Thumping or "snapping" sound upon acceleration/deceleration

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Bobgirl

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
23
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I have a 2013 with 45,000 miles on it. (I know, I know, but love the car and I drive a LOT). I am experiencing a "thumping" or "snapping" sound during acceleration/deceleration. I can almost feel it vibrate through the floor when it happens. It used to be infrequent, but has become worse over the last several months. When I took it in to the dealer for the recall, I tried to recreate the sound for the mechanic, but, of course, it wouldn't make the noise.

My husband thinks it is an electrical issue. It feels to me like it has something to do with the physical suspension, but what do I know.

Has anyone experienced this? Thanks very much in advance.
 
Known issue. Requires at a MINIMUM the replacement of the drive half-shaft (although, I'm not sure if that fixes it). If that doesn't fix it, they will swap the motor.

Don't go to a shop that doesn't have a LOT of RAV4 EV experience for this issue. Where are you?

I'm confused about the mileage issues... I have a total of over 100,000 miles of Eav4 EV driving.
 
Tony:

Thank you so much for the reply. I live in the San Fernando Valley and bought my car from Bob Smith in La Crescenta, north of Glendale. I am very confident in their EV experts (though we haven't had any major issues other than the recall).

By the way, add me to the group that plans on buying this car when the lease is done this August. I can't imagine living without it at this point! We absolutely love it, keep it immaculate and hope to get many more miles out of it in the years to come.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Known issue. Requires at a MINIMUM the replacement of the drive half-shaft (although, I'm not sure if that fixes it). If that doesn't fix it, they will swap the motor.

Tony:

Do you know what the estimated cost is to fix this? (cringe) Thank you again
 
Bobgirl said:
TonyWilliams said:
Known issue. Requires at a MINIMUM the replacement of the drive half-shaft (although, I'm not sure if that fixes it). If that doesn't fix it, they will swap the motor.

Tony:

Do you know what the estimated cost is to fix this? (cringe) Thank you again

I have no idea actually, since all the repairs to date have been under warranty. I highly highly highly highly recommend keeping the warranty (buy the extended Platinum warranty for up to 8 years / 125,000 miles).
 
Maybe this is what I've been noticing. It sounds a little like an older IC engine that's pinging, kind of a crackle, but the sound is definitely in rear of the car. It hasn't quite been bad enough to complain to the dealer.
 
Have them check the drive shaft bolts. Mine loosened up at about 30,000 miles and it sounded like a bad u-bolt. Technician tightened up and used Loctite. Never happened again.
 
Over 94,000 miles Bassman?! Wow, that must be the most in the fleet.

Bassman said:
Have them check the drive shaft bolts. Mine loosened up at about 30,000 miles and it sounded like a bad u-bolt. Technician tightened up and used Loctite. Never happened again.
 
Would this be covered under the 60k mile drivetrain warranty? At this point, I'm just trying to get to my lease return date in September.
 
Great news! We finally took the car in and the diagnosis was to "retorque axle bolts." That was it and there was no charge. :D :D :D

I also was having an issue with the yellow caution triangle with the exclamation point appearing with no corresponding message. The tech put the car online with Tesla, had it checked and found no issues. It seems to only happen after a 20+ mile ride to work in stop-and-go traffic. I was advised to monitor it, but there was nothing they could see.

Since getting the car back, the caution sign has appeared twice more, still with no message. It does not seem to affect anything, but it's a bit unsettling to see this on a regular basis.

Thanks for all your advice!
 
TonyWilliams said:
Philly RAV4 EV said:
Bassman, have you had any major problems with you Rav. Do you have any pack degregation?


Could you perform this test ?

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=20518#p20518
Before the battery pack went bad at 96,000 miles, the mileage at 3.5 KWh was 126. So My battery was down by about 13.1% and that was charging to 100%, 5 days a week, twice a day for about 3 years.
 
Bassman said:
TonyWilliams said:
Philly RAV4 EV said:
Bassman, have you had any major problems with you Rav. Do you have any pack degregation?


Could you perform this test ?

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=20518#p20518
Before the battery pack went bad at 96,000 miles, the mileage at 3.5 KWh was 126. So My battery was down by about 13.1% and that was charging to 100%, 5 days a week, twice a day for about 3 years.

I consider that exceptional. I'm at about the same at 66,000 miles.
 
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