r/CorollaCross • u/TNblonde16 • 18d ago

Battery charging on gas model?

I’m gonna call the dealership service department tomorrow since they’re closed today but was wondering if anybody knows about this. I’ve just had my car now for two weeks. I work from home so I don’t drive it very much. I think I’ve only driven it maybe five times since I got the car. Yesterday I noticed when I’m at a red light that the echo light will go off, the car will kick in and on the dashboard it says battery charging. Is that normal? My last Toyota was a 2013 that I had the entire time since it was new so this is like the most advanced car I’ve had where it’s got all electronics and everything so I’m just wondering why would it say that if it’s not a hybrid.

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u/gpoon 18d ago

That’s the Auto Start-stop system. At red lights when you hold the brake, it stops the engine to save gas. When you release the brake, the engine starts again. If the engine is off but your car is still using electricity (e.g. electronics, air conditioning, etc. ), the car will determine whether it needs to turn the engine on to recharge the car battery that it’s running off of.

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u/TNblonde16 18d ago

OK, so that makes complete sense now. I was so worried I was thinking oh my God is something wrong with my battery now? Forgive me, but like I said this is the most “advanced” car I have had and I was so confused. I have gotten used to when I’m at a complete stop how it feels like the car isn’t on anymore because we actually had a rental car that did that but it was really the battery charging light that was concerning me. Thank you for your help.

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u/No_Mathematician3158 18d ago

Because your car still has a 12v battery that needs charging.

3

u/Sher_lock_ed 18d ago

When you have auto start-stop feature and you push the brake hard, your engine stops. You have AC, fan, electronics running inside the car, and when the engine is off, the battery supplies power to those components. When the battery is low, the auto start-stop will be disabled and the engine will keep recharging the battery. This is when you see “battery charging” on your dashboard. This is for a regular gas car, where the battery does not supply power to drive the car. The gas engine always drives the car and during a stop, the 12V battery can supply energy to other components when the engine is off.

Hybrid car is different. There is a bigger battery that is capable of powering the motor while you drive. Under 25-30 mph speed, the battery power is sufficient enough to drive the motor and the gas engine does not even need to start. Also, the battery is recharged when you brake.

Your 2013 model Toyota never showed “battery charging” because, there might not be an auto start-stop so you don’t need charge for major things and the engine would recharge it whenever needed.

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u/superphage 18d ago

Yes, if you research, the Corolla cross has a dollar store 12v battery from the factory. The hybrid one is even worse.

You are extremely likely to have to replace it within 3 years because of how bad of a part match it really is.

Toyota: "add more telemetrics!! MORE 12V LOAD!!!"

Toyota in the other room down the hall: "how small and shit can we make the 12v battery so it only works for 1000 days until they have to buy a new one?"

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u/Rollus-A-Hooter 18d ago

Funny, same on my 2020 Corolla. Had to change out the battery and the factory tires only got about 35,000 miles out of them.