My car is now dead, sitting in the garage and unable to chg

Toyota Rav4 EV Forum

Help Support Toyota Rav4 EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

madcow

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
114
Location
Pearl City, HI
Well the honeymoon is now over. I got to drive this car for 2 whole weeks before I had to fly away on a business trip. My wife drove it for the past 2 weeks so we could save even more money on gas. She has a longer commute, maybe 18-20 miles in each direction. Before I left, I taught her how to clear my version of the Check EV system warning. She had the error many times and the car started failing to charge (it will not charge if the car has an uncleared Check EV system warning).

I got home yesterday and after dinner I went to check on it. It wouldn't charge and so I decided to try to unplug/plug. It didn't work. I decided to look into this this morning. I cleared the error after 4 or 5 on/off cycles. I then decided to charge it. After about 20 minutes it failed. I went to the garage to unplug i and try to clear the Check EV system message. This time, I couldn't clear it. I tried over 30 times. I normally put my foot on the brake pedal and press the start button, leaving it on the brake pedal until I get the ready indication. When I get the Check EV system message, normally I just press the power button again to turn it off and then turn it back on again. I noticed that now when I get the Check EV system message, the ready light does not turn on and I cannot turn off the car by pressing the start button unless I first release the brake pedal.

Before I left, I had a few problems so I opened up a case. While I was gone, Kevin Spillane called me back and left me a message. I called him back and spoke to him about my problems. He said he would look into things and call me back. Then my wife started experiencing nearly daily Check EV system warnings. I called Kevin again last Friday and left him a message. This week Monday he called me back. I gave him the additional info. I called him again on Wednesday and left him a message asking him for a few simple data points. 1 - What is the current version of firmware for the car. 2 - What is the version that my car has. 3 - When did the current version of firmware get released. I would think that that's a simple phone call within Toyota. It's Friday morning here in Hawaii and I didn't hear back from him all day Thursday and this morning I left him another message when my car finally stopped being useful for anything other than a Check EV system sign.

I'm going to call him every 2 hours until I get some more answers. I wish they would just ship a gateway ECU to one of the dealers here so we can at least start form that point. It seems to have helped everyone that's had it replaced.
 
Tony,

We could do that, but wouldn't both of our cars be dead without the gateways installed? Not an issue for me since I'm dead already, but then this takes your car out of commission until you receive my gateway. Even if I got it out of my car and FedEX'd it today (unlikely) it would still be Monday or Tuesday before you received it. I guess we could time it a little better like on Monday or Tuesday so at least the cross shipping would happen during the week without additional delays due to the weekend.

Some other questions, I think we'd each have to take out the SIM card in the ECU since that's probably tied to the car. Anyways, I'm open to this idea since it may prove something (although I can't imagine Toyota being happy with this method of troubleshooting) and it'll certainly be faster than anything Toyota could do for me right now.
 
I assume your Gateway ECU doesn't work properly, so I'd be dead for some time.

Other problems besides swapping out AT&T card:

We don't know the extent to which different firmware may affect a direct swap. That means a trial swap would be required here.

Let me think about how I might do that while you attempt to get satisfaction from Toyota.
 
Immediately file a complaint with BBB and make sure to call the Toyota hotline and tell them that you are. Contact a local TV station and tell them Toyota won't fix your car. Trust me, this works.
 
@madcow

I think it's time to find out how Servco Pacific is going to treat you - or did I miss it and you have taken it to a local dealer? I understand the logic for trying to get answers from Kevin because I went that route too, but Toyota's procedure is that you need to go to a dealer first so the techs there can work with Toyota Technical Services to figure out what's going on with your car.

I really don't think messing with the Gateway ECU yourself is a smart way to proceed. Since your symptoms seem to be tied to charging, it may not have anything to do with the Gateway. The Check EV System is a catch-all message, so it could be anything. My car had the On-Board Charger replaced at the dealership before I bought it. The only way I know this is that it's in the service history on the Toyota Owner's site.

