6 Years in our Rav4 EV

[miimura]

I was hoping to get at least one reply germane to the question - has anybody here gotten their motor replaced under warranty for excessive low-speed (5 - 30 mph) noise that occurred only when the accelerator was applied? About how loud was it? I'd appreciate hearing people's experience with similar issues.

Yes, mine was like that. The noise would come on under light accelerator application and go away when coasting without regen. At freeway speed, the other noises like tire and wind noise became greater and I couldn't hear it. As it got louder, you could hear it in B mode regen too. I had mine replaced at Palo Alto just before the 5 year Powertrain Warranty expired. At about the 3-4 year point I had a clunk under torque reversal. I had to drive it with the EV master tech so he could hear it and at the time I asked him about the noise and he told me that it wasn't loud enough yet. I always work with the service writer Alex Ramirez and when I told him that I wanted it evaluated for noise he never tried to ask me for an evaluation fee. I take my RAV there every 5k miles for tire rotation and inspection. Those visits are cheap, only about $60. They also did all the EV coolant and A/C related stuff after a front end collision required replacing all the radiators and AC condenser.

 

[jimbo69ny]

You guys are probably hearing the low speed noise maker. Its a speaker under the 12v battery that makes a jetsons like noise so pedestrians can hear you. It goes away as you speed up, I dont remember what speed exactly but around 10 mph. By that point you cant hear it over the wind noise anyway. You can unplug it if you dont like it.

If you are hearing a high pitched whine at high speed then that is a motor issue.

 

[user 340]

I was hoping to get at least one reply germane to the question - has anybody here gotten their motor replaced under warranty for excessive low-speed (5 - 30 mph) noise that occurred only when the accelerator was applied? About how loud was it? I'd appreciate hearing people's experience with similar issues.

Yes, mine was like that. The noise would come on under light accelerator application and go away when coasting without regen. At freeway speed, the other noises like tire and wind noise became greater and I couldn't hear it. As it got louder, you could hear it in B mode regen too. I had mine replaced at Palo Alto just before the 5 year Powertrain Warranty expired. At about the 3-4 year point I had a clunk under torque reversal. I had to drive it with the EV master tech so he could hear it and at the time I asked him about the noise and he told me that it wasn't loud enough yet. I always work with the service writer Alex Ramirez and when I told him that I wanted it evaluated for noise he never tried to ask me for an evaluation fee. I take my RAV there every 5k miles for tire rotation and inspection. Those visits are cheap, only about $60. They also did all the EV coolant and A/C related stuff after a front end collision required replacing all the radiators and AC condenser.

This is really helpful -thanks miimura!
I'll use this info if Toyota PA presses me for payment for evaluating the noise.

This is definitely NOT the 'Prius UFO' low speed noisemaker

 

[davewill]

Yeah my first motor replacement had that symptom (only under acceleration) . The second was more constant.