Hey all, first post. Hoping ya'll can drop some knowledge on my situation.

I have a 2007 Camry hybrid. We're the original owners, 309k miles on it! Never had any major problems with it. I've been out of work the last few months, and I live in the Northeast, so we've been getting lots of snow. Car is parked outside and exposed to the elements, and I've been driving it less.

Last week we got a big snow. I had driven the car the day before and it had no problems. I didn't dig the car out for 24 hours. When I tried to start it, I got the following error messages: "Check VSC System, Check Hybrid System", almost all the error lights. I arranged to bring it to the shop to have them read the codes, and when I start it the next day, it just says "Check Hybrid System" and only the check engine light is on. On a hunch I took a look at the 12V battery- lo and behold it's covered in frost. See below.





I drove the car safely to the shop. Engine is working fine but it's running only on the engine, and the visual indicator shows the battery is not powering the acceleration. The only code they got was P0A80. They cleared the code, and now it runs fine, with the battery working as normal. Looking at this thread, my conclusion is that possibly the 12V being frozen made other systems whacked out, and it tripped some kind of safety to disconnect the hybrid battery. As the battery thawed, the rest of those systems were getting voltage and then working fine.

Now it's totally possible my battery is degrading, it's super old and has run many races. My question is, would the 12V being frozen trigger the kind of errors I saw? And going forward, how can I get the most life out of the car? I was assuming, probably make sure I'm driving it every few days and not letting it sit (or stay covered in snow for 24 hours lol). Any advice or input would be appreciated.

 

Coupled with the less frequent driving, the extreme weather that created the 12V issue likely pushed the HV battery over the edge in terms of performance. If several other codes had appeared, then I would say it was exclusively due to the 12V, but since it indicated only a P0A80, the criteria for HV battery failure were met.

Likely that your HV battery has deteriorated to the threshold of failure, and the code will return periodically and require resetting.