PHEV USA Safety Recall?

[Nick72]

https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-is-conducting-a-safety-recall-involving-certain-rav4-prime-vehicles/

 

Anyone know if this affects UK? Seems to be to do with switching from EV mode and flooring it can cause complete loss of power. Not had that problem but have in the past had issues on a car park with no power available. Had to switch off and restart.  

[ernieb]

8 hours ago, Nick72 said:

https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-is-conducting-a-safety-recall-involving-certain-rav4-prime-vehicles/

 

Anyone know if this affects UK? Seems to be to do with switching from EV mode and flooring it can cause complete loss of power. Not had that problem but have in the past had issues on a car park with no power available. Had to switch off and restart.  

New to me but I do like the stating of the B******* obvious, "System shut down with loss of motive power at higher speeds can increase the risk of a crash"

[nlee]

Seem to remember something very similar to this happened to someone on here while driving on the motorway???

[Nick72]

Yeh I recall that too. Wonder if this affects us then?

[TonyHSD]

On 2/11/2023 at 6:12 PM, Nick72 said:

Yeh I recall that too. Wonder if this affects us then?

It might be in relation to this 

 

[Catlover]

On 2/11/2023 at 7:37 AM, ernieb said:

New to me but I do like the stating of the B******* obvious, "System shut down with loss of motive power at higher speeds can increase the risk of a crash"

See your point about “the obvious”, but it is probably there at the advice of a legal bod. Likely chance if ever there was an accident because of this problem amd the obvious wasn’t stated the vehicle manufacturer could be hung drawn and quartered for failing to war n of the obvious.

[Strangely Brown]

The recall is related to use of EV mode for too long in low temperatures causing the Battery to drop below its safety threshold.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/02/toyota-will-recall-16680-rav4-primes-due-to-faulty-battery-software/

[Cyker]

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

See your point about “the obvious”, but it is probably there at the advice of a legal bod. Likely chance if ever there was an accident because of this problem amd the obvious wasn’t stated the vehicle manufacturer could be hung drawn and quartered for failing to war n of the obvious.

Indeed, esp. given this is from the same country that couldn't figure out floor mats themselves  

 

[HSDish]

11 hours ago, Strangely Brown said:

The recall is related to use of EV mode for too long in low temperatures causing the battery to drop below its safety threshold.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/02/toyota-will-recall-16680-rav4-primes-due-to-faulty-battery-software/

Heard ,today, about this recall here in Sweden to

[Nick72]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:24 AM, Strangely Brown said:

The recall is related to use of EV mode for too long in low temperatures causing the battery to drop below its safety threshold.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/02/toyota-will-recall-16680-rav4-primes-due-to-faulty-battery-software/

Would that just mean hybrid mode kicks in and the ICE starts?

[Nick72]

Oh I really don't want another dealership visit. Such a faff and then they'll c up the update and reset some of the other updates causing problems like they did last time. 

[Strangely Brown]

2 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Would that just mean hybrid mode kicks in and the ICE starts?

I would have thought so.

I suspect that in some v.low temperature situations, with extended [excessive?] use of EV mode, the detection of the depleted state and it taking action may be late enough that the high-voltage Battery runs down into the area that it is supposed to preserve to prevent damage?

Article said:

"To be more specific, the problem can occur in cold weather. If the RAV4 Prime has been driven continuously in "EV mode," (just using the plug-in hybrid Battery, not the internal combustion engine) and the accelerator pedal is then press rapidly to accelerate the vehicle, it's possible for the Battery to drop below a specified threshold. "If this occurs, the vehicle will display a warning message and the hybrid system will shut down, resulting in a loss of motive power."

That sounds like it may be already too late to simply start the ICE at that point.

[nlee]

Maybe it's the "threshold" is just set too high? As we know, under normal EV driving the ICE kicks in with 30% capacity remaining, around 5.4kwh. Under normal driving that should be enough for another 20 miles. If you happened to floor it, just at the point where the ICE was about to kick in, and use the full power of front and rear motors (174kw), highly unlikely they would ever be at max power for long, it should theoretically still have around 2 mins, which should be enough time to think to start the ICE.

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, nlee said:

set too high

Where "too high" is too low?

Either way, a 'umble HEV has only around 1.5kWh of Battery to start with and we have no problem (touch wood) switching between EV and hybrid mode ... 😉

[nlee]

26 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Where "too high" is too low?

I meant too high as in it kicks in the protection at 4kwh remaining capacity rather than 2kwh as an example.

Exactly as you say for the HEV, so it suggests the protection could be coming in too early or the measures it takes are too severe. Albeit the motors on the HEV aren't as big so suck less juice.

[Nick72]

21 hours ago, Strangely Brown said:

I would have thought so.

I suspect that in some v.low temperature situations, with extended [excessive?] use of EV mode, the detection of the depleted state and it taking action may be late enough that the high-voltage battery runs down into the area that it is supposed to preserve to prevent damage?

Article said:

"To be more specific, the problem can occur in cold weather. If the RAV4 Prime has been driven continuously in "EV mode," (just using the plug-in hybrid battery, not the internal combustion engine) and the accelerator pedal is then press rapidly to accelerate the vehicle, it's possible for the battery to drop below a specified threshold. "If this occurs, the vehicle will display a warning message and the hybrid system will shut down, resulting in a loss of motive power."

That sounds like it may be already too late to simply start the ICE at that point.

Definitely set the threshold wrong then for the reserve that enables hybrid mode. Shockingly 💩 engineering. Although it does sound like a corner case.

[HSDish]

Got this from Toyota here in Sweden today

[Nick72]

On 2/21/2023 at 11:28 AM, HSDish said:

Got this from Toyota here in Sweden today

Interesting. Wonder if we'll see this in UK. Interesting to note the point about the DCM. I think this is the failure to shut down issue that was draining the Battery which I had. Murder for many weeks of repeating  flat Battery. No problems whatsoever since they updated it. 

[HSDish]

On 2/22/2023 at 10:47 PM, Nick72 said:

Interesting. Wonder if we'll see this in UK. Interesting to note the point about the DCM. I think this is the failure to shut down issue that was draining the battery which I had. Murder for many weeks of repeating  flat battery. No problems whatsoever since they updated it. 

We are going to get the (12v) update by Toyota dealer/garage 9 march. In fact there is two (both mentioned) updates to be done on our car

[Phil T]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:12 AM, TonyHSD said:

It might be in relation to this 

 

What does the READY in green refer to?

[TonyHSD]

4 hours ago, Phil T said:

What does the READY in green refer to?

It means the car is ON and ready to drive. 

[ernieb]

In READY mode the 12v Battery inverter is working as is the A/C Heating systems as Tony says it's ready to go. I find the REDAY mode useful if I'm doing any work on the car as it keeps the 12v batter topped up and would generally turn off the A/C heating systems unless I'm in board doing a map update etc.

[ernieb]

Got my ECU recall letter this morning will contact the dealer next week

[nlee]

Me too.

[Hayzee]

5 hours ago, ernieb said:

Got my ECU recall letter this morning will contact the dealer next week

Do you have the recall number please Ernie?