Hi all, happy new year! Having a dead battery problem with my 2020 Hybrid, this is the first time in 2 yrs & 54K miles. A few days ago the vehicle was driven just fine (no lights or warnings) and parked for the night, the next morning it was dead. Temps were around freezing overnight (rather warm for Michigan). Tried the backup keyfob, checked keyfob battery voltage in both, it's not a keyfob problem. So I checked the 12V battery voltage that morning, was at 2.7V. Put it on a charger, it appeared to take the charge, was at first drawing 6A on average, then settled on 3A. About 3 hrs later I had to get going (I know 3 hrs isn't enough for a deep charge), so I took it off the charger, now the voltage was 12.5V. I tried starting it off the battery - nothing. I followed the jumpstart procedure - nothing. Tried jumpstarting off the charger 'engine start' function, and a neighbor's F250, made no difference. After pressing the brake and start button, dash is black, screen is black, I don't hear any usual clicks & clacks, only the start button's green light is blinking, that's it.

Another very weird thing: I can't have it towed on a flatbed since I can't shift it into neutral to get it up there. I know of a backup shifting method where I'd access a pull-cord through a little window on the left side. Not entirely clear to me whether the power has to be on in order for this to work. But, in my case, the pull-cord is missing! I'm not kidding - I looked all over in there, I don't have the cord to pull! WTF?! Any other suggestions?

P.S. How do these batteries go bad - do some cells short out / fail internally one fine day, is that what happens? How many cells does this 12V battery have?

Thanks!

 

I don't see a reply to your question, but I was interested in the answer. My battery died during the recent deep cold snap in Ottawa, Canada. The technicians at the dealership said it died due to the cold, but it happened after we had driven the car 25 minutes. It didn't make sense to me. The vehicle was in a parking lot for 15 min and the battery charge completely drained. I insisted that the garage do more than tell me all was now ok so they did some research and have told me I'm going to have to take extended drives during the winter: a minimum of one 30 min drive at least once a week. I yearn for the days of block heaters. This model isn't a plug in and I don't have a garage. I'm wondering whether I shouldn't sell it to someone with a heated garage while the value is high. But would a full EV be better? My intuition tells me yes, because I'd be able to plug it in. I really don't want to go back to gas only.

Did you get an explanation on why your battery died? At least mine was able to be towed with a flatbed truck.