Tom,
Thanks for the case number. And for trolling the other forums. I have also done that, and in fact copied the list of problems that I found and sent them in an email to Toyota. I have been assigned a new case manager, and will see that she gets your case number.
I wish you luck in arbitration, and if it does no good bring on a class action suit!
Let us know.
Lisa

Tom,
Thanks for the case number. And for trolling the other forums. I have also done that, and in fact copied the list of problems that I found and sent them in an email to Toyota. I have been assigned a new case manager, and will see that she gets your case number.
I wish you luck in arbitration, and if it does no good bring on a class action suit!
Let us know.
Lisa

Lisa and other members of the Toyota HyHi "Dead Battery Society" ,

It may be helpful to see if we can identify when this problem became chronic for our respective Hybrid Highlanders (in terms of age of vehicle in months and miles). Our HyHi started having the problem prior to 12,000 miles, and prior to the 18 month mark, but it became more frequent after 18,000 and 24 month mark. We currently have about 23K on our 2006 HyHi. We're on our 4th 12volt battery.

Doug

Doug,
Agree with you. Mine started having trouble at the four month time period, at about 4,000 miles. I'm only on my 2nd battery, every time they recharge it, it comes up at 100%. I can't even count the times it has been jumped. Currently have 38,600 on the car (I drive about 300 miles per week back and forth to work).
Lisa

Our 2006 showed the issue within the eight months of ownership, within the first 5K miles.

We have just been contacted by Toyota, and they are offering to re-purchase the vehicle without continuing arbitration. Great news. A word to anyone else who may be experiencing any kind of warranty issues: take it in immediately. The sooner and the more frequently you register your issues, the better off you are. Also, keep your own records - don't rely on the stuff they put in to their computers. The guys who do that data entry are utterly unconcerned with the accuracy of that stuff, so in our case it represented our history quite poorly. I was concerned whether we would have enough documentation to 'win' an arbitration, but luckily for us Toyota is doing the right thing and not fighting it. If we ever buy another new car again I'm going to document the sh** out of every step, record every phone conversation, etc.

In our case I have to say that although we were daunted by some of the horror stories surrounding Toyota and arbitration/lemon law cases, in the end we're very pleased with how they handled it. They bit the bullet and made things right. I still have nothing but loathing for our local Santa Cruz Toyota service center; I will not deal with them again any time soon. However Toyota as a corporation acted quite responsibly in the end, and my faith in the company has basically been restored.

Good luck to all - I'll post if anything new crops up.

- Tom

Hi Tom,
Great news for you. Please let us know if anything else comes up.
Lisa

Tom, glad to hear your news. One question though, would you consider purchasing a 2008 or 09 hihy?

I guess I just joined the dead battery club :-( I took my HH06 with 27K miles in today and was told by the dealer that leaving the car sit for 5 days it was normal for it to lose it's charge. I am currently on the phone with the Toyota Experience people to register my problem. Has anyone determined a final fix for this issue?

I was told by the representative that I should drive around for 20 minutes at 35mph or higher before parking it for any extended time. And also to not run unnecessary electronics during this time. I did get a case number 200809041199.

scififan,
I have not heard of a fix, I won't say "welcome" to the club, because no one wants to be here.
I took mine in recently and had the regional tech look at it, they said all is good and there is no problem. Can't wait for the next time I leave it for 3 days and it doesn't start.

Lisa

Lisa and newest member (victim) Scififan,

Our 06 HH has gone over 3-4 months without the 12volt battery discharging, and requiring a boost/jump. It's got about 26K on it now. I'm glad to see it go this long without requiring a jump, but I have no idea why it hasn't discharged lately.

I wonder if the Camry Hybrid and Prius owners are experiencing this as well, or is it only HH owners have all this fun?

