Who is currently waiting for a drive unit replacement?

i had mine replaced at 25K miles almost exactly. I'm now at 49K (24K on the new one) and i cant hear any noticable noise. It might be a tiny bit noisier than the day it was replaced (in Palo Alto) but its hard to actually tell. The original was noticably noisy by 10K and pretty noisy by 15K.

fromport said:

Airton said:

Bringing my car in on Thursday for it's 2nd DU replacement, it's whistling like crazy when driving around town can't wait!

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How many miles on the clock now ?

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55k now, my first replacement was around 27k.
Two very different sounds at dierent speed ranges, the first was a Hum at 65 MPH and now this one whistles at 27-35MPH

Airton said:

fromport said:

Airton said:

Bringing my car in on Thursday for it's 2nd DU replacement, it's whistling like crazy when driving around town can't wait!

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How many miles on the clock now ?

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55k now, my first replacement was around 27k.
Two very different sounds at dierent speed ranges, the first was a Hum at 65 MPH and now this one whistles at 27-35MPH

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What were the approx dates of the replacements? This sounds exactly like my Model S. The original drive unit (May 2013) had a hum under power (even the slightest power and quiet when "neutral" or during re-gen) at highway speeds. I think it was replaced in mid-to-late 2014. That once quickly developed a whistling sound at low speeds (starts at 20+ MPH) and is less noticeable at higher speeds, although it could be masked by road and wind noise. I lived with that for a while and finally replaced it a few months ago and have a quiet car.

The first replacement was on 4/29/15 and the second will be on 6/16/16. been living with the low speed whistling for about 6 months and it seems to be getting progressively louder.

A) Waiting for (second) replacement motor for my 2012. The first motor was replaced at 11,000 miles in the car now has 73,000 miles. It has both distinctive noises; the one at 25mph and another at 65 mph.


B) The 2014 just had the motor replaced at 33,000 miles in Kennewick, WA. They flew in Toyota reps from both Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho.


C) The second 2014 also had the motor replaced before 23,000 miles, but it wasn't because of noise. This was replaced prior to Toyota dealers being able to swap the speed sensor and before the upgraded (recall) firmware 1.3 .101.

This car stopped in the middle of the freeway. I reported it to the US government and, in part, was the reason why there was a government recall.

This car was sold.

Got my car back today, they replaced the drive unit and also the gateway ECU this time, drives like new again (for the second time).

Currently having my 4th drive unit (3rd replacement) installed at Carlsbad now.

B-Bob said:

Currently having my 4th drive unit (3rd replacement) installed at Carlsbad now.

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At what miles were they replaced in your case ?

My 2014 has 37,500 miles on it. My car is getting really loud. I definitely humm along. It's hard to tell how bad it is because I drive it everyday, however my dad was in the car a few weeks ago and thought it was crazy loud.

Are there any issues with not replacing the motor other than the annoying sound?

evdrive said:

Are there any issues with not replacing the motor other than the annoying sound?

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I've never heard of a single motor "failure". Ever.

TonyWilliams said:

evdrive said:

Are there any issues with not replacing the motor other than the annoying sound?

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I've never heard of a single motor "failure". Ever.

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I don't think that's right. I think one or two of the cars that have lost power on the freeway actually had an inverter failure that required drive unit replacement. However, I don't have any specific data to back it up. There's also the guy who had some grinding noise that eventually led to some mechanical disconnection or seizure that prevented the car from moving under its own power.

miimura said:

TonyWilliams said:

evdrive said:

Are there any issues with not replacing the motor other than the annoying sound?

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I've never heard of a single motor "failure". Ever.

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I don't think that's right. I think one or two of the cars that have lost power on the freeway actually had an inverter failure that required drive unit replacement. However, I don't have any specific data to back it up. There's also the guy who had some grinding noise that eventually led to some mechanical disconnection or seizure that prevented the car from moving under its own power.

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Yes, lots of lost power, but again, not a motor failure.

I believe every grinding noise so far was u-joints and/or halfshalfts.

TonyWilliams said:

miimura said:

TonyWilliams said:

I've never heard of a single motor "failure". Ever.

