting confused with the aux under bonnet battery that is used to power up the ignition circuits.
Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - madf
My thoughts also.I wonder if the op is getting confused with the aux under bonnet battery that is used to power up the ignition circuits.

And that IS prone to fail.. due to undercharging - so I understand.

Lexus RX 450h - hybrid battery failure - gordonbennet

Is this a hypothetical question, or are we witnessing one of the very rare Toyota hybrid failures...if so the daily and motoring rags should be informed, bring on some meaningful balanced reporting..;)