[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

[b]Battery drain brings my Hycross to its knees: 10 year old German saves the day the Innova fired right up

While my driver claims that he wasn’t sitting in the car, I suspect that he might have been sitting inside with the aircon and the music system running. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that in conventional cars, when you start the car, the alternator also spins, causing the battery to get charged. However, in a hybrid, the car starts in EV mode, which doesn’t charge the battery. Therefore, if someone sits around with the car idling, it will eventually drain the battery.

This is my hypothesis, but I’m not ruling out battery drain issues. Will be keeping a close eye. For the record, my car doesn’t have any aftermarket fittings, not even a dash cam. No mobile phones were plugged in at that point of time.

Would request BHPians to pitch in with their views on what could the issue be.

The hycross will turn the engine on and recharge the battery automatically if car is in READY mode. I have waited for long periods of time in P and it turns the engine on and off automatically to recharge. Your driver probably left the car in neutral or was blasting music and fans in just accessory on mode.

[santosh.s]

From what I know (or think) based on my 1+ year of use of this car, the hybrid system is smart enough to keep the small battery (12v) charged as long as it is in switched ON state. However, if he has used the music system etc. in accessory mode in which hybrind system is off, it can drain the small battery. AC blower motors should be powered by small battery but I don't think it can power compressors. Compressors must be running out of hybrid system (main battery and/or engine). Music, AC blowers, lights if used for a long time can easily drain the small battery. It even shows a warning on the display that battery is getting drained and suggests turning on the car.

PS: by the time I submitted my message, I realized that a couple of people have already replied to the same effect.

[bangarchand]

The already booked Hycross reached my home on 1st. Sept. I had graduated or to be more precise shifted from Innova crysta to this. Only yesterday I took the car out for a reasonably long journey of 500 KMs. But the road I travelled to test the car and for us to get acclimated to this mule was ideal because I had climbed up and then down through the western ghat road to Horanadu, Bhadravathi and Shimoga.

The car behaved excellently on the winding roads all through. The Crysta used to dislike that roads if you pressed the pedal harder. It would screech on curves making us feel slightly uncomfortable. Nothing like that with hycross. Its response to curves is fluidic that you don't get any jerky feel nor will you be pushed to the side while taking turns. Actually it is as good as any lowly laid sedan on the highways. The fact that it has a monocoque body unlike the body on frame structure of Crysta.

The car starts in EV mode and hence you, for once, will be unsure if it has really come alive. The car starts moving as soon as you shift to DRIVE or REVERSE modeand release the brake. So you need to be quite careful. If it is manual, you will get a sense of when it will start moving since it happens only after you release the clutch.

The car, once on the move, starts shifting from EV mode and ENGINE mode without making it known to you. It happens probably depending upon the RPM which is too technical for me. However, one does not have to keep thinking about these changes. But every time you release the gas pedal it shifts to EV mode.

Now something about the TORQUE. People generally believe that diesel ICE engines are pretty strong on torque. But that seems to be a hype right now. Hycross is off the bloc pretty competently even when it starts on a gradient. Since the sound in both EV as well as petrol is very less, one might feel that it is not pretty strong. Actually Crysta is not as agile as this even though the sound that comes from the diesel engine makes you feel that it is strong. Even OVERTAKINGS are done with ease and aplomb. Even at high speeds (I don't get to cross 110on this road) there is no body roll at all. By the by crossing 100 kmph is similar as Crysta.




Now about the MILEAGE. After i took delivery, the car mileage was hovering around 13 in my TOWN driving. The MID display gives you the average mileage since the tank was filled last. For this trip I filled it and did exactly 500 KMs including ghat roads. The average, shown on MID peaked at 18.5 for a while and finally settled at 17.9 KMPL. That I felt was pretty commendable for the size of the car and the gradient of the road. I am not sure if the reading is accurate but the service technician at the first service today said that if I refill the tank, the numbers could be 1 or 2 higher. But I am not sure and can only vouch after I refill.




The interior of the car is much superior to that of the Crysta. The features are not comparable to MG or Hyundai but are still pretty good enough. The driving posture is fine. But since it is automatic you feel that your left leg is numb and actually you feel it is slightly rigid when you get down. That could be true of all automatics.

The NOISE level is very minimum inside the cabin and even when you roll down the glass, not muc is heard as it is petrol.

The suspension is generally soft. But when negotiating the road humps or similar, you feel that the front shocks are not very comfortable over them. So you would feel a ‘dug..dug..’ sound then.

The road presence of the car is pretty pronounced basically because it is new with not many around on the road as yet and obviously because it is very huge. The auto headlamp comes alive much more frequently than what you want, I felt.

The driving comfort is very satisfying and it just prods and provokes you to embark on a tour to Himalayas once again.

[Paritoshkalra]

Hi All, Has Toyota included any side-step for Hycross as an Official Accessory?

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by gladiatort1000

Somehow within 1 month of purchasing the HyCross on 1st Feb 2023, we started noticing rat droppings inside the car.

Sad to say I found evidence of a rat in my Hycross too yesterday. The cabin air filter (ac filter) was partly chewed up and stinking of rat piss. Replaced it from a local garage today.

Thankfully no wires have been chewed up yet. Looking at your post is giving me anxiety. I have loaded up on glue traps from a supermarket and am currently awaiting a delivery from Amazon of naphthalene balls and rat baits.

Pics and more details :
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post5847981 (Rat damage to cars | Protection, solutions & advice)

[ps_abhijith]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

Battery drain brings my Hycross to its knees: 10 year old German saves the day:

Would request BHPians to pitch in with their views on what could the issue be.

This seems a bit strange for me. I use a lexus CT with similar Hybrid setup. I have used the AC while being parked in my car, which runs on the hybrid battery. There are two scenarios here.

1. The car is in acc power mode (AC/Car Audio): The AC would run for a while, and once the hybrid battery goes below a certain capacity, a warning will be shown on the MID (hybrid battery low, turning off to save power) and the car would turn off on its own.
2. The car is ON : Once the hybrid battery goes below a certain capacity, the engine would turn ON, the car would switch to engine power. This would happen even if you had the car in EV mode.

There is no normal situation where the car would let the Hybrid battery to go below a certain capacity. Only other possible scenario I could think of is a power leak somewhere like an interior light left on, or a leak in the harness.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

[b]

Would request BHPians to pitch in with their views on what could the issue be.

My best guess is not to read too much into hybrid system etc. Any modern car non hybrid can also have the same issue. There is a thread on this topic:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ue-nissan.html (Unique battery drain issue in Nissan)

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by ps_abhijith

This seems a bit strange for me. I use a lexus CT with similar Hybrid setup. I have used the AC while being parked in my car, which runs on the hybrid battery. There are two scenarios here.

1. The car is in acc power mode (AC/Car Audio): The AC would run for a while, and once the hybrid battery goes below a certain capacity, a warning will be shown on the MID (hybrid battery low, turning off to save power) and the car would turn off on its own.
2. The car is ON : Once the hybrid battery goes below a certain capacity, the engine would turn ON, the car would switch to engine power. This would happen even if you had the car in EV mode.

There is no normal situation where the car would let the Hybrid battery to go below a certain capacity. Only other possible scenario I could think of is a power leak somewhere like an interior light left on, or a leak in the harness.

It’s not the hybrid battery that drained in his case, it’s the 12v normal battery. The fans, lights, ECU, infotainment etc are powered by the smaller battery while the AC compressor uses the hybrid battery. I’m guessing the driver ignored all warnings and just turned it back on and continued blasting music/fans.

The main hybrid battery can only be jump started/recharged by Toyota.

The 12V battery in these cars are very small since they are not used to crank the engine.

[ashwinikalantri]

I got a dashcam (70mai a510) for the Hycross. I am getting it hardwired.

1. I asked Toyota for the same, but they refused to work on any third party accessories. They asked me not to fiddle with the electrical system as the hybrid system is very 'complicated'. They did mention that warranty should remain intact as long as no wires are cut. Can someone with the understanding of the electrical system explain the risks, if any?

