Check EV System warning message

[starlight]

Starlight,
The number is (800) 331-4331. All the best for a quick resolution!

Thanks - will call them maybe on Thursday ?

Just called the service person again- and now waiting for him to call me back
hoping for some good news

Update. They did give me a rental. They agreed to give me one day for free and then see from there. As of yesterday still not sure what to do and are going to open a case with Toyota. They cleared all error codes except for the one that doesn't allow my car to get charged.
They still didn't say if the rental will be free but I'm planning on it to be free.

Update 1/3/2014
So they finally agreed they will pay for my rental. They elevated it to the Toyota Engineers. No resolve of the problem yet.

 

[Braxus]

Well starting to think Toyota/Tesla has no idea what's wrong with the car. Last week Thursday they thought it may be a charging issue. Today they call and they now think the heater unit is dead (can't they find out for sure by using the accessories power draw screen?). Going to to be almost a month without the car now.

 

[starlight]

Another update on mine -
The service dept told me that they had to order a Gateway Computer for my car = and one other one has been waiting for one since Dec 8th - that one gets the first Gateway computer that comes to the service dept . . .

 

[jocaroth]

Hey Starlight- That RAV 4 EV at Stevens Creek Toyota that was brought in on December 8th is mine

Also, I spoke with Kevin at Toyota Corporate in SoCal and the wait is unfortunately just that - the wait.

 

[starlight]

Hey Starlight- That RAV 4 EV at Stevens Creek Toyota that was brought in on December 8th is mine

Also, I spoke with Kevin at Toyota Corporate in SoCal and the wait is unfortunately just that - the wait.

Wow - and they said that there are others that have been waiting for some time for that same part- so even though they project in February, I probably will get mine until after that-

Hope all goes well for your repairs!

 

[jspearman]

A month is not acceptable. They should be pulling these off the new cars on lots and freezing production until they fix what looks to be a recall issue. Not cool, Toyota.

 

[pchilds]

If it were me, I would let them know on day 31, I will be putting in a Lemon Law request. TOYOTA SUCKS! :twisted:

 

[Braxus]

Got my vehicle back today. They replaced the heater unit for the battery and charger on the car taken from another Rav4 EV. Replaced the Super long life coolant and G-48 coolant as well.

As for software updates, they did the TSB-50-13 update which included:

AS PER T-SB-0050-13. REPROGRAMMED EV CONTROL ECU FROM CAL ID#896B34201300 TO CAL ID#866B34201500 & CAL ID#896B5430110 TO CAL ID#896B54201300, REFLASHED GATEWAY ECU FROM VERSION 1.3.57 TO VERSION 1.3.79.

 

[ehelmholtz]

I got my car back yesterday (1/8/14) too! The gateway ECU came faster than the initial estimate of mid February but slower than the expectation of last week of December which was what the dealer told me. The car was in the shop for 3 weeks this time.

 

[dipper]

Just wondering if these slow repair with car sitting at dealership could be case for lemon law.

 

[starlight]

the Gateway ECU came in sooner than they expected, mine was replaced today

 

[JCT]

My rav EV recently shut down while driving on the freeway. It's in the shop now and according to Tesla, the propulsion system needs to be replace. Eta 2 weeks for the parts + a few days to change it out.
I have been reading this thread about all the problems, but have not gone thru all 46 pages yet.
Has anyone who has had their EV repaired experienced the same problem?

 

[miimura]

My rav EV recently shut down while driving on the freeway. It's in the shop now and according to Tesla, the propulsion system needs to be replace. Eta 2 weeks for the parts + a few days to change it out.
I have been reading this thread about all the problems, but have not gone thru all 46 pages yet.
Has anyone who has had their EV repaired experienced the same problem?

Seems like only a few have failed while in motion. I think yours would make 5 that we've counted on the forum. See this thread. Usually when it fails like your did, it's an inverter failure. They replace the whole motor-inverter assembly - the big cylindrical thing in these pictures.

 

[cwerdna]

My rav EV recently shut down while driving on the freeway. It's in the shop now and according to Tesla, the propulsion system needs to be replace. Eta 2 weeks for the parts + a few days to change it out.

Once the issue is resolved and you've received a receipt w/the diagnosis and work performed, please file a safety complaint at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ (easier to get to than via http://www.safercar.gov). Having that happen while in motion is clearly a safety defect.

