Check EV System warning message

[the2bobs]

I haven't really decided what approach to take with Toyota at this point. If I get another Check EV System light it will be the 4th time I've had to take it to a dealer (hence the 32 days in the shop) and I will most likely request a new one under the Lemon Law. Even if nothing else goes wrong though I was still downsized to a Prius for several weeks, a Camry for another visit, and wasn't even given a loaner car the first time. While waiting for the new part to arrive I was unable to check on my car with Entune which leads me to believe the battery was disconnected for several weeks of high heat (wouldn't this prevent the TMS from kicking in to keep the battery healthy?) with ~ 80% SOC. I'm not sure whether to pursue and extended warranty on the battery or some other type of compensation to make up for the inconvenience and lost time that resulted from this but I'll let everyone know how it turns out. With all the other issues with the Check EV System I'm not terribly confident that my troubles are over at this point. I love the Rav4 EV but I wanted to be on the leading edge, not the bleeding edge.

 

[Vach]

I haven't really decided what approach to take with Toyota at this point. If I get another Check EV System light it will be the 4th time I've had to take it to a dealer (hence the 32 days in the shop) and I will most likely request a new one under the Lemon Law. Even if nothing else goes wrong though I was still downsized to a Prius for several weeks, a Camry for another visit, and wasn't even given a loaner car the first time. While waiting for the new part to arrive I was unable to check on my car with Entune which leads me to believe the battery was disconnected for several weeks of high heat (wouldn't this prevent the TMS from kicking in to keep the battery healthy?) with ~ 80% SOC. I'm not sure whether to pursue and extended warranty on the battery or some other type of compensation to make up for the inconvenience and lost time that resulted from this but I'll let everyone know how it turns out. With all the other issues with the Check EV System I'm not terribly confident that my troubles are over at this point. I love the Rav4 EV but I wanted to be on the leading edge, not the bleeding edge.

That's over the legal limit for the Lemon Law. I think it's time to go that route. Might as well give you something new, or just get money out of it and pick something that doesn't have as much new technology.

At least that is my opinion.

 

[gary2020]

So my car has been in the shop for over 2 weeks now.
THey finally told me last week that they are going to replace the gateway ECU...suprise, surprise.
My service advisor said normally Toyota would have issued a recall but since Tesla is in on this project, Tesla does not.
Who really knows...but the gateway ECU is on backorder until tomorrow supposedly...
We have had a loaner prius.
Good news is my electricity bill has been down. Bad news is probably in the gas money.
I really just want my car back and running fine...
It's like we broke up and getting back together.

sighhhhh.....

 

[Vach]

Really? Your service adviser said that would normally result in a recall? For safety or just because it is expensive? ...or was it just a casual conversation?

I would think Tesla wouldn't have a say in any of that. Don't they get their money either way?

 

[Ampster]

I have been getting the EV warning for the past 10 days but because it always cleared and because of previous vacation plans I didn't take it in until today.

This morning the EV warning came on and the steering wheel was locked. I had an appointment that I needed to get to so I recycled through the boot up process until the steering wheel unlocked. The warning screen remained on so after my appointment I took it to the dealer. I got my usual service advisor who is knowledgeable about EV's and he knew this was going to take some time for the dialogue between Toyota and Tesla. The good news is I got a Prius Plugin as a loaner car.

What I learned from the conversation with the service guy is that the prior EV warning messages remained in the system until cleared by Toyota, so I could have taken the RAV in last week, before my road trip up north. My road trip was in a ICE.

 

[gary2020]

OK, so finally got the car back after 21 days exactly...car brought in on a friday, got it back today, friday.
Service report said gateway ECU replaced and updated firmware again.
NOt much more to say.
Someone asked if Toyota 101 service is good. I think they did okay. Mostly they are tied by tesla. They did what tesla asked and had to wait for Tesla part. They called sometimes to give status, sometimes we called...usually every 4 days or so they would let us know.
Considering, can't fault them much nor can i give them much credit. During that time, we had a standard prius. When my wife dropped the car off, she said the girl behind the counter was excited, saying toyota is paying them (the dealer) over $810 for the 21 days...i had no idea the dealer gets paid for loaners.

My wife drove it home and so far no more lights coming on.
Let's hope it';s fixed.

Oh, and to answer the above question, it was just a casual conversation between my wife and him, saying "Toyota would normally recall this for customer satisfaction" but said Tesla does not want to (did not say why). I know it's a Toyota though...maybe he was BSing.
Is the gateway ECU a Tesla part or a Toyota part?

 

[miimura]

Is the gateway ECU a Tesla part or a Toyota part?

Definitely a Tesla part. See photos here from earlier in this thread.

 

[AvLegends]

OK, so finally got the car back after 21 days exactly...car brought in on a friday, got it back today, friday.
Service report said gateway ECU replaced and updated firmware again.
NOt much more to say.
Someone asked if Toyota 101 service is good. I think they did okay. Mostly they are tied by tesla. They did what tesla asked and had to wait for Tesla part. They called sometimes to give status, sometimes we called...usually every 4 days or so they would let us know.
Considering, can't fault them much nor can i give them much credit. During that time, we had a standard prius. When my wife dropped the car off, she said the girl behind the counter was excited, saying toyota is paying them (the dealer) over $810 for the 21 days...i had no idea the dealer gets paid for loaners.

My wife drove it home and so far no more lights coming on.
Let's hope it';s fixed.

Oh, and to answer the above question, it was just a casual conversation between my wife and him, saying "Toyota would normally recall this for customer satisfaction" but said Tesla does not want to (did not say why). I know it's a Toyota though...maybe he was BSing.
Is the gateway ECU a Tesla part or a Toyota part?

Wow... 3 weeks! :shock: Mine was in for 2. After 1 week the tech took me aside and told me I was "being too nice." The squeaky wheel gets the grease and I started squeaking... to the GM and Toyota (who were complete idiots if you ask me). 1 week later I was going home with a new Gateway ECU.

Don't know if my bitching did any good but at least it gave me a chance to vent! 3 weeks is outrageous (so is 2 weeks) for Tesla to finally get off their ass and show up with this thing under their arm. They know there are known issues with this part and they should make every effort to fix in a reasonable amount of time. Yes, it's Tesla who makes the part and comes on site to fix/replace but Toyota sells us the car and ultimately is responsible for repairs under warranty. We have hashed this out many times before and I'm sure we will be hashing this out for some time to come...

 

[BloomRAV4_EV]

You may want to ensure the latest firmware is flashed in before it ships. They updated mine to 1.3.57.

How does one determine which version of firmware is on the car? Is there any way to do it remotely? I don't have my car yet, but I do have Entune setup and can see the range of the car.

I'll have to poke around and see if I can get a "firