2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid - no lights, no sounds, and won't even lock or unlock

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Asked by Amelia May 05, 2018 at 02:25 PM about the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

For about 6-8 months now, I knew my hybrid battery was out. I had it
diagnosed at Toyota and 1 or 2 cells were dead, so the battery needed
replacing. I had a guy "recondition" the battery. This fixed it for about two
weeks, but then failed and the guy was super sketchy and did not respond to
my messages (lesson learned). However, when someone backed into me and I
had to get my car repaired (I know, I have great luck) the repair place reset the
codes on my car, and the car operated perfectly for another 5 months or so.
However, about a month or two ago the hybrid battery light and the engine
lights came back on. Sometimes the VSC light as well. About 2 weeks ago, I
went to drive my car and found that it would only unlock one door and make
the beeping noises, but no lights would show externally or on the dash. I've
since gone to try it again, and it won't unlock at all, and no lights or sounds are
apparent. And when I do use the manual key to open the car, I try to press the
lock button on the door and it doesn't respond. It is COMPLETELY dead.
Does anyone have experience with this? Does this just mean the hybrid battery
is completely gone and now it's completely inoperable, or is this another
issue? I had campus police come try to jump it off (the 12V), but their battery
charger would not even sense a connection with the battery, so they
recommended trying jumper cables connected to another vehicle, which I
haven't had the chance to do yet. Any advice or experience would be greatly
helpful.
Sincerely,
A very busy and non-car savvy college student.

3 Answers

Amelia, Do you have access to an OBD II scanner? Or can you ask a local shop to scan it for you. The issue with replacing one or two cells is the new battery cells have to work harder then the rest of the system to make up for the difference, which in turn shortens their life span. Also the other older battery cells in the pack will all still fail over time, and will need to be replaced periodically. You might only be missing one or two cells again. The HV battery pack works similar to old Christmas lights: when one light burns out the whole string of lights stop working. The batteries are wired in series and once the line is broken (a bad battery cell) the system doesn’t function properly, because the computers are set to see a certain number of batteries with a specific range of voltages.

21,330

Amelia.....did you ever resolve the issue with this vehicle? We Hybid folks are at the edge of our seats.

30

I did! It was the 12V in the trunk. I replaced it with an Autocraft AGM battery. Cost about $120 and my dad installed it for me. I still have the VSC light and Hybrid light on, but it’s an ‘07 so I’m just going to keep driving it until I have saved enough money to buy a new car. Not worth even having it evaluated by Toyota again. Thanks for your help and concern!

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