I saw the question in another thread but forget which one...I was going to make a thread about this incident anyway and it hit me that THIS IS the reason the trunk release is cable released rather than a electronic release.

THE BATTERY IS IN THE TRUNK.

Well my wife has been out of town for 2 weeks and I haven't even been driving our TCH. After dropping her off in CT I parked her car in the garage and it has been there until yesterday when I was taking it in for it's first oil change and a detailing. Well after dropping my car at the dealer...riding my bike 40 min home and jumping in the TCH I pushed the go button AND...........nothing. OH CRAP! Hey dummy remember that dome light you assumed was going to go off....well it did...right after it drained the battery. This is also why the big battery isn't the ONLY battery. So if the release is electronic and you kill the battery...no release...and where is the battery in the TCH? That's right it's in the trunk.

Another thing I found out...you can't move the shifter from PARK when the battery is dead. I was going to roll the car out to the end of our driveway where the UPS guy was going to give me a jump but I couldn't move the car out of the garage. I would up flagging someone down but man was this a learning experience.

I told the service dept what I did and asked them to check it over and make sure I didn't hurt anything...I assume I didn't but we will find out tonight.

 

There is a manual release for the shifter hidden under a removable plastic tab on the upper left side of the shifter. Pop out the tab and below is a release button that allows you to shift out of park when the battery is dead!

Glad you were able to get it started after all that hassle. Another reminder is that there is a manual release for the gas door inside the trunk as well.

 

Well THAT would have been good info yesterday. LOL Thanks for that, I hope I never need it but good to know...I hope it helps someone else.

 

You can also open the trunk with the mechanical key that is hidden in the FOB.

 

and lucky for you the battery IS in the trunk, since the car was in the garage (I assumed parked with the back at the garage entrance?) and that meade it easier to Jump, right?

 

BINGO! If it wasn't I was no doubt calling the dealership.

 

I have heard that the Lexus GS 450h can "jump itself" and it has been implied to me that the TCH can also jump itself. (i.e., you can connect one set of batteries to the other) I was told that the dealers (service guys) can show you how to do this and that if you keep your own jumper cables, you never need a jump again.

I have no idea whether this is correct. Can anyone confirm?

 

I don't think so. The voltages are vastly different. I also didn't read anything about this capability. In fact, the manual says to stay away from the HV batteries.

 

I have to agree with Freeze. The voltages are much different. They'd have to have a transformer or an extra DC to DC inverter to bring it down to 12V. Also, think of all the components carefully colored yellow to indicate high voltage (hands off). For safety reasons I don't think they want us messing with it.

 

Isn't that box in the engine compartment where the battery usually goes a 12V converter from the traction battery? If so, and if you have extra long jumper cables I suppose you could do it. I would certainly not be trying it though...