Toyota Hybrid batteries

[a10ams]

There was a previous thread on this but it is closed for replies. 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/978134-battery-for-camry-hybrids/#comments

 

Two days ago my 2013 Camry Hybrid (141,000 kms) flashed up 'Check Hybrid System' on the instrument panel. A few other warning lights came on as well, engine management, ABS, slippery surface, the yellow triangle exclamation mark, plus another couple. The car still drove fine.

 

Anyway today we took the car to the local dealer today and they plugged it in to their diagnostic machine. The result was the Hybrid battery was faulty and would have to be replaced.  

 

Fortunately our car is under 10 years old and Toyota guarantee it for ten years. The only thing I have to pay is the labour charge for the job (2000 baht) and that is because it is over five years old. Less than five, no labour charge. It will be done later this week.

 

The strange thing is, and this may not be generally known, the warranty on the new battery will run out when my car is ten years old in Feb 2023. So in effect I will only have another 3 1/2 years warranty. We stood and argued this back and forward for half an hour.

 

I put the hypothetical question to them that two cars come in for the battery replacement under warranty. One car is one year old and the other car is nine years old. Both get an identical brand new battery fitted but one car only has one year warranty and the other has nine. They agreed that was the case.

 

Who knows what warranty they would offer if your car was over ten years old.

 

The bloke reckoned a new battery was around 70k baht, but that was a guess right off the top of his head.

 

I asked another hypothetical question, saying if I needed a new engine then how much warranty did it come with. They told me two years. So I said my car was now six years old, so using the same battery rules there would be no warranty with this engine as it had already run out four years ago. That was not the case I was assured.

 

I also consoled myself with the theory that Hybrid gives 25% better fuel consumption. Based on our 141,000 kms, I 'may have' saved 35,000kms on fuel which figures out around 100k baht over the period. More than the replacement cost if the 70,000 baht quote is correct.

 

Anyway, rant over, just a heads up for anyone needing a new battery.

 

 

[JoeW]

As far as I know, a hybrid battery costs 100,000 THB + VAT

[jackdd]

4 hours ago, a10ams said:

The strange thing is, and this may not be generally known, the warranty on the new battery will run out when my car is ten years old in Feb 2023. So in effect I will only have another 3 1/2 years warranty. We stood and argued this back and forward for half an hour.

This is just standard practice. I've never seen something different from this, in Thailand, as well as in Germany.

If you buy something in your home country and a part gets exchanged, this part has it's own new warranty? From which country are you?

[Jitar]

Normally there is the warranty on the new vehicle with all the conditions etc.  Once the car is out of the new vehicle warranty, some OEM replacement parts are covered by a different warranty specific to parts with another long list of conditions.  The dealer may not want to talk about this one. 

[DavisH]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:05 PM, JoeW said:

As far as I know, a hybrid battery costs 100,000 THB + VAT

Dealers often become very evasive when asked about the cost of replacement hybrid batteries. A friend of ours bought a teana seveal years ago when the toyota dealer wouldn't tell them the cost of the batteries if they needed replacing out of the warranty period. 

[JoeW]

Also because they often don't know as the warranty is 10 years for batteries they normally don't even anticipate anyone asking to replace the battery after 10 years.

[a10ams]

New battery installed and working better than ever. Three things I noticed.

 

1. When this car was brand new in 2013 the display showed we were getting 14km/litre in Eco Mode. This lasted until a few months ago when it dropped to 12km/litre.

 

2. When the battery finally gave up and we were running on petrol only it dropped to just over 10km/litre.

 

3. The new battery is showing 16km/litre. Perhaps in the six year interval the battery efficiency has improved?

 

With hindsight, I guess the first reliable sign that the battery is on it's way out, before the warning flashes up,  is an increase in fuel consumption. Something to keep in mind if you are nearing the 10 year old period.

[a10ams]

On 8/28/2019 at 11:47 AM, JoeW said:

Also because they often don't know as the warranty is 10 years for batteries they normally don't even anticipate anyone asking to replace the battery after 10 years.

 

A schoolfriend mentioned to me that she recently paid $5000 for a replacement battery pack for her 12 year Camry in the US.

 

In Thailand, I'd say it's well worth the 100k baht if the car is in good nick.

[a10ams]

On 8/27/2019 at 10:08 PM, DavisH said:

Dealers often become very evasive when asked about the cost of replacement hybrid batteries. A friend of ours bought a teana seveal years ago when the toyota dealer wouldn't tell them the cost of the batteries if they needed replacing out of the warranty period. 

I had a similar conversation with the dealer during the week. He told me that nobody had ever came back for a third battery. I said to him that when I originally bought the car new, they assured me nobody had ever came in for original battery replacement.

 

I also suggested to him that the reason nobody came back for a third was because they'd all gone and bought a Nissan.

[mistral53]

2 hours ago, a10ams said:

I had a similar conversation with the dealer during the week. He told me that nobody had ever came back for a third battery. I said to him that when I originally bought the car new, they assured me nobody had ever came in for original battery replacement.

 

I also suggested to him that the reason nobody came back for a third was because they'd all gone and bought a Nissan.

They probably did this:

 

[a10ams]

21 hours ago, mistral53 said:

They probably did this:

 

Interesting stuff.