My RAV4EV stopped middle of the expressway - options?

[rav4user_re]

HI Guys,

I had ~50miles left on the battery and yet I lost traction middle of the road a month ago. Radio and all other things were fine. I had the dashboard say "Check EV System". I had to pull over and thankfully I was on the right most lane when it happened. So I called SOS and had to tow the car to the service center. They replaced drive unit, traction motor and negative motor. Whole thing took almost good 3.5 weeks.

I got the recall taken care last Aug 2015 - so this issue is after the recall.

Now, I don't have any confidence with the vehicle. What if this thing happens on the freeway? I am pretty scared. I have one more year on the lease. What are my options? I would really like to get out of the lease.

 

[smkettner]

With a new drive unit your RAV is probably more reliable than most right now.

 

[fromport]

With a new drive unit your RAV is probably more reliable than most right now.

Mine is already on first new drive unit 10k miles ago and crapped out on me 3 times in 5 weeks.

Toyota "suspects" all the after market gadgets like:
-charging power display (volt/amp meter)
-JDemo
-dash cam
-trailer hitch (only used for bike rack once)
is to blame.

There is a thread to lemon law btw:

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8300#p8300

 

[TonyWilliams]

Well, we have no way to know what the problem is with your car since the technicians clearly don't know what's wrong with your car. When they start replacing a whole bunch of parts for one problem that means they are guessing.

I don't think that there's anything new here at all and that if the car were properly diagnosed, we would obviously know the problem. The two problems that are known to make the car stop like that are the speed sensor and the gateway computer.

I suspect quite strongly that it's the speed sensor. The reason I suspect that is because the way the problem was fixed by Tesla / Toyota. That fix was not by replacing the speed sensor for a more reliable speed sensor... they merely wrote code to mask the problem and I doubt that there was a whole lot of testing performed to verify that... they were mostly concerned with meeting a government mandate.

The good news is when they replaced your motor, they replaced the speed sensor at the same time. So, it's unlikely that the situation will persist. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it.

If you're that concerned about it, you can sell the car to me right now. You don't have to wait for the end of the lease to sell the car. Otherwise, make sure that your SOS button works and maybe keep your mobile phone charged. Perhaps AAA towing would help?

 

[DevinL]

Please also file a complaint with NHTSA, which you can do by following this link.

With enough complaints a new investigation may be opened and could force Toyota to come up with a proper speed sensor fix. Make sure to specify in your complaint that the recall to fix this issue had been performed, yet you still experienced the issue.

 

[user 340]

Please also file a complaint with NHTSA, which you can do by following this link.

With enough complaints a new investigation may be opened and could force Toyota to come up with a proper speed sensor fix. Make sure to specify in your complaint that the recall to fix this issue had been performed, yet you still experienced the issue.

+1 to that - we need to let the NHTSA know that this is still a real and dangerous problem and the current "fix" is inadequate. Toyota will not acknowledge the problem if you report it to a dealer - you have to go through the NHTSA.

 

[rav4user_re]

Thanks guys for replies. And for the NHTSA link.

I just filed NHTSA complaint with all the documentation. Photos of the dashboard and paper work from the dealer.

 

[rav4user_re]

@TonyWilliams how can you so confident and wouldn't worry about it.

During my last Aug recall fix, I escalated the case to Toyota corporate office to give assurance on the fix and it wouldn't happen. They said that they have very high confidence on the fix and car wouldn't stop middle of the road - of course with regular disclaimer that they are doing their best and nothing is for sure. I can understand their stand but at the end of the day, it is me driving the car every single day on highway and expressway.

@fromport have you returned your car? How do I use lemon law - do you recommend any lawyer? I am in SF area.

 

[fromport]

@fromport have you returned your car? How do I use lemon law - do you recommend any lawyer? I am in SF area.

No, it crapped out on me last week, waiting for it to happen again.
I was driving, 3 bars left. The check ev system came on.
turtle light came on, everything said I should stop immediately .
I was on a 45 mph 2 lane street, doing 40 mph in the right lane about 1 mile from my home.
it kept driving and about a minute later only the check ev message was still displayed but the turtle symbol etc had disapeared.
Couldn't take pictures because I was driving of course.

Next time it happens, will use the SOS button and have it towed to the dealership again.
I opened a lemon law claim with toyota directly (without lawyer)
Kevin from Toyota called me the next day and told me i would get a response within 28 days.
After 30 days I emailed Kevin and he "assured" me I would get a response real soon.
The response came and of course they think nothing is wrong according to them.

With the next time happening, I will have 3 times the failure within 6 weeks.
I will go to the lemon lawyer that has been mentioned here multiple times:

THE BICKEL LAW FIRM, INC.
T: 888.800.1983
F: 888.421.0785
www.bickellawfirm.com
[email protected]

You should however negotiate that there are no costs for you when you "win"
Normally they want about a $1000 from you.
and of course when you loose you have to pay the lawyer costs for toyota

Hope this helps

 

[user 340]

Thanks guys for replies. And for the NHTSA link.

I just filed NHTSA complaint with all the documentation. Photos of the dashboard and paper work from the dealer.

Excellent - thank you. Did you note that this happened after the safety recall firmware 1.3.101 had been applied?

 

[TonyWilliams]

@TonyWilliams how can you so confident and wouldn't worry about it.

During my last Aug recall fix, I escalated the case to Toyota corporate office to give assurance on the fix and it wouldn't happen. They said that they have very high confidence on the fix and car wouldn't stop middle of the road - of course with regular disclaimer that they are doing their best and nothing is for sure. I can understand their stand but at the end of the day, it is me driving the car every single day on highway and expressway.

@fromport have you returned your car? How do I use lemon law - do you recommend any lawyer? I am in SF area.

Well, with respect to keeping the car, I wouldn't worry about it. If it happens again, you:

1) document the situation when it occurs

2) notify Toyota

3) have the car towed and let Toyota fix it

If that happens enough times and you don't want the car, lemon law it. I have to say, however, that if there is a "real issue" with the car, I would not waste one moment of my time going through the Toyota arbitration process again. Just jump straight to paid legal help, which to my knowledge is successful nearly 100% of the time.

I have personally have been through the Toyota arbitration process and while I thought it was a reasonably fair setting, the outcome surely pay very little regard to the actual failures of my car. As fromport has experienced, they want to make it about everything but their car. A true legal setting won't be biased towards Toyota, but instead will actually be a bit biased towards consumer protection.

I'm sensing that, as I had predicted earlier, the quick fix with software isn't the actual answer to the speed sensor problem. They got the government off their back and saved themselves some money so far. They can bully a few people who do have issues and maybe sweep this all under the carpet.

Just business as usual in corporate America.

 

[rav4user_re]

Excellent - thank you. Did you note that this happened after the safety recall firmware 1.3.101 had been applied?

Yes. I have included that info as well.

 

[evdrive]

How easy was it to safely steer and control the car after it went into nuetral?