Thank you for this video, I've seen this problem mentioned on other RU-vid videos. I currently drive a Honda Jazz EX Hybrid which I bought new in May 2021, the mileage is under 4000 and I've never had a battery problem with it. I've been considering a new Toyota Yaris GR Sport but the battery problem has put me off getting one.
I had the same problem with a less than one year old Mazda CX 30, I got very paranoid about not starting, so much so I bought a battery starter pack and was also constantly checking battery with a voltmeter and recharging it, in the end I’d had enough and I got a better and higher cranking battery, all good now.🎉
Thanks for this. There have been a few people saying that the battery drain is coming from a software update for the SOS module but this just looks like they went with low quality parts and didn't test properly. You'd expect better from Toyota
I've heard all sorts from people and many excuses from the dealers there will be some cars that have genuine drains on the battery but most don't get issues when they upgrade the battery, the older yaris with the AGM batteries where great some of those agm batteries lasted 10 years
Just seen some thing to night on RU-vid toyta Poland found problem with yaris hybrid 12volt battery send new test equipment to dealers in Europe replace 12 volt battery net uk get new equipment soon
This well known problem is an absolute disgrace from TOYOYA! I’ve had all this and been told by my dealer, it’s MY FAULT because I don’t drive many miles. They advise either keeping it on trickle charge or at least getting a solar OBD port maintenance charger. What a nerve! Clearly a design fault and their loyal customers are simply being fobbed off! This would be an instant law suit in America! What’s the answer here in the U.K., God not knows?
I have now found out that there is updated software available for the data communication module the campaign reference is XGG78 this new update is to fix random battery drains, amongst other issues to do with the SOS feature. So I would recommend any one with a new yaris to contact the dealer to see if their car needs the update. I believe they also test the battery and replace it if needed.
Hi, where did you find this information? It would be fantastic, half the world would be happy to solve these horrible problems on the Yaris and not worthy of a prestigious brand like Toyota
@befanello i was speaking to a Yaris cross owner, and he mentioned he had a letter from Toyota but wasn't really sure what it meant, so he showed me the letter with that information on it and I explained what was happening with the new yaris and how many where suffering from flat battery issues.
@befanello you could, but you would need to change the plate and clamp that the battery sits on. With the current way the battery is secured, you can only fit a 202 size battery
@@azerotha4531 Thank you for your timely and quick responses, and thank you for your very precise and professional advice. I find Toyota's passive behavior with this issue caused by their poor quality batteries shameful
Pleased that I stumbled on this video and have a question that I would appreciate your advice on. I have just ordered a Yaris Cross Icon as my daily. I have a GR Yaris as my fun car so that gets lots of long drives out and is on a CTEK charger all of the time in the garage so no problems there after 2.5 years. I daren't leave that most places hence the base YC as daily. For the Yaris Cross I probably come into the bracket of shouldn't have bought one as only 3-5k miles a year. Got told this after ordering it.I have bought a connection cable and extension for CTEK to fit to the small 12v battery so it can be connected in the boot and put on the CTEK maybe once a fortnight to keep it charged and cleaned. Also bought a NOCO GB40 for glovebox. In your video I couldn't quite catch the battery you suggested. People on the YC forum suggest seeing if we can replace the 35 AH battery with a 45AH battery or bigger if possible. I just don't understand electrics. I am willing to buy a new battery if Toyota allow. I heard that Toyota don't allow this as the car is designed for that battery it comes with. All they say is you need to use them much more. What is wrong with the provided battery to cause it such a problem when my current AygoX has been fine for two years doing exactly whet my new YC will be doing. Am I worrying over nothing? If this Yaris Cross was your car doing 300 miles a month -ish would you put a better battery in and if so, which one. There is also confusion if they are AGM or normal when people talk about getting a CTEK. I think they are normal but not sure. Thanks Craig.