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I don't think that's right. I think one or two of the cars that have lost power on the freeway actually had an inverter failure that required drive unit replacement. However, I don't have any specific data to back it up. There's also the guy who had some grinding noise that eventually led to some mechanical disconnection or seizure that prevented the car from moving under its own power.

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Yes, lots of lost power, but again, not a motor failure.

I believe every grinding noise so far was u-joints and/or halfshalfts.

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Thanks guys! Sounds like the risks are low.

I waited and leased the 2014 model hoping that they would have worked some of the earlier bugs out. Seems to have been a good idea.

evdrive said:

...
I waited and leased the 2014 model hoping that they would have worked some of the earlier bugs out. Seems to have been a good idea.

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Really? There's been nothing here to suggest that the newer cars or newer replacements are lasting any longer than the earlier ones.

davewill said:

evdrive said:

...
I waited and leased the 2014 model hoping that they would have worked some of the earlier bugs out. Seems to have been a good idea.

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Really? There's been nothing here to suggest that the newer cars or newer replacements are lasting any longer than the earlier ones.

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I haven't broken down on the Freeway from loosing power or had my charge port melt and everything seems to work fine thus far besides the small bugs like the wine of the motor and a few weird head to the dealer error codes. I had a recall software update that did something helpful Toyota tells me. I feel like I must have avoided some issues that the 2012 drivers experienced.

I'm waiting for a replacement DU at Toyota of El Cajon. Does anyone else get anything in writing saying the part is on order? So far just a verbal "we are ordering a DU for your car." I'm about a month in on the wait, 25k miles on my 2014.

evdrive said:

davewill said:

evdrive said:

...
I waited and leased the 2014 model hoping that they would have worked some of the earlier bugs out. Seems to have been a good idea.

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Really? There's been nothing here to suggest that the newer cars or newer replacements are lasting any longer than the earlier ones.

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I haven't broken down on the Freeway from loosing power or had my charge port melt and everything seems to work fine thus far besides the small bugs like the wine of the motor and a few weird head to the dealer error codes. I had a recall software update that did something helpful Toyota tells me. I feel like I must have avoided some issues that the 2012 drivers experienced.

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The charge port melting wasn't an issues with the car... it was the Rema (Germany) supplied plug to Blink for their poorly designed, government funded charge station. The same thing could happen to any car (and did).

The break down on the freeway issue happened on one of my 2014s, and never on my 2012. That isn't because one is better than the other... they all had exactly the same speed sensor. It was the luck of the draw, which resulted in a U.S. Government recall that affected ALL 2012-2014 RAV4 EVs.

There have been MANY firmware upgrades, and ANY model year Rav4 EV can get the newest update. There was not a single new Rav4 EV that was delivered from the factory with the latest government required 1.3.101 firmware. None.

As you experienced, all model year cars get the "Check EV System" error code-of-the-day, even your 2014. All model year cars are eligible to get the motor whine (milling sound), again, as you have experience.

Of our three Rav4 EVs, one early 2012, two 2014s, all have had the motor replaced at least once. We just did the silver 2014 in Washington state about a month ago (at 33,000 miles).

If getting a car with a newer model year makes you feel good, that's great. But, expecting a different performance from the same car, regardless of the model year, is unlikely. All the cars were the same, up to and including the "optional" floor mats, that every car had.

The VIN is different, and there were four total exterior colors (two whites, silver and blue).

That's it.

@ Tony, well my logic was to get a newer one when the bugs were worked out. It sounds like Toyota is no agile development house like Tesla is.

So all the replaced motors are just refurbished old ones? We're not getting new motors?

fromport said:

B-Bob said:

Currently having my 4th drive unit (3rd replacement) installed at Carlsbad now.

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At what miles were they replaced in your case ?

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I'd have to go back any review my paperwork for sure, but best I can remember the first was at 37k, the second around 55k and the third was just 2 weeks after the 2nd.
First two were due to the milling noise between 20-30mph the third was due to a clunking noise when excelerating and braking which Toyota defined as "excessive back lash" in the replacement drive unit.

evdrive said:

So all the replaced motors are just refurbished old ones? We're not getting new motors?

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Yes, they are constantly refurbished.