Good Luck
 
@jspearman I know that this would certainly add some drama to the situation, and it might actually make people move a little faster (squeaky wheel gets the oil), I'm not going to go down that route anytime soon. I've been reading messages on this forum for a while and I was fully aware that there were some issues with the car. I do expect that they will find a way to take care of me here, but I do think it will be a little bit harder since my situation is a bit of a one off (although since there are other RAV4 EV owner's here in Hawaii who haven't identified themselves - or maybe they're not on the forum, it's not totally a one off and they did get resolution without having to send their cars back to CA) I know it will take a little bit more effort.

@miimura I actually did take the car in to Servco Pacific in Waipahu a few weeks ago. It was mainly to introduce myself and try to get some rock start status, but they threw their arms up in the air and said they couldn't touch the car. They did give me some valuable information though, they told me that there were at least "3" other RAV4 EV's in Hawaii and that they got worked on by Tesla at the Mapunapuna (main) location earlier this year.

I also don't think swapping out my Gateway ECU with Tony is a good idea, but it's mainly because I don't want to inconvenience anyone else, and especially if it could cause other problems for him since it sounds like his car is working great now.

Speaking with Kevin is a bit frustrating. I've called him several times and he's always called me back or answered when I called, but I don't feel like there is a good flow of information. My case was opened more than 2 weeks ago and it's been a constant flow of "I've documented everything and forwarded it to the engineers". I was hoping to get my 3 questions about the car's firmware answered through Kevin. He told me today that the chief engineer for Toyota wrote back and his answer was "this is something that can only be answered by a RAV4 EV qualified technician working on the car." Ok, I'm sorry, but that's just a flat out LIE. I got a bit upset because they didn't answer my questions and on top of that, they tried to insult my intelligence by dodging the question. You'd think I was talking to a politician or something. Kevin said that was my opinion that the questions wasn't answered and I also took offense to that. It's not an opinion. Unless someone tells me the version of firmware, when they could tell me, and then they proceed to tell me some BS about only a qualified technician being able to tell me what the current version is is just a LIE. I bet none of the technicians that work on all of your cars could tell any of you what the current version is, but someone at Toyota, the supposed chief engineer could certainly answer that question. It's ok if they don't WANT to answer my question, but to give me that kind of response is stupid. They can quickly answer ALL three of my questions. I'll list them again in case anyone from Toyota management is reading this and wants to chime in (I'll bet nobody from Toyota has the balls to reply to this with the real answers).

1. What is the current version of firmware?

2. What is the version that is on my car VIN #1631 (no updates shown on the service history - so they should know what it left the factory with)?

3. When did the current version (see above) of firmware come out?

Why is it so hard to get quantifiable information from Toyota?
 
Madcow,

Ouch - very sorry to hear that you are having this problem! It sounds like you are pursuing it pretty rationally. My only comment is that you may want to think about what info / help you want to get out of Toyota given the limited communication bandwidth you have experienced. Do you ultimately want them to tell you the version of your firmware, or do you want them to fix your car?

That said, please do let me / us know your firmware version if you find that out. I'm personally interested given that our VINs differ by only 2.
 
I understand your frustration with having an out of service car with no clear path to getting it fixed, but I'm not sure I understand the need to know the firmware version on your car. It seems highly unlikely that the firmware has anything to do with your problems. I don't have any insight into Toyota's databases on their car builds, but I really don't think it is all that unimaginable that the SOP to determine the current firmware version is to hook it up to their computer at the shop.

