I have an 08 TCH with 21000 miles on it. This happened some three weeks ago. I had to slam on the brakes very hard to avoid hitting a parked car just off the road, on my way home from work. Three days later, I got the ''Check Hybrid System'' error message. That was alarming! Owners manual had instructed that the vehicle be taken to a Toyota dealer as soon as that message comes up. I switched off the car and switched it on again. The message came up again, but I could drive the car home with no sign of any problem at all. I later took the car to a camry technician for a thorough look at what the problem could be. I remember that the ''check hybrid system'' error message had stopped showing on the ''multi information display'' but I now have the ''check engine'' sign showing up. The technician did a DTC check. Results indicated ''poor power output'' He didn't go any further to trace what the problem could be - everything seems to be working perfectly ok. So, he cleared the error message and I drove the car home.

But just last week, I noticed that the battery charge level for the traction battery did not get up to the 7th bar (my TCH came with the factory NAV system) Worst still, when I drove up the freeway at high speeds (100mph), I noticed that the battery did not charge all! Battery only charge at slow speeds and will not get to the 7th (green) bar! It takes a longer time for the battery to charge up to the 6th bar than normal.

Aside from this, there isn't any other problem with the car. But this is giving me some concerns, since I don't know if this could result to other problems if left unattended. Can anyone help with this?

 

I suggest if you are going to be driving at 100 miles per hour you would be better off keeping your eyes on the road instead of worrying about whether you have six or seven bars on the battery gauge.

Just sayin....

 

You had to do an emergency braking to avoid hitting a parked car? You routinely drive 100 mph? You study the energy screens while driving at that speed? Are you nuts?

For the safety of everyone else, please don't drive so fast. And please, be looking out the window whenever the car is moving. A quick look at the dash is fine, but only when the view out the front window is clear of obstacles.

Parked cars and trees have a way of jumping in front of moving cars whenever the driver is not paying attention. That's bad enough if the driver is the only one who gets hurt. But, other people also sometimes get hurt, and other peoples property sometimes gets damaged. And, no matter who gets hurt or what gets damaged, it will ruin your whole day.

 

ono, I guess you didn't realize you had so many mothers on this forum ;-)

I have to wonder why you even bought a hybrid vehicle if you're going to be driving 100mph, where you negate any savings in fuel economy you might gain at lower speeds. And to echo your mothers' comments, what good is "saving the environment" if you end up killing someone (yourself or others) in the process?

 

Apologies to all. I was driving on a freeway. Speed was 100km/h - not mph and there was little or no traffic on that day. And I actually set out to see if by driving the vehicle that fast, I could get the battery charged to the 7th bar. I had thought that driving that long stretch of road could help get the battery to the desired level of charge. I said my TCH has a navigation system. I had noticed that the SoC did not get to the 7th bar for a while. And no, I wasn't looking at the SoC bars all the time I was driving at the high speed.

Temperature in my area (all year round) is btw 27C - 40C.

Thanks for your response. And I hope someone here can help me, I'm new to the forum.

 

Phew! That's only about 62mph! I don't have any technical expertise in this area, so I'll keep my mouth shut and let the experts on the forum have a go.

 

Ono,

Thanks. 100 KPH makes sense. There's only an L between K and M, but it makes a big difference in speed. ;-)

Now, for your real question...

The battery rarely charges up to the 7th bar. The computer controls the charge level and the charging rate, based on the temperature and such of the battery. It normally keeps the battery kind of in the middle, rarely all the way full and rarely all the way down. I think it likes to keep some empty battery space to put energy from the brakes. And, I know it is programmed to avoid overcharging or fully discharging the battery, to make the battery last longer.

I don't look at that 'energy' display very often, any more. About the only time I switch to that 'energy' display is when I have a passenger who has never ridden in a hybrid before.

 

I think that I read some place, maybe on this forum, that the computer keeps the traction battery between 20 & 80 percent of charge.

 

When on the freeway our energy display on the Nav unit is green in color, so I thought it was close to fully charged.

 

Fully charged is 80% of full capacity and discharged is 40% (not empty). That way we do not have to replace a dead traction battery. NiMh batteries have a limited number of full discharge/charge cycles in them.

JeffD