Doug

Doug,
Interesting question. I haven't heard of the Prius or Camry having this problem. But then Toyota says there is not a problem.
Mine is doing well, but I've been driving it almost every day. Will see if it makes it through the winter, that's when I have the most problems.
Lisa

Hi All,

I have a 2006 Highlander Hybrid. I have had the "failure to start" problem seven times now. It has happened when I haven't driven it for a couple of days, when I have left it for 4-5 hours and twice when I turned it off for 15 minutes. I have NOT left on any lights or other things that would drain the battery and the car always starts immediately with a jump. Sometimes it has started after just waiting for 15 or 20 minutes after the first start attempt. My dealer has not been able to "replicate" this -- of course -- so there is nothing they can do. I will call the 800 number also, but would love to know if any other developments are at hand.

lbs

Hello lbs,

I would say welcome to the club, but don't think any of us really want to be here. No new developments from my side, regional tech checked out the car and stated there was not a problem.
I am experiencing something frequently that might be related - when I go to start the car it often takes three or four times to start properly. Will initially get "must be in park to start". After getting that message I keep trying and it will finally start. Just a new twist to the dead battery club.

Lisa

Sorry guys, wanted to let you know I will no longer be a member of the club.
2 weeks ago the battery drained again. I drove the car for about 100 miles on Wednesday, returned home at about 5:30. Didn't drive it at all on Thursday, and it wouldn't start on Friday. Tried to charge it over the weekend - trickle charge, couldn't get it going. Monday morning tried to jump it no go, I triple checked all connections, etc. Had the car towed to the repair shop on Monday, They managed to charge the battery and get it started, and of course could not replicate the problem.

What was the resolution - I traded it in today for an 08 Highlander NON-Hybrid. I loved my Highlander, but I'd had enough. Hopefully I don't get another with ghostly problems.

Good luck,
Lisa

LisaW
Very sorry you had to give up.
The problem has just started with my 2006 Highlander Hybrid 4WD, 59K miles.
Has happened 4 times.
First time my wife ran down the battery while lights and radio were on and engine off. AAA did a jump start. Happened again a couple of months later.
Then it happened to me same circumstances and I jumped it from another car.

By the way, jump starting is same as with any other car, however I had to run the jumping car at about 2000 rpm to get enough voltage/current to start the Highlander.

Then, last week we were out of town and left car in front of friend's house. He had to move it 3X to avoid 72 hr parking limit. We got to the car 1 day after he'd last run it and was dead. He jumped it for us.

I've had zero, zilch nada problems with my '05 Prius 95K miles.

I'm picking up on an earlier post and one on another thread about intermittent problems when fully discharging lead acid batteries.
Will take it to Toyota dealer tomorrow and see what I can get.

Will keep you all posted.
Fred

I purchased a 2009 Highlander Hybrid about two months ago. Currently it has about 1,800 miles on it. Last Thursday (x-mas day), I went to go start the car and the battery was dead. I got very concerned and had to jump start the car with another car. I called Toyota yesterday and got a case # from them and, like other posters have said above, Toyota said this is the first they have heard of it and to take into a local dealer (which I am taking tomorrow). I am really concerned about this issue and came across this site. As I have read the above posts, this issue is really making me concerned. I don’t want to be stuck somewhere with a dead battery. I don’t understand this problem on relatively brand new vehicle.

Fred and RazzmaTazz,

First - Fred I responded yesterday, but for some reason don't see the post. Anyway, sorry that you are both new members to our little club.
Yes, after numerous trips to the dealer, calls to Toyota - I'm in the Denver region - where I was repeatedly told no one ever has this problem and it MUST be my fault, I did finally give up. Got taken in the shorts on the trade in, but it was still worth it. I've been a loyal Toyota user for over 15 years, so really feel this might just be a problem with the Hybrid, at least I hope so since I just bought the regular Highlander.
One funny thing was that I had to return to the dealer about 1 week after I bought the new one, my Hybrid was already detailed and out on the resell lot, for a lot more than they gave me for it! Anyway, it had only been out for a little over 2 days AND guess what? Yep, the 12 volt was deader than a door nail. Made me wander how I could have been responsible, as it was always my fault!.
Good luck guys,
LIsa

Update.
Since my last post, I've had ZERO problems. Did not take the car to Toyota since I suspect they'd only keep it overnight and then report nothing wrong.

I had also forgotten to mention that my wife had one curious incident: After work she went to start the car and got all the dead battery/won't start indications. She called AAA and then called me. I suggested she try to start again.
She did. and it DID start. Cancelled AAA

I did some testing on the car when she got home. This is with the vehicle apparently in good working order and all batteries charged.
All measurements were taken on the "auxiliary battery" in the engine compartment.