Anyway, good luck and I hope Toyota resolves this for you soon. One thing I might consider doing is pushing the SOS button, tell them your car is inoperable and you need a tow to the nearest dealer as is required by Toyota Care. That will at least put the ball in the dealers court to do something.
 
madcow said:
@miimura I actually did take the car in to Servco Pacific in Waipahu a few weeks ago. It was mainly to introduce myself and try to get some rock start status, but they threw their arms up in the air and said they couldn't touch the car. They did give me some valuable information though, they told me that there were at least "3" other RAV4 EV's in Hawaii and that they got worked on by Tesla at the Mapunapuna (main) location earlier this year.
yblaser said:
I understand your frustration with having an out of service car with no clear path to getting it fixed, but I'm not sure I understand the need to know the firmware version on your car. It seems highly unlikely that the firmware has anything to do with your problems. I don't have any insight into Toyota's databases on their car builds, but I really don't think it is all that unimaginable that the SOP to determine the current firmware version is to hook it up to their computer at the shop.

Anyway, good luck and I hope Toyota resolves this for you soon. One thing I might consider doing is pushing the SOS button, tell them your car is inoperable and you need a tow to the nearest dealer as is required by Toyota Care. That will at least put the ball in the dealers court to do something.
I agree regarding the firmware. The technician will probably just flash the latest and not worry about what's in there now.

IIRC, Toyota Care does not provide towing in Hawaii. Personally, I would just have the car towed to the Mapunapuna location and see what they do. That seems to be the most likely path to a resolution. Maybe in this situation going in with too much information is not a good thing. "My car has been showing this error and I've been doing this workaround, but now it's not driveable. Can you fix it?" It will probably take a couple weeks, but if they've called in Tesla before, they can again. At least they probably don't have to send people from the mainland now that Tesla has their own service in Honolulu.
 
I want to know the firmware version for several reasons:

1. Other people have had their firmware updated and have had some success with this.

2. I'm curious because there may be some kind of correlation between the firmware version and the kind of problems that various people have. If we don't start gathering this information, then it's one less data point.

3. Toyota obviously knows what version my car has, they asked for the VIN and I'm sure they can find out what version it left the factory with AND they can see that it wasn't updated (per the service history).

Of course I want them to fix my car, I don't think me asking them these simple questions should interfere with them getting my car fixed. Kevin told me that they are working on a firmware update to address charging issues. I'm not sure if they have already pushed this out to some users or not, but if they won't tell any of us our firmware version, then we won't be able to track this data point.

Toyota doesn't need to hook up MY car to know what is the current version of firmware, they create it or at least they work with Tesla to create it, SOMEBODY over there knows. I'm sure they also have a record of what firmware was on the cars that left the factory on a certain date. They are also supposed to note in the service record if they update the firmware, and there is no note in the service record for my car. Therefore, they should also be able to tell me what version I have.

I was able to get the Check EV system (fatal version) cleared eventually today (although it was only temporary). I tried putting my seatbelt on and close the door. Strange enough, these 2 less inputs or errors to the system seemed to help a bit. I was able to clear the error and drive the car. However, at my destination when I tried to start the car again, it gave me the fatal Check EV system error again. It took me about 15 minutes or turning the car on/off before I could get going again. It has failed again several more times after I got it home.

Also, I don't think the Servco Pacific people at Mapunapuna called Tesla and it wasn't Tesla people in Hawaii that resolved the other owner's problems. I called Tesla here in Hawaii and nobody there worked on the RAV4, so it must have been someone from Tesla in California who came to fix the car.
 
I agree with everything you're saying. However, I think Toyota is not inclined to give us (individual owners and therefore the internet at large) information about the firmware. I don't know why they won't or can't tell you what revision was installed in your car. Maybe for most cars, it's not an issue, so they don't have an established procedure for Customer Service people to get that information out of the manufacturing database where it is known. They don't seem to give the technicians release notes on the firmware either. Personally, I think it would be a little embarrassing for them to give out much more information about the firmware. For example, one recent report here was from an owner who allegedly got the latest firmware, but it was noted that the "31st Charging Bug" was NOT fixed in that release. Seriously, how hard can it be to isolate and fix that bug?

