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Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - Adrian Charles

Last year at Xmas time I went to start the car which had been in our garage little used for several weeks - completely dead! Called out the Toyota break down home assist. The technician was clearly not familiar with this model, but eventually found the positive terminal and managed to "jump start" the car. I left it running for 10 mins. or so and drove off only to have the auto stop/start cut the engine even tho' there was not enough power to re-start ! leaving me in a dangerous situation stalled at a near by X-roads! To cut a long story short I managed to get another jump start and managed to drive for 10/15 miles without having to stop again before returning safely home. Whereupon I enquired and was told the car did not have an alternator! and that I would need to trickle charge the parallel battery (as opposed to the high voltage drive assist hybrid bat.) it was 26 hrs. before (my) Halfords charger's light turned from yellow to green! The car was passed to our Son-in-law who has had no further issues (he uses it on a daily basis). Surely the auto-stop function should not have "kicked" in? Our Skoda Rapid Spaceback 1.4 TSI SE Greentech has no such problems indeed the auto stop/start really needs a good "run" to function! Caveat emptor! ADRIAN DEWEY

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - badbusdriver

As the toyota is a hybrid, without an alternator, it isn't comparable with your skoda. But given that toyota wouldn't expect the battery to be 'flattened' I'm not surprised that the stop/start function isn't disabled (even though it probably should). As for the time it took to charge the battery, that is because a trickle charger, as its name implies, works very slowly.

Regarding the skoda, I'm very surprised that you need to give it a good run for the stop/start to work, surely that would only be the case if the battery was almost flat?. If that is the case, and you frequently leave the car unused for long periods of time, you really should be using a trickle charger on it too.

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - gordonbennet

If i recall correctly HJ puts out dire warnings about jump starting Toyota (dunno about the others) hybrids on the car reviews section, apparently doing so can cause serious damage which is not immediately obvious.

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - Stanb Sevento

Ah the mysteries of start / stop. I dont fully understand it but have noticed a few thing. In cold weather it will not work till the engine is worm, in warm weather it works right away but not if the aircon is set to LO, Even when warmed up it will not work if there is a big demand for cabin heat. A big electrical load, headlights, wipers, fan all on togerher stops it working. At times at a standstill with engine stopped for a long time it just decides to start up again, I think it gets fed up waiting.

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - colinh

Problems with the 12V battery of hybrids are well-known - latest, see this long-term test of a Kia Niro in Autocar last week:

www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/our-cars/kia-niro-long-...s

This quote from a Toyota forum gives an explanation:

""...the 12V battery is a slight weakness in Toyota Hybrids. Since it doesn't have to start the car (the big HV battery does that), Toyota put a low capacity (and lighter) battery in. However, it does mean it's sensitive to leaving lights on, or sitting with ignition on but not 'READY'. (When in 'READY' state, the HV battery charges the 12V battery, even when the engine is not running). Also, when you open a door, the 12V battery runs an electric motor to pressurise the brakes, which drains it a bit more, as does the alarm and remote door lock sensors.

If you don't start a Hybrid for a few weeks, on a long holiday for example, (4-5 weeks on a Gen 1 or 2 Prius) the battery can flatten even if nothing is left on. If the battery is weak, it can flatten more quickly."

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - mark999
Jump starting the Toyota hybrids is no big deal. Just follow the instructions in the manual. All that is needed is a small motorcycle battery to provide enough juice to power up the 12v systems.
If the 12v battery is failing Toyota dealers aren't too expensive.
Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - colinh

£120 - sounds a lot to me:

www.toyota.co.uk/owners/service-mot-maintenance/re...s

Toyota Auris Touring Sports 2014 model year. - Toyota hybrid flat battery problems - mark999
Not too bad for an AGM Battery. There are cheaper flooded batteries that will fit, not sure if its reccomend though.