Check EV System warning message

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Ok well, I spoke too soon :)

Took the RAV4EV back to the dealer because the heater wasn't working. It stopped working when I took it in for the "Check EV System" message(as in, the heater was working that morning when I took it in, but not working the next morning).

I brought it in thinking someone had forgotten to reconnect something before they sent it out, and it would be an easy fix. Very naive of me. What they said is that the DC-DC converter has to be replaced. However, the DC-DC converter is back-ordered and it is going to take approximately ONE MONTH to get. They said there are 18 on back-order at the moment, meaning their are 18 other RAV4EVs that need the same part and we are 19th in line. They gave me a rental for a month and I left.

I work in an electrical industry, and I spec, test and install DC-DC converters all the time. Unless this one is made out of fairy dust, it's just not that special of a technology that it should take this long. Hell, if I knew the specs I'm sure I could find one elsewhere and bolt it in.

I'm going to guess that this is a Tesla part, and Tesla just has bigger fish to fry.

I did find this interesting PDF online. Someone else probably already found it, but I thought I would post a link anyway:

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/rav4evdisman2nd.pdf
 
My 2012 has been in a local Toyota dealer's shop for the past 8 days. Why? Most likely because Toyota needs "authorization" from Tesla to replace the DC-DC Converter. It is not 100% certain that is the culprit, but based on the symptoms of the problem, it probably is at least 95%. If the DC-DC module in my car takes 30+ days to be replaced, and the car remains unserviceable in the shop for that long, technically, I have the grounds to file for a buyback under the CA Lemon Law. I don't intend to do so, as I have a rental car for as long as this goes on. Nevertheless, there is a degree of insanity here . . . namely the ridiculously slow supply chain issue between Toyota and Tesla. Btw, I wonder how many Tesla Gateway ECMs in our RAV4 EVs have been replaced at ~$3500 a pop? :roll:
 
I asked the service manager at the dealer if that was the problem, that this part is Tesla's and they have to wait for them....he hemmed and hawed, like he already got direction not to bad-mouth Tesla or something. He finally said "I'm not sure". I got the impression it was, but take it as you will.

Overall, I have to say that I think the dealer is doing a fine job so far. They are at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Why does Toyota not stock these parts? Like every other part?
Click to expand...
If I had to guess, I'd say that Tesla is financially responsible for the warranty replacement on those parts. Therefore Toyota doesn't want to spend any money on those parts...even the storage of them. Nevermind that it's penny-wise and pound foolish when they are having to pony up extra bucks for loaner cars because of the delays. When some of the cars go out of warranty, they may decide it's worth stocking some of the parts.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Why does Toyota not stock these parts? Like every other part?
Click to expand...

Good question, especially now that this is a known problem. Of course, it could also be Tesla, saying "Yeah, Yeah, We'll get to it" and they never do. We will probably never know the real story.
 
So far I'm up over a month since my car has been in the shop at Steven's Creek Toyota in San Jose. I get a periodic call from the service manager telling me that Tesla authorized them to look at another thing but they still haven't done anything yet nor do they know what the issue is. They haven't replaced any parts or done anything other than test things. It seems 95% of the time that my car has been in the shop has been sitting around doing nothing and once in a while they will look at something then send data over to Tesla and wait again. If they had any motivation or means to actually work on things directly in house, this would probably be taken care of much faster.

So with a month+ in the shop, I'm starting to wonder what my options (future) with the car will be. I'm on a lease and planned on buying it out at the end of that but I am starting to have some doubts now. The manager keeps telling me that at least they have provided me a loaner (Camry SE) like they are doing me a favor... Forget the fact that I have my Rav4 EV for the White sticker use and the fact that my gas costs are back.
 
itsmebubba said:
So far I'm up over a month since my car has been in the shop at Steven's Creek Toyota in San Jose. I get a periodic call from the service manager telling me that Tesla authorized them to look at another thing but they still haven't done anything yet nor do they know what the issue is. They haven't replaced any parts or done anything other than test things. It seems 95% of the time that my car has been in the shop has been sitting around doing nothing and once in a while they will look at something then send data over to Tesla and wait again. If they had any motivation or means to actually work on things directly in house, this would probably be taken care of much faster.