I don't think it's Servco Pacific's job to call Tesla. They escalate through Toyota channels and Toyota coordinates with Tesla. Then it's up to Tesla how to handle it. Of course, there are training issues etc. that may cause Tesla to send somebody from the Mainland. Personally, I don't understand why Tesla is in the loop at all to fix these things. They should just write the service procedure, give Toyota some dumbed-down software to pull diagnostics out of their in-car systems and give Toyota the spare parts like Gateway ECUs. This is not rocket science. ;)
 
miimura said:
I agree with everything you're saying. However, I think Toyota is not inclined to give us (individual owners and therefore the internet at large) information about the firmware. I don't know why they won't or can't tell you what revision was installed in your car. Maybe for most cars, it's not an issue, so they don't have an established procedure for Customer Service people to get that information out of the manufacturing database where it is known. They don't seem to give the technicians release notes on the firmware either. Personally, I think it would be a little embarrassing for them to give out much more information about the firmware. For example, one recent report here was from an owner who allegedly got the latest firmware, but it was noted that the "31st Charging Bug" was NOT fixed in that release. Seriously, how hard can it be to isolate and fix that bug?

I don't think it's Servco Pacific's job to call Tesla. They escalate through Toyota channels and Toyota coordinates with Tesla. Then it's up to Tesla how to handle it. Of course, there are training issues etc. that may cause Tesla to send somebody from the Mainland. Personally, I don't understand why Tesla is in the loop at all to fix these things. They should just write the service procedure, give Toyota some dumbed-down software to pull diagnostics out of their in-car systems and give Toyota the spare parts like Gateway ECUs. This is not rocket science. ;)

If the firmware version was such a secret, why would they put a sticker under the hood of some cars and write the firmware version on it? Or detail it in the service history? I don't know why people have a hard time understanding that I want to know what version of firmware my car has. Plenty of people are wondering the same thing but maybe they are not asking, or maybe they are not telling people that they are asking or wanting to know.

I also never said that I thought that it was Servco Pacific's job to call Tesla. I stated that I didn't think they called Tesla because it was mentioned in a previous post.

I continue to experience fatal Check EV system errors and lots of charging problems. Yesterday I got the car started and drove my son to school (weekend cultural school). When I got home I turned the car off. About 2.5 hours later I got in to go pick him up and the car wouldn't start. I worked on it for nearly 30 minutes before I could get the errors cleared and the car would start (I need to get it to go into ready 4 times in a row before the Check EV system message goes away). Once I got it started, I decided that I was going to leave the car on all day. At each destination, I turned off the A/C, turned off the radio, turned off the nav screen, turned off the DRL and locked the car with the key. I did this all day long and finally turned the car off last night. The car was on for 7 hours and 50 minutes. It only lost about 3 miles in range. It told me that it was going to take 2.5 hours to charge (240V 40A). It failed several times and it finally took the last 30 minutes of charge this morning. I think if I can get it started today I will leave it running all day again.
 
miimura said:
I think Toyota is not inclined to give us (individual owners and therefore the internet at large) information about the firmware. I don't know why they won't or can't tell you what revision was installed in your car. Maybe for most cars, it's not an issue, so they don't have an established procedure for Customer Service people to get that information out of the manufacturing database where it is known. They don't seem to give the technicians release notes on the firmware either. Personally, I think it would be a little embarrassing for them to give out much more information about the firmware.
Coming from an Infiniti to my Rav4 EV, I just don't understand this. I could pull up the latest firmware in all of my Infinitis through the Information button on the navigation system. Infiniti never tried to keep this a secret. And whenever a new technical bulletin was released to service departments, those documents were online within hours (both on official and unofficial websites). So we always knew the map version, firmware version, any recalls, any technical bulletins, and any other issues.

For Toyota to not be able (or willing) to provide this information is ridiculous. And it's even more ridiculous that no one has been able to find a Rav4 EV technician who is willing to provide this information.

I truly sympathize with the OP's situation, but I want to point out that this car was only supposed to be sold in California. Shipping one to Hawaii entailed a lot of risk, and unfortunately the lack of resources there has made the problem much worse. Sometimes one takes a chance and gets burned, unfortunately...
 