All systems off: 12.3 Volts. This is a standard good condition value for this type of battery when not under load
Ignition on: 14 volts. This is in the standard range for charging this type of battery.
"Starting" (the engine didn't start since it didn't need to): 14 volts.
After a few minutes the engine started: 14 volts. The voltage did NOT drop. Starting a standard engine will drop the starting battery to below 12V while starting.

One more observation: My Prius auxiliary battery (hidden beneath the trunk flooring) is no larger than a mid-size motorcycle battery. It's significantly smaller than the Highlander battery. Therefore it's obviously not intended for heavy current drain.

I've been keeping the voltmeter in the car and shown my wife how to make the measurements if there's another failure.

From all reports and observations I've got a THEORY of how this all works:

The battery in the engine compartment is an auxiliary battery.
It is responsible for electrical accessories when the "ignition" is off and the electrics are in the auxiliary mode. This supports lights, audio system, etc. In this mode the propulsion battery is not in use.
I believe it is also responsible for all engine controls at least during engine "startup".
Remember the engine doesn't always start running when the car is "started".

When you turn the key to "start" the engine the auxiliary battery powers up the "synergy" hybrid control system.
Then the synergy "propulsion" battery supplies power to the auxiliary battery through the hybrid control system. This is how the auxiliary battery voltage goes from 12.3V (all systems off) to 14V when "started".

The auxiliary battery is charged from the synergy control system motor-generator, not from a separate generator.

The synergy motor starts the engine when needed, not using the auxiliary battery.
The auxiliary battery is small since it doesn't have to crank the engine. Therefore it is easily discharged.
The auxiliary battery is not charged when the synergy controls are not energized.

Since everyone's main propulsion battery appears to be in working order I suspect the problem state is something like this:
Turn the key to "start"
Either: the auxiliary battery is discharged (from being run down with accessory use as has happened to us at least 2 times)
OR
there's a glitch in the electronics such that the synergy system can't start up and take over properly.

Case 1: discharged auxiliary battery. Jump start the car as you would any other. The instruction manual is complete on this point - jumper cables to the auxiliary battery in the engine compartment. This has worked for us.

Case 2: system glitch. Turn key completely off. Be sure everything is off. Doors closed, lights off, interior lights off. Wait a "while". 5 minutes??? Try again.

I wonder if how fast you turn the key from Off through Accessory to Start makes a difference?

I'll post here if I have another problem or run across anything more substantial.

Fred

PS on jump starting the Prius.
READ THE MANUAL
It's simpler than at first appears. You don't jump to the battery in the trunk. There are terminals in the engine compartment for this purpose.
Read your manual and find the terminals before you need to.
I'd be surprised if AAA or your local service station know where they are.

F

I feel quite lucky to be part of your Society. I learned a new wrinkle about this fun today. I bumped one of the tap lights by the rear view mirror and left it on for 2 hours, which was enough to discharge the battery. My car was in a spot where I couldn't get another car close enough to jump it, and I learned a new wrinkle. Apparently, you can't take the car out of park if the battery is dead. Super convenient! Is there a secret handshake that gets it out of park of which I'm unaware?

My troubles started when I did the same thing (bumped the tap light) on my way out of the car when leaving town for a week a few months ago. Since then, it's discharged pretty easily, most often when I've left that light on or something similar overnight, but more recently if a light's left on for an 2 hours and, twice, just because the stars were aligned and it decided to fully discharge.

Otherwise, I have loved, loved, loved this car. I'm happy to buy a new battery if that solves the problem, but the posts here make me nervous that won't resolve a thing.

Beckyshoe,

Welcome to the HiHy Dead Battery Society! Our HiHy went over 6 months since the last battery drawdown. There is a good post above from FredG. Sounds good in theory. I'm still baffled as to of why Toyota has tossed three new 12 volt batteries at our car. As others on this thread- we used the non-functional 1-800-Toyota number, established a case number, received a call back message, and never heard from Toyota again. We love the car as well.