WTF

Toyota battery’s are known to be POS. Either take it to the dealer and have them replace it under warranty or go buy a good one.

 

I will say, in FL we can only hope for 2 years of service from a battery. Many truck owners, like myself after multiple failures, figured out getting batteries with warranties. Most have 3-4 year warranty so it’s a win win if you get the warranty.

 

Dude, I have a problem with your statement. I don't see the connection.
$5.00 plus per gallon is reason enough not to joy ride around in a "New Tundra"
I bought it because I needed a truck, plain n simple.
When I have to do truck shit, I use the truck.
When I get back from LA at the end of next week I'm going to have a nice chit chat with the Toyota dealer where I bought it.
I will be satisfied with the resolution after that and I won't be worrying about dead batteries again.

 

No worries! I never asked you to see the connection. Wish you luck, safe travels!

 

You're 100% correct, people just like to poke for some reason. There's many posts, included an old one of mine, about factory batteries dying under a year. They just go, no signs, no slow start...just dead. A quick search on the forum will more than back that up. They're trash, period. You won't need a cut-off or trickle charger, just replace it with any other battery. Like yours, my truck is not a daily driver, it gets out of the garage on the weekends. It died at a wrestling practice one evening, just absolutely nothing from the battery in the on position. Replaced it with a cheapo Autozone because that's all that was open that late and I've had no issues in years. Probably should replace it soon though, batteries don't last long in Bakersfield. Toyota never got the battery supply right after all these years.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/toyota-batteries-suck.47485/

https://www.tundras.com/threads/factory-battery-expectations.72398/

 

Something is still up. My 2020 sits for over a week at times but always fires right up.

 

Unfortunately if you're not driving much and worse when you are if you aren't going far, the battery never has a chance to charge properly. A deep cycle starting battery (Northstar, Optima, etc) may help the issue but in the long run you still need to drive and let it charge up.

Toyota batteries are crap from a lot of peoples experience here but any lead acid battery is gonna start having issues if you continue to discharge it to 50% or below (if you're having starting issues you're way below 50% SOC) and don't let it charge back up enough (85-90% SOC).

If a battery tender isn't an option due to parking location, try a solar trickle charger. They're cheap enough off Amazon and may help in a case like this unless you're in a parking garage all the time. Just my $0.02

 

My first battery only lasted 8 months, about 9k miles....

 

My stock battery lasted until the first winter. Then it wouldn’t hold a charge and I had to jump it the last few times before replacing it. Toyota also wouldn’t warranty it unless it was in the truck. If it’s dead enough to not start, that means a long tow to the nearest dealer. Look at solar trickle chargers like @abomb60 said. They’re $25 and up on Amazon.

 

My truck was on the showroom floor; people would get in and out of it, leave lights on, doors open, etc. When I bought the truck, the battery was spent; so I purchased a Schumacher battery charger, charged it for about 35 hours over the weekend and have not had any problems with the battery since.

 

Yes!!! Really a 50k vehicle and you can’t park it for a week without plugging it in

 

What I'll do is move to the driveway / garage today and throw the charger on it while my son an I install a sound system into the golf cart.

 

“If you can afford to spend money for things you need, you can afford to spend more money for things you shouldn’t have to do”

what a stupid thing to say

 

My 2019 TRD PRO sat on the dealer lot for a year. When I went to get it they already had to swap a True Start (Johnson Controls , Toyota branded, replacement) into it.

I've test driven many new Toyotas on dealer lot that had dead batteries.

 

Mine laste 10

Mine lasted 10 years. Longest of any in my long long life.

 

But, I'm intelligent with my money. I buy something new with a sub standard battery? They be going to make it right in my eyes and not out of my pocket.
One thing I can't afford to do is throw around money for someone else's mistake.

 

Toyota is also intelligent with their money, hence the reason you, I, and many others received many less than ideal components on our trucks. If you think the battery is less than what you paid for, what about the radiator, the seats, the suspension, etc. You know and I know that you did a suspension upgrade, why? Why didn't you ask the dealer to correct it? The point is, these trucks have lots of room for improvement and it is because they are designed to be mass produced and sold to the masses. They are by no means a Rolls Royce type quality product. So, go ahead, as you wish get another inadequate battery from Toyota and when you are stranded with a dead battery maybe you will realize that Toyota is in business to make a profit, not to give you the best components money can buy. I kinda figured you knew and you probably do, my comment was meant to remind you to be sensible, just like you were with your suspension upgrade. I had no intentions of getting under you skin, my apologies if you took it the wrong way, just makes sense to me to replace a dead battery and move on. If I go to Wal Mart and buy a TV then the battery in the remote dies in two months am I returning the TV or buying a $6 package of good batteries???? Yep, buying batteries because Samsung furnished cheap components to make an affordable TV available in the first place. Not their fault, they just like Toyota need to be competitive and profitable. If you don't agree, no worries, just my two cents man.

