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Adam N (not verified)    November 7, 2020 - 9:28PM

In reply to by edith miller (not verified)

My own hybrid battery has just got to the point where all the warning lights come on as well. The ABS system appears to be powered from the high voltage hybrid system, which in turn relies on the hybrid battery to ensure there is sufficient power available all the time (even when the engine is not running). This means that if the car cannot rely on the hybrid battery to supply enough power, things like the ABS may not work when they are needed. This is why the ABS warning light comes on. It is not because there is anything wrong with the ABS system, but rather thanks to the failing hybrid battery there may not be enough power to call on ABS when it is needed.

The hybrid battery is used to accelerate the car from a stop, so when it is failing the car moves off very slowly even with your foot to the floor. When gently applying the brakes, that energy is used to charge up the battery. This is why a car with a failing hybrid battery will be slow to take off when you start driving, but after a while it will return to normal once you have used the brakes enough to feed a charge back into the battery.

As the hybrid battery begins to fail, it will start losing more and more charge when the car is off. Eventually it gets to the point where every morning when you turn the car on, the indicator display shows the battery as completely flat. There is some reserve charge in the battery not shown on the screen, but ultimately the battery will become so depleted of charge that it will not be possible to switch the car on. This is because the hybrid battery is used to power the starter motor to start the engine, so without enough power to do that, the engine can't start and the car won't run at all. However the warning light will be on for a long time (weeks if not months) before the car gets to this point.

You can check the age of your battery by keeping an eye on how fast it charges and discharges. As the batteries age, their capacity drops. If you noticed that your battery starts off low but it quickly returns to full charge, this is a sign that it is near the end. New batteries will charge to 100% and discharge to 0% slowly, because they have a lot of capacity. My failing hybrid battery will charge from 0% to 100% in about two minutes which is a sign that it has barely any capacity left.

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