Blastphemy said:
miimura said:
I think Toyota is not inclined to give us (individual owners and therefore the internet at large) information about the firmware. I don't know why they won't or can't tell you what revision was installed in your car. Maybe for most cars, it's not an issue, so they don't have an established procedure for Customer Service people to get that information out of the manufacturing database where it is known. They don't seem to give the technicians release notes on the firmware either. Personally, I think it would be a little embarrassing for them to give out much more information about the firmware.
Coming from an Infiniti to my Rav4 EV, I just don't understand this. I could pull up the latest firmware in all of my Infinitis through the Information button on the navigation system. Infiniti never tried to keep this a secret. And whenever a new technical bulletin was released to service departments, those documents were online within hours (both on official and unofficial websites). So we always knew the map version, firmware version, any recalls, any technical bulletins, and any other issues.

For Toyota to not be able (or willing) to provide this information is ridiculous. And it's even more ridiculous that no one has been able to find a Rav4 EV technician who is willing to provide this information.
I agree that Toyota should be more open about these firmware issues. However, some of it may be related to the relationship with Tesla. I personally feel that Tesla is hurting their image with the RAV4 EV program. However, hardly anyone knows that the RAV4 EV exists, much less the extent of the issues with the car. Then again, I don't hang out at teslamotorsclub.com, so I don't know the failure rate of the Model S either. My impression is that Model S cars get fixed a lot faster than RAV4 EVs though.

Blastphemy said:
I truly sympathize with the OP's situation, but I want to point out that this car was only supposed to be sold in California. Shipping one to Hawaii entailed a lot of risk, and unfortunately the lack of resources there has made the problem much worse. Sometimes one takes a chance and gets burned, unfortunately...
I also sympathize with his situation, but I don't know why he insists on continuing to drive the car instead of trying to get it fixed ASAP. I also don't understand why the Seattle couple sold their car when the dealer reneged on their commitment to do EV related repairs. If push came to shove, I think Toyota would have let a Seattle area dealer fix the car. I'm sure the hit they took on the sale was far more than the cost of two shipments of the car back to the nearest EV certified California dealer.
 
miimura said:
Blastphemy said:
miimura said:
I think Toyota is not inclined to give us (individual owners and therefore the internet at large) information about the firmware. I don't know why they won't or can't tell you what revision was installed in your car. Maybe for most cars, it's not an issue, so they don't have an established procedure for Customer Service people to get that information out of the manufacturing database where it is known. They don't seem to give the technicians release notes on the firmware either. Personally, I think it would be a little embarrassing for them to give out much more information about the firmware.
Coming from an Infiniti to my Rav4 EV, I just don't understand this. I could pull up the latest firmware in all of my Infinitis through the Information button on the navigation system. Infiniti never tried to keep this a secret. And whenever a new technical bulletin was released to service departments, those documents were online within hours (both on official and unofficial websites). So we always knew the map version, firmware version, any recalls, any technical bulletins, and any other issues.

For Toyota to not be able (or willing) to provide this information is ridiculous. And it's even more ridiculous that no one has been able to find a Rav4 EV technician who is willing to provide this information.
I agree that Toyota should be more open about these firmware issues. However, some of it may be related to the relationship with Tesla. I personally feel that Tesla is hurting their image with the RAV4 EV program. However, hardly anyone knows that the RAV4 EV exists, much less the extent of the issues with the car. Then again, I don't hang out at teslamotorsclub.com, so I don't know the failure rate of the Model S either. My impression is that Model S cars get fixed a lot faster than RAV4 EVs though.

Blastphemy said:
I truly sympathize with the OP's situation, but I want to point out that this car was only supposed to be sold in California. Shipping one to Hawaii entailed a lot of risk, and unfortunately the lack of resources there has made the problem much worse. Sometimes one takes a chance and gets burned, unfortunately...
I also sympathize with his situation, but I don't know why he insists on continuing to drive the car instead of trying to get it fixed ASAP. I also don't understand why the Seattle couple sold their car when the dealer reneged on their commitment to do EV related repairs. If push came to shove, I think Toyota would have let a Seattle area dealer fix the car. I'm sure the hit they took on the sale was far more than the cost of two shipments of the car back to the nearest EV certified California dealer.