 

How about an 8 month old vehicle with warranty that has it's battery fault out in that time?
Where's the point where a person says, nope, this is premature and should be covered and it is if you read the warranty.
So this discussion you and I are having is mute.
It is covered and it's my job to prove it to them, which should be black and white, not grey.

 

I can see a case for the battery not being covered given the constant draw of modern vehicles and the very infrequent driving or opportunities to charge. However Toyota will probably cover it if it proves to be dead, unless there is some exclusion in the warranty for batteries. Wish there was an easier solution for you for a trickle charger, I can relate some success with solar powered trickle chargers: I have used them and friends of mine have as well to keep batteries charged in our away from home terminal cars. These usually do a decent enough job, but every now and then need to be helped with a jump box, or another vehicle with jumper cables.

My OEM battery lasted about 4 years until it became very weak in the winter. Cranking in -30 overnight lows was sketchy one winter so I replaced it with a Diehard Platinum (not offered anymore) AGM with over 200 more cold cranking amps than stock. So I went from 710 CCA on the stock battery to 930 CCA. Still have that Diehard in the truck almost 11 years later, and so far so good. Quite a difference in starting performance over the OEM Panasonic the truck came with, particularly in cold weather.

Good luck, hope your dealer takes care of you.

 

You're battery will absolutely be warranty covered. The crap thing is, they usually require that they are the ones to remove the batter, so you have to get the truck towed to them. If you pull the battery they can deny the warranty claim because the batter may have been used in an unintended manner. I had that issue when my WRX battery died, and the nearest dealership is over 100 miles away. Wasn't worth the trouble, so I bought a battery and put it in. I didn't want to risk another subpar stock battery anyway.

 

Covered? Of course, but is the replacement going to be worth the time or cost???? I took my 18 4Runner in for a battery in 2020 and spent hours there while they made excuses and did lots of charging and testing. I had to expose my family to the virus, plus get loud and obnoxious with the clowns. Luckily the only thing they had in stock was their premium 84 month battery and I won by being a real a55hole. Was it worth it?? Nope. Could have went to Interstate and bought a battery in 30 minutes. Lesson learned, and shared!!

 

My dealer up here; (Victory Toyota) are pretty good guys. I didn't get a feeling of denial, challenge or ducking out on this issue.
I'm going to LA tomorrow for my wife to have back surgery; We'll be back in three days. The Tundra is what we will be taking as the Doc doesn't want her flying do to blood clot potential with this kind of surgery.
That will be enough miles / time for me to extract the issue with the battery drain.
The cabin sized will be better for her for less twisting getting in an out every two hours for a walk as the Doc wants.

 

Best of luck going out to you and your lady! Just thought I would share my experience of dealer shenanigans. I lost about six hours of my time that day. Next time, I will simply click my screen a few times and pick up a battery curbside at Napa with much less headache and much more confidence in the battery. Yes, it will cost me about $200 bucks, but over five years, BFD! Peace of mind is a beautiful thing!! Safe travels man!!!

 

Are the OEM batteries actually garbage or is Toyota just using the same batteries that were great in 2007 before they added a bunch of unnecessary electronics to the trucks?

Fuel pump primes itself if I open the driver's door shortly after driving for 2 hours
Evap system does some kind of self check in the middle of the night
Headlights stay on for a few seconds after you turn the truck off unless you manually turn them off (Canada thing only?)
Screen in the dash turns on for 30 seconds every time you open a door

 

OP: Hope your wife's surgery goes well. I remember taking my wife in for her back surgery.

Unfortunately, yea, the Toyota batteries are junk. I bought my 2007 Tundra from my father 1 year, and when the truck hit 2 yeras old the battery died. I replaced it with an Interstate battery and never had an issue for another 6 years when I sold it. My 2014 Tundra I bought it in 2015 and the battery cacked in 2016. Replaced with an Interstate, still running fine. I know it bites and the dealer would have replaced with another Toyota battery, but after talking with the SM at the time I decided to just go Interstate.

Oh, BTW, some may not know this. Just because your Toyota battery says 6 or 7 years on it...that applies to replacement batteries. If the battery was new with the truck, the original 3 year/36,000 warranty applies to the battery also (the statement on the battery does not apply). 2 different dealers in different cities told me the same thing.

 

My original battery was still working this morning after 2.5 years of ownership. I felt compelled to tell everyone about it.

 

I wish to hear more of your compulsions. You will divulge every detail.

 

I used to jump start people for beer at the local drive in.

OP 3k miles in a year is pretty short. A new battery doesn't really guarantee that you won't come out to a dead, or short lived battery. You might want to look into a trickle charger. They make pretty good ones for $40 or so, I'm picking up a Noco one for a car I barely drive.

Edit- just saw your parking situation. I don't think its bs to use a trickle on a new truck. Thevstarter takes some oomph to turn the motor and if you don't drive often the battery is probably losing to the 2021 level of gadgetry. That said, for a period of a year I had driven my truck about once a month and it started up almost every time. I had to jump it maybe 3 times. I had a good agm battery in it, but my truck is also an 03 with very little to drain a battery.

 

Dibs.