2. Which fuse should I use for connecting the hardwire kit?

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by ashwinikalantri

I am getting it hardwired.
Which fuse should I use for connecting the hardwire kit?

Do you want the power supply to stay on or switch off after a certain time? Check the USB 1 or 2 supply cutoff time; they’re safe to use in my opinion.

[ashwinikalantri]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Do you want the power supply to stay on or switch off after a certain time? Check the USB 1 or 2 supply cutoff time; they’re safe to use in my opinion.

How do I check cutoff time? I couldn't find any mention in the manual or online. I want connections to both ACC and VCC for parking monitoring.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by ashwinikalantri

How do I check cutoff time? I couldn't find any mention in the manual or online. I want connections to both ACC and VCC for parking monitoring.

Plug anything into the USB ports and see if they stay powered. Consider that if you keep the camera On for long, the battery will drain, and you’ll likely need to run your car daily.

[dearchichi]

Originally Posted by ashwinikalantri

I asked Toyota for the same, but they refused to work on any third party accessories.

Try a different dealer. I got my 2-channel Viofo A229 Plus hardwired by mine without fuss (and probably without charge; I need to look at the receipts). It works as expected (I haven't enabled the parking mode of the dashcam).

[santosh.s]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Sad to say I found evidence of a rat in my Hycross too yesterday. The cabin air filter (ac filter) was partly chewed up and stinking of rat piss. Replaced it from a local garage today.

Thankfully no wires have been chewed up yet. Looking at your post is giving me anxiety. I have loaded up on glue traps from a supermarket and am currently awaiting a delivery from Amazon of naphthalene balls and rat baits.

Pics and more details :
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post5847981 (Rat damage to cars | Protection, solutions & advice)

I had also got a bit of scare when the SA told me about rat bites during the 1st service (3 months/1k km). Thankfully, it was very minor. I had never even noticed anything. He showed me that the AC cabin filter was chewed, but it was a very small area and it wasn't enough to let any dust past. There were no signs of droppings/urine or any foul smell etc., so I just asked him to spray a disinfectant and to put it back. He suggested me to spray a rat repellent in engine bay costing about 1.5K. Though I felt the price was steep, I didn't want to take chances. Soon I also got 2 meshes installed at the air intake of both AC blowers (front and back). They charged me about 6k for that, very steep again, but I didn't want to get it done anywhere but an authorized service center. When I asked why it costs so much, I was told that the charge is mainly for labor since they have to open a lot of panels to do the job. I still felt like it was a rip off, but since there was no other option, just paid it as an expensive insurance of sort. At the time of 2nd service (1 year/10k km), they did not notice any rat damage, nor did I noticed anything so far, touch wood!

I have not used any rat repellent etc. once the meshes were installed. Be careful about Naphthalene balls because I heard they are highly inflammable and hence a fire risk.

[santosh.s]

Originally Posted by sachind

I didn't beleive what I was seeing when I read that the battery is a NiMH unit ! In today's world where Li-Ion and its variants rule the battery world, has Toyota taken a gamble with a 20 year old technology ? These batteries lose charge efficiency within a few hundred cycles and their life is a maximum of 1000 charge discharge cycles. Time will tell but this should have been a red flag which nobody seems to be talking about.

Responding to a very old comment, but I guess it is still relevant. I felt the same way when I read the specs for the first time. But these are the points I remember a quick search had revealed- It is actually safe and performs well in hot climates and with respect to fire risk, as compared to Li-Ion based batteries. The main disadvantage of NiMH is it's much lesser energy to weight ratio. Since hybrid cars need a much smaller capacity battery, it may be okay. Regarding charge holding capacity, I guess they might have addressed it by controlling charge/discharge cycles and levels since it is fully under hybrid system's control. They won't provide 8 years/1.6L km warranty without a reason. I also remember to have read that it is a proven battery type and has performed well in the past in other Toyota hybrids.

Note to mods: this is a back to back comment because it was posted after 30 min limit.