Yes, I assumed a lot of risk by bringing the car to Hawaii and I'm fine with this. I did a lot of research on this car and I knew what I was getting into. I'm not crying spilled milk, the car has some problems, but the sky is not falling. I'm confident that things will get worked out one way or another and I don't have even 1 bit of regret. I still love this car.

Now that doesn't mean that I can't get frustrated when I ask questions and I get a bullshit political answer in return. Like I already said, I'm ok with Toyota telling me that they don't WANT to tell me the firmware version, I don't like that answer, but it's a legitimate answer. However, for them to tell me that only a certified technician can tell me what the current version (not current like what is installed on the car, but current like what is the LATEST version) is and what version is on my car is just a lie. I bet nearly all of the technicians out there have no idea what the most current version is. Someone at Toyota corporate, if they are indeed the chief engineer, is certainly in a position to be able to find out what the current version is, what version shipped with my car and what date that most current version was released. Again, if they came back and said that they didn't want to release that information, I would have understood. What they told me was just a lie and when I called them on it, they said that was my OPINION. No, I'm an educated person and there is a difference between an opinion and a FACT and when you tell me something that can be factually proven to be wrong, then it's a LIE, especially when they know it isn't true. Anyways, that's just a technical point that I'm trying to make clear here.

You don't know why I insist on continuing to drive the car instead of trying to get it fixed? So, I continue to drive the car because I don't have another car laying around that I can drive and because I don't have any other options. What gives you the idea that I'm not trying to get my car fixed? I have an open case with Toyota and they are trying to do something. Since I am in Hawaii, I can't really just take my car to a Toyota dealership because they won't be able to do anything - yet. I highly doubt that they would give me a loaner, my car would probably sit outside in the elements, and I'd be forced to rent a car and buy gas for the car. What else can/should I do? Are you suggesting that I pay to ship my car back to California just so it can sit at a dealership for weeks and then have someone maybe try a software upgrade? Once I get the car started it runs fine. Toyota has not told me to STOP driving the car, like I'm damaging it or something so I will continue to drive it as long as I can eventually get it started. I only had to turn it on/off 5 times this morning and 11 times this afternoon.

This is supposed to be a community. It may not be anyone's intention, but comments like "I don't know why he insists on continuing to drive the car instead of trying to get it fixed ASAP." come across a bit condescending. If you have a suggestion on what to do I would appreciate hearing it. It's easy to sit back in front of the computer and criticize what someone else is doing, but it's a lot harder to think critically and provide some possible suggestions.

I didn't post my experiences here so that people could blast me for having problems with my car. The situation here is a little different because Servco Pacific (Toyota monopoly here in Hawaii) isn't affiliated with Toyota America. They buy their cars directly from Toyota Japan. So, I can't really just drop my car off and hope that something gets worked out, I need to be patient and try to see what help Toyota can do for me remotely. There is already a precedent set for them helping at least 1 other RAV4 EV owner in Hawaii so I think I'll be ok, it just might take some time. That is the other thing that frustrates me is that thus far, this has been a one-way communication process between me and Toyota. I call them and give them details and Kevin calls me back. He doesn't have any questions for me, he just calls me back to let me know that he received my voicemail message and has relayed the information to the engineers. They haven't really come back with questions so either I'm really good at providing so much information that they don't have questions, or the timing of my additional information just so happens to coincide with any follow up that they might have.
 
@madcow,
I'm sorry if my post sounded condescending. Everyone I've heard of that took their car in to a California dealership with the Check EV System error has gotten a loaner car at no charge. When I said "I don't know why", I was serious. I don't know if Servco Pacific will work with you and get Toyota USA to pay for a loaner for you. Did you ask them? I didn't know that you had no spare car available to you.

