The OP is already a member of Toyota Owners Club and has contributed to the mentioned topic.

This problem is not going away, it's effecting cars all across Europe

priuschat.com/threads/toyota-auris-excel-hybrid-uk...6

It seems the battery fitted is too small for the job.

The issue is currently being looked at by Toyota. See:

"I've contacted the MD of Toyota UK, and have been contacted by one of Toyota Customer Relations people, they want to keep my car for a while to try and sort this problem out, so I'll keep you posted on any progress.

The guy who contacted me seemed to be very well informed about this problem so I asked him a few questions, from memory, this is what I found out from him.

This issue he assures me is only effecting a small number of cars.

They have looked at the battery and feel confident that they have sized it correctly, the reason he gave for the Auris battery being small is that the electronics are newer and designed to take less current.

They have logged the cars voltages etc. over a prolonged time to make sure that the problem was not happening after a prolonged run.

The suggestion that it is caused by owners keeping keys too near the car is a fallacy, the systems are designed to cope with such situations.

If all the above is true, which of course I don't know, then it would suggest the problem is rogue cars rather then a fundamental problem with all of them.

As I say Toyota have my car now, and I don't know how long they will keep it for, but they are due to speak to me again on Wednesday to give me an update, so I'll keep you posted."

For what it's worth my thinking now on this problem is, it's a combination of things that come together for certain owners depending on their driving habits, I could swap my car, which has had this problem twice, with an owner that has not experienced the problem, and I would still eventually have a flat battery.

If you think about it, for Toyota, testing my faulty car against specification would be very simple, and it probably tests okay.

What they can't do is test a car for every driving eventuality:

One driver may drive many miles a week, but those miles may consists of just a long journey with lights on and in ECO mode.

Another may still drive many miles, but those miles are lots of small journeys in daylight and in NORMAL driving mode.

The car has to be able to cope with all driving habits.

My suggestion to stop this problem is:

Fit a 45Ah or larger battery.

Increase the battery charge rate.

Look at the software to see if driving in ECO mode effects the battery charging.

Fit lower power consuming equipment to the car, LED bulbs come to mind, to help mitigate power drain.

Investigate what happens when the key is near the car, to see if it has to happen at all, i.e. outside mirrors opening, and if it doe's have to happen, for how long.

I'm sure that Toyota have thought of these things, and many more, but it would involve a lot of expense, and an accountant would say for the numbers effected it is not worth doing.

I live in hope of a solution, but my confidence of it happening soon is not high.

Edited by RunningInPleasePass on 22/01/2014 at 12:34

Copied from Toyota Owners Club:-

"A bulletin was issued today to dealers acknowledging the issue with 12v battery drain on NG Auris, the fault is related to a CAN communication error with the hazard warning switch as previously mentioned on this thread.

A fix of a software update for the CAN communication system is anticipated in early March ( not mentioned if this is an updated part or just a reprogramming of an existing part ).

In the meantime drivers experiencing issues can avoid them by fully pressing the hazard switch activating the hazards, then fully pressing the switch to deactivate the hazards, then exit the car as normal, this will have to be repeated at each exit until the repair is completed."

Oh is this another dent in toyota's halo?

Careful, don't disturb the toyota love-in found on other threads! :-)

Suggest you read the third message above yours - seems your car hasn't had the software upgrade

Toyota issued a repair bulletin to dealers on 20th May 2014. Those owners who have experienced the battery problem should contact their Toyota dealer and quote BE-0069T-0514, and the dealer will arrange for the car's software to be re-flashed.

Toyota has also notified dealers that any current generation Auris Hybrid built before the factory fix, would have the software re-flashed during routine servicing regardless of whether any issue has been reported.

The first generation Auris Hybrid is unaffected by this battery issue.

So I would suggest you take action os in the first paragrpah of this post.

"I have contacted Toyota direct (28.5.14) but have so far got nowhere."

28th May is tomorrow! Is this 'Back to the Future'?

Edited by Auristocrat on 27/05/2014 at 14:20