Hi Craig you lucky man on having a GR great little cars, the main issue ive found is down to the quality of the battery not its AH, they just seem to struggle with sitting around and low milage if the car is used regularly and you pop the charger on every 2 weeks it should not have any issues. On the topic of upgrade I found the best battery to be a yuasa YBX5202 Google that number and you will find the battery, on the older yaris they used an AGM battery which was pretty good and very rarely did they fail before 5 years the new generation use a cheap standard lead acid battery the YBX5202 is exactly the same size in dimensions it's just a better quality of battery. Dealers can be funny. Some have said to owners if you purchased the car second hand. Even if it's only 13 months old, then the 12v battery warranty ended at 12 months which is odd lol, If you fit a better quality battery and its the same dimensions, then they shouldn't complain about it but each dealer is different. If you prefer to have a better battery and are handy with tools, you can always re fit the standard battery, every time you take it to the dealer. That way, they can't tell. But they shouldn't care if its got a better battery, but again every dealer is different. Hope that helps Cheers
You can just be careful where you put the negative don't attach it to any of the metal parts on the hybrid components. Go direct to the engine it's self. Getting to the battery direct is easy, the rear seat on drivers side the plastic trim around the seat base you will find 2 clips press the center part in on both clips, then pull the trim forwards you will then see the battery there is a part on the positive terminal to attach the positive clamp then attach the negative to the wire that goes from the battery to the body, attach the negative to the bit that bolts to the body this will prevent any damage being causes to the sensor on the battery negative. Hope that helps
Toyota wants hanging. I have this problem and they just keep fobbing me off. I had many bangers in my life but they have always started. Having just retired I thought I would treat myself with my lump sum, what a waste of £28000. I am livid and can't trust myself to go to the dealership anyway more as I would end up in jail.
@moggymorris2873 it is a right pain, and it all comes down to your dealer. Some are great. Some just fob you off I've even heard that some dealers are saying the battery is too small and needs a more powerful battery, which is pretty much what I have said, other dealers just say go away. if your software is all upto date and still get this issue the options are try a different dealer or take the plunge and change it I'm sure there will be battery shops near you that can upgrade the battery, one of the best is the yuasa YBX5202 most people that upgrade it them self's report that they don't get the same issues, cars can still get flat battery if it's not used or you leave stuff on, but a better quality battery will definitely help.
I have a similar problem with a Toyota Yaris Hybrid year 2020, low usage and car won't start. Back up running now with jump start by AA. Has been suggested trickle charging battery regularly to avoid problem. In a previous comment you implied (Toyota use to use an AGM battery which was pretty good and very rarely did they fail before 5 years, the new generation now uses a cheap standard Lead acid battery). I am not sure if my 12 volt battery is lead or AGM. I have a NOCO GENIUS5 charger and not sure whether to set it up for charging AGM or standard Lead acid. I am aware of the charging point in the fuse box and procedure. I dont want to look at the battery under the back seat to give me the information I want, if indeed it is stated on the battery. Any help much appreciated
Your yaris could be the agm try putting your reg into the yuasa website it will tell you what battery you have www.yuasa.co.uk/ Battery chargers can work wonders so worth a try in recovering hope that helps
Many thanks for your quick reply !!! I found the site you recommended and entered the registration number of my car. It displayed some very interesting details including type of battery which was an AGM.
Same here, same Yaris age (made on 7/11/22, but registered in Jan 2023), and the fault occurred after a few weeks low use last month this year. The Toyota owners/connectivity faq page states: “For Hybrid vehicles, we recommend you switch the car to Ready once a week for at least 20 minutes. While doing so, make sure you always leave the car in "P" Parking mode and do not use "N" Neutral mode as it will not charge the Hybrid battery.” Looks a bit close to the bone to me. After the problem, I did run it for a few hours on a couple of journeys, then used an old Black&Decker 3 stage charger (bought in 2008 on account of a problem with another car). We’ll see if the battery is any good now, or if it’s real capacity has deteriorated.
I've tested the obd ones in the past and found them to be pointless. They only started to top the battery up when I had 6 of them connected to the battery and only in direct sunlight, The best option if you want to keep it charged is to use a maintenance charger that plugs into the house/garage etc, if that's not an option then its best to 1, have a good battery and 2, run the car for 45min or so once a week. You might be able to get a very good solar charger that campers use, but it will need connecting to the battery and probably cost a fortune.
Very good post, thanks. I went to Halfords to buy and fit a battery for my Toyota CHR. But they refused. They are not allowed to replace 12v battery for hybrid cars. Can I buy and replace myself safely? Would it cause other electric issues?
Not allowed to fit batterys to hybrids?? that's just funny. Well, they will struggle when all cars are either hybrid or EV🤣. The CHR is very, very easy to change 12mm bolt for the clamp and 2x10mm for the terminals just make sure its switched off keep the key away from the car and give it 5 min after switching it off before changing the battery. I've done around a hundred CHR batteries, and not once have I had a problem. If you have ever changed a battery before on a normal car, I'm sure you will be fine👍
Hi Azerotha 4531, I am in the process of purchasing a 2 year old yaris cross and was wondering if by changing the battery to the larger capacity would this be sufficient to stop the 12v battery issue? And have you any feedback on the software update as I've seen that not all toyota franchises are installing it.