 

[Dsinned]

This just happened to mine for the first time yesterday. After a brief initial period of not able to power up to READY concurrent with can't shift into Drive and LOW displayed on the GoM, the "Check EV System . . . take to dealer immediately" message display. Eventually, it recovered but the "Check EV . . ." error message remained. The next morning (after ~4 or 5 restart cycles since the initial failure before, the error message finally disappeared, and everything seemed back to "normal". Obviously, there was something seriously ABNORMAL with the electrical system that triggered the initial malfunction.

The only other "clue" as to what might be going on here is that last week I had my dealer do the latest firmware update (NAV: VB503150 and Gateway ECU: 1.3.79). They also performed an "extended" charge (127 miles on GoM afterwards). This "might" point to some sort of flash memory corruption as a result of the updating procedure, or maybe a static discharge zapped the computer. I DUNNO, as everything seemed fine when I picked it up and drove home and a couple more times after that last weekend (without any plugging-in/recharges since the dealer did the extended charge).

I have only read thru the first 10 pages of this thread . . . but this is very troubling and perhaps all of which is leading up Toyota doing a Safety "RECALL" on the RAV4 EV. :shock:

 

[jspearman]

This just happened to mine for the first time yesterday. After a brief initial period of "no start / can't shift into Drive" with the Check EV . . . take to dealer immediately message, it recovered but error message remained. The next morning (after ~ 4 or 5 On/Off start cycles from the initial failure the day before, the error simply disappeared, and car seemed back to "normal". There is something fouled up in the electronics as initially the GoM read "Low", (even though it last read ~50 miles), then suddenly showed a more accurate reading, but the Check EV error did not clear.

The only other "clue" as to what might be going on here is that last week I had my dealer do the latest firmware update (NAV: VB503150 and Gateway ECU: 1.3.79) and an "extended" charge (127 miles on GoM afterwards). This "might" point to the some sort of flash memory corruption problem as a result of the updating procedure, or maybe a static discharge got to the computer. DUNNO, as everything seemed fine when I picked it up and drove it home and a couple times after that (without any plugging-in/recharges).

I have only read thru the first 10 pages of this thread . . . but this all is very troubling to me now and perhaps leading up to a Safety "RECALL". :shock:

This is absolutely a recall. It is a serious safety issue if cars are dying at full speed on the highway, and Toyota shouldn't wait for someone to get killed before they fix this. My wife drives on busy highways every day for work and I'm genuinely worried now, as the Gateway ECU seems like a ticking bomb. I hope all of you who have had a problem have contacted the NHTSA.

 

[qwk]

The sad part is that Toyota would absolutely love to have a recall that leads straight to the crusher. Then all of their headaches are over.

 

[ocdxfv]

I've been watching this topic for a while. Thanks for everyone's participation. I've had the same problem as many of you, with my car stopping while going 75 mph in the carpool lane in rush hour traffic. I was able to get through 6 lanes of traffic to the right shoulder, where I restarted it and drove directly to the dealer in Tustin. After a week's wait and a few phone calls, I finally found out today that they will be replacing the motor, and they don't know how long it will take to get it from Tesla. They estimate 1-3 weeks. I thought when I purchased this car that I was going to have access to "state of the art" technology. It turns out I may have been wrong. Tesla's stock did pretty well today and I wish them well, but I sold mine today and am feeling pretty happy that I don't own any Toyota stock. This is my first Toyota (I've been driving for 45 years) and unless something miraculous happens, it will likely be my last. I really like this car. I hope they resolve this quickly.

 

[Dsinned]

The Gateway Logic Control module has a coin cell battery on the circuit board assembly. (In the image shown below, it is the circular device in the lower left hand corner clipped to a coin cell battery holder.) This battery looks like the same type of 3V battery used by many automotive key fobs, which usually become weak and need to be replaced after about a year in the field.

Just as a suggestion, anybody in the process of having their Tesla Gateway Logic control module replaced should ask the Dealer's Service Technician to measure the voltage of this battery to see if it could possibly be the cause of THIS PROBLEM!!! Even anybody with a car in the shop for troubleshooting this problem and/or a firmware update, should suggest that this "replaceable", coin cell battery be checked for a proper voltage (which presumably should be at least 3V dc).

 

[pchilds]

That coin cell is soldered. Unlike the remote, the only time it is used is when the 12 volt battery is dead or disconnected. It should have a 10+ year lifespan.