So with a month+ in the shop, I'm starting to wonder what my options (future) with the car will be. I'm on a lease and planned on buying it out at the end of that but I am starting to have some doubts now. The manager keeps telling me that at least they have provided me a loaner (Camry SE) like they are doing me a favor... Forget the fact that I have my Rav4 EV for the White sticker use and the fact that my gas costs are back.
Click to expand...
Escalate to Toyota corporate. The dealer clearly needs more help resolving your problem.
 
I had the same experience with my car except at Piercey Toyota in Milpitas. It was in the shop for 10 work days and after numerous delays, while "checking with Tesla", nothing was ever done to acatually fix the problem. While the car was there, the problem apparently disappeared, so there was nothing to fix. I had a late model PRIUS loaner w/o the HOV stickers and was out about $20 for the gas usage. The problem has thus far not reoccurred, so I guess all's well that ends well, but I'm keeping a close eye on it nevertheless, as if I'm driving a car with a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off (again). :roll:
 
itsmebubba said:
So far I'm up over a month since my car has been in the shop at Steven's Creek Toyota in San Jose. I get a periodic call from the service manager telling me that Tesla authorized them to look at another thing but they still haven't done anything yet nor do they know what the issue is. They haven't replaced any parts or done anything other than test things. It seems 95% of the time that my car has been in the shop has been sitting around doing nothing and once in a while they will look at something then send data over to Tesla and wait again. If they had any motivation or means to actually work on things directly in house, this would probably be taken care of much faster.

So with a month+ in the shop, I'm starting to wonder what my options (future) with the car will be. I'm on a lease and planned on buying it out at the end of that but I am starting to have some doubts now. The manager keeps telling me that at least they have provided me a loaner (Camry SE) like they are doing me a favor... Forget the fact that I have my Rav4 EV for the White sticker use and the fact that my gas costs are back.
Click to expand...



After 46 days I received my RAV back yesterday. They replaced the drive unit assembly which is supposed to fix my issue of the car losing power. Glad to finaly get my car back but I'm not sure if I want to keep it or not because of this experience. My initial intention was to buy out the car after the lease is up but I'm having second thoughts. I've even considered claiming lemon law. I called Toyota Corporate last week and the best answer they had was that they are at Tesla's mercy which I told them was a terrible excuse. They agreed but thats all they had to say. They did offer to pay for a month of my car payment which was a nice gesture but I called to see how they could fix my car faster. The dealer gave me a Prius Plug In so I was still able to commute to work in the HOV lane which made this situation a lot better. I recommend you call Toyota Corporate for sure just to put a little pressure on them and try to get them to pay for the gas you incurred as well as your car payment. I will be calling them this week to get my one month car payment.
 
toyo33 said:
After 46 days I received my RAV back yesterday. They replaced the drive unit assembly which is supposed to fix my issue of the car losing power. Glad to finaly get my car back but I'm not sure if I want to keep it or not because of this experience. My initial intention was to buy out the car after the lease is up but I'm having second thoughts. I've even considered claiming lemon law. I called Toyota Corporate last week and the best answer they had was that they are at Tesla's mercy which I told them was a terrible excuse. They agreed but thats all they had to say. /quote]

It boggles the mind that the largest automotive company in the world is held hostage by the smallest. I can't believe whoever negotiated this deal didn't include a minimum # of inventory pieces to be held in stock, if not under Toyota's control, at least at Tesla. It seems like no minimum replacement part inventory was required and Tesla just replaces parts as it can (or refurbishes returned parts). Normally, a supplier's feet are really held to the fire to ensure they support the OEM in a manner that would not disrupt production or warranty, to avoid the exact experience we are having. I'm into week 6 without a heater and what is worse is that Toyota has no information from Tesla with regard to lead time. Obviously Tesla knows the lead time, but the fact that Toyota has no mechanism in which to get access to that information is crazy! Just "entering it into the system and waiting" is not realistic in today's advanced supply chain management.