I still feel that the shortest path to getting your car fixed is to take it to the main Servco Pacific service department and see what they can actually do for you. From what you said, it seems that talking to Kevin to do advance work is fruitless. When I talked to him about my relatively minor defect (Charging Stopped due to System Malfunction) the clear take-away was that the proper procedure to get these things addressed is to take it to a dealer and get their service technicians to open a case with Toyota Technical Services, basically the tech support for service technicians. You are really at the mercy of Servco Pacific and that sucks. Hopefully, there is someone there that feels it's worth their while to get warranty repair money out of Toyota USA, even if that's not their normal mode of operation.
 
Ok, taking my car to a California dealership would be no problem....if it were actually in California. Servco Pacific is not going to offer up any help without any outside influence. I already explained that I took it to their location that was closest to me and they said they can't touch it. I might as well try to take it to Ford. That's how different Servco Pacific is here. It's hard to understand if you don't live here and haven't had the pleasure of dealing with them. They are arrogant and it's one of the reasons that I would never buy a Toyota, Lexus, or Subaru vehicle from them. Even when they are trying to sell you a car you'd think that they would try to work with you, but if I could buy a car on the mainland and save several thousand dollars, why wouldn't I? Tell that to them and they will flat out tell you that you may have problems having your car serviced, or it might encounter several days worth of delays while they "check with Toyota America and get warranty approval" or have your car go to the back of the line behind "loyal Servco customers". It's really a racket and I'd love to have enough money some day to take some of these arrogant monopolistic companies to court.

Working with Kevin has been very slow (the case was opened more than 2 weeks ago) but it's really all I have. The way he talks makes me feel like there is an open case with Toyota Technical Services because he said that he had e-mails regarding my situation that came from the chief engineer and they had shared my information with Tesla. Since there are no RAV4 EV certified technicians here in Hawaii, my conversations with him are being treated like the diagnostic steps that the dealer would be performing, albeit without any actual data coming from the car.

That minor defect that you referred to (Charging Stopped due to system malfunction), I've also got that problem. In fact, as of this evening, in exactly 30 days of having the car, I have 95 e-mails from EnTune. 31 of them are for completed charges, 3 are from charging failures and 61 are for charging interruptions (which are basically all failures in my case, maybe 2 or 3 were from me disconnecting before it completed charging). I would get the charge interruption e-mails during the first week when I was charging at 120V even after it said charging completed and when I unplugged the car to drive it somewhere. Others have said that they don't get charge interruption e-mails after it has completed charging if they unplug the car. Well, I get charging interruption e-mails so often that I've just gotten into the habit of checking the car every 30 minutes to see if it's still charging. When it fails (it ALWAYS fails at least once per charge attempt it seems - or maybe twice based on my numbers) I basically unplug, wait a few seconds and plug it back in. I wait a few minutes and then go back in the house. Sometimes it fails again right away, and sometimes it waits until I sit down. Usually after 2 or 3 of these it settles down and the car charges. If the screen estimates that it will take 2.5 hours to charge, I know that I'm going to be plugging/unplugging at least 3 or 4 times before it will complete.

Do you still have this minor problem? If not, what was done to resolve the problem? If so, then I don't know why you insist on continuing to drive the car instead of trying to get it fixed ASAP ;) .
 
I don't know why others on here are blasting away at you. Last time I checked, Hawaii is still a part of the US, and since moving across state lines is very common, there are laws on the books that forces automakers to service any vehicle that is sold in the US.

That doesn't seem to be the problem, it's the snail speed that Toyota has chosen in fixing the issue. This is how you remedy that.

1) Take said car to a Toyota USA dealer.

2) If you don't get the car back fixed in 30 days or less, file a lemon law claim(this will surely get Toyota's attention).

3) Be absolutely adamant that the replacement car be the same exact vehicle(this will cost Toyota some money, so they will very unlikely repeat these shenanigans).

It's really that simple. As a consumer, you have this protection from BS like this, you just have to stand your ground.
 
Back
Top