Hi Adrian I've not got any Information on how successful the software update has been, but I do know that the original battery isn't the best quality, most people that have fitted a better battery, have not had any or as many battery problems, obviously no battery is imune to going flat but with the better battery it seems to be a big improvement
Depends on which year Yaris you have? if its got the older agm style battery usually pre 2021 they tend to be very good batteries they do fail as all batteries do, but not as much as the newer 2021 onwards cars. As for battery make, I prefer Yuasa they tend to last better than others. For the newer Yaris that use the standard lead acid battery, the Yuasa YBX5202 is probably the best one to get
It's easier said than done. The dealer will have to do specific tests to do that is controlled by toyota uk and not the dealer. I don't know what the pass or fail limits are but they will most likely do a full charge then test, look at the milage and read the ecu to determine how much power is lost when the car is not being used and how much is put back in when the car is being used. They will then say yes or no for a battery warranty claim. Each dealer is different, and some might change the battery just to look after you others might only go from what Toyota uk say, I've seen too many people keep getting sent away either saying it's OK when it's not or just saying it's not under warranty as the car isn't driven enough, there are loads of variables when it comes to batteries and you will need to check terms and conditions on the warranty. As all this is usually too much hassle for some they just buy a battery else where and live with having to buy a battery. If you have not yet been to the dealer, take your reports to them and see what they can do for you
So what IS the actual solution then? Having recently spoken to an AA rescue guy, this is apparently a very common problem on these cars - and Toyota are just sweeping it under the carpet.
I have a 4-month-old Yaris Cross. For the last few days, the EV mode does not turn on for the first 15 minutes of driving, and the weather is warm and the heating is turned off. Could the cause of the problem be a low voltage in the 12 V battery. What do you think
No I don't think so as once started the hv battery runs the 12v side of things, if you have the climate control set to cold with the air conditioning on this could cause the ev mode to be disabled untill the interior temperature is at the set value. If the ev mode is disabled with the AC off, it's most likely the hv battery is a bit low and needs the engine to top it up. If the hv battery is full, then it will need checking out. Without seeing the car, it's difficult to say exactly what causes it.
I bumped into her last week in her local supermarket and has not had any issues since the battery was upgraded. If your buying one or thinking of it, I'd expect you to get a few flat batteries. But you might not it seems to be a lottery some people get a flat battery if left parked up for more than 3 or 4 days others tend to be ok up too 8 or 9 days it really is hit and miss
if you only drive few miles a week DEFINITELY don't buy a hybrid car. You will have battery issues and you won't save any meaningful amount of gas anyway and on top of that regular ICE cars are cheaper.
That result was after being on a re conditioning charger. The same way the dealers will do it and was to demonstrate what results you get when you visit the dealer. If you have any other ideas, please share cheers
@@azerotha4531 for such a small battery it wouldnt be cost effective to recondition properly; but unless you are missing a large chunk of voltage (indicating a cell cell short) then it could be restored to near full health. You'd have to run a sulphide cleaner through it - as you mention dealers are not equipped to do this, nor do they even bother to run basic diagnostics properly - which is amazing because midtronics stations etc have meant to be standard equipment for them for ages now and these do account for exactly what you have showed here. Dealers in the EU/UK are also told not to attempt reconditioning on AGM style batteries, despite them being perfectly serviceable by professionals. A proper reconditioning charger is risky and thus would never be done on vehicle simply cyclic reconditioning is not useful in majority of cases.
This is very useful post, many thanks. I have a Toyota CHR, 12v battery went flat on Sunday. Called AA who says battery need to replace, jump started but said it may not start again and recommended to go to dealer. It’s a surprise because I drive minimum 250miles on motorways each week. I still have warranty, just been to dealer. The guy came out and first thing he says, you need to pay to new battery. I replied, what about warranty. He then started giving excuses- we need to check mileage, check the battery and leave it on charge overnight. He then checked and comes out a good battery report. I then left and booked another appointment in July for overnight charge. After watching this post and messages, seems like I should not waste any further time. It becomes so clear for me. I also went to Halfords to buy and fit a new battery, but they refused saying they are not allowed to replace Hybrid car 12V battery. I’m so confused, is it okay for me to buy and replace the battery myself safely?Lastly, why does everyone talks so much about Toyota reliability!!