I'm sure I will get my heater fixed in time for summer. I'm very patient and acknowledge the risks I took buying this car, especially out of state, but not having any confidence that Tesla is able to replace a part within 2 months is a huge disappointing realization. Thank goodness my failed part didn't disable the use of my car, as no loaner is available to me.
Click to expand...
 
TonyWilliams said:
Toyota is responsible for the heater, not Tesla.

If the DC to DC is out because of the heater failure, that would come from Tesla.
Click to expand...

Toyota is responsible for everything, but whatever has caused my heater to stop working, Toyota is waiting on Tesla. So it doesn't matter if Denso makes the heating element and someone else manufactured the coolant pump. The fact that no entity carries stock of any of these components is the core problem. If it was part of Toyota's stocking responsibility, they would not be waiting around on Tesla.

My DC/DC still works. My heater does not. Toyota is waiting on Telsa for the part, whatever that is. The fact that that they would have to replace the entire DC/DC for $5k (as has been mentioned on this list) to fix a heater problem makes the car is a huge risk once it is out of warranty.
 
Well I got my car back from the dealer. It seems to be working properly. The heater...well, it heats now, and it took just as long as they said it would to get the part in. So I am happy that at least the information the dealer gave me was accurate.

I will report in if anything else happens.
 
Well, I got the "Check EV System" message and "Check Power Steering" (the power steering was still working) tonight.

The car popped into Neutral while cruising down the highway (in the high-speed HOV lane at night) at 70mph. 13 months since purchase, 18,000 miles.

The main contactor did NOT open up, and the DC to DC remained working to charge the 12 volt. The car rolled to a stop and was completely controllable. I put the 4 way flashers on while the cars wizzed by at 70-80mph a few feet to my left. There was no escape! I turned the car off with the power button.

I considered getting out of the car to disconnect the 12 volt (to reset the computer), but sanity quickly prevailed. So, I removed the main traction battery disconnect. My first thought was that I could have popped a main fuse, but that didn't make sense since the power was clearly still flowing to the 12 volt battery.

Anyhoo, I sheepishly smelled the main disconnect like that would help me determine if it was ok. After a quick shrug of the shoulders, I popped it back in and hoped for the best. The car started back up and went in Drive, but the Check EV message remained. So, off I went for about one quarter mile where it popped into Neutral again. Without doing anything else, I turned the car off and on, and once again it would power the car in Drive a short distance. I rolled most of the way home, going through this Neutral, off, on, Drive until I made it home.

Once at home, I turned the car on and off the required four times in a row to reset the error message. On the fourth time, it started up like nothing ever happened.

I suspect that this is a future new gateway computer, and since it didn't strand me, I'm loathe to drive it to the dealer for them to tell me everything is ok (I just did that not too long ago for a failed charge).

I suspect when it finally dies, I'll just ring up the tow truck and have it delivered to Carlsbad Toyota.
 
Sorry to hear this. When this happened to me 2 days after purchase, both the propulsion unit and the cpu were replaced. Perhaps you should get it serviced before it happens again which most likely will occur.
 
Ntd said:
Sorry to hear this. When this happened to me 2 days after purchase, both the propulsion unit and the cpu were replaced. Perhaps you should get it serviced before it happens again which most likely will occur.
Click to expand...

Ya, I can't put my head in the sand over this. I think I'll just drive it to the dealer for replacement.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Ntd said:
Sorry to hear this. When this happened to me 2 days after purchase, both the propulsion unit and the cpu were replaced. Perhaps you should get it serviced before it happens again which most likely will occur.
Click to expand...

Ya, I can't put my head in the sand over this. I think I'll just drive it to the dealer for replacement.
Click to expand...
When I was at Carson Toyota the other day, the service manager told me that they (through tesla ?) can get a lot of information about what happens on the level of High Voltage. At least you can ask them to remotely get a copy of the log.
That way they can see that it was genuinely there, and you are just the smartest EV driver to temporary fix it yourself and even get the error message reset. Normally they would have had the car towed in and do all that themselves.

So the reset error procedure is just turn it on/off 4 times in a row ?
Why didn't you do that next to the road ?

This really doesn't sound good, meaning this could happen to each and anyone of us at "some time"
I will buy the extended warranty asap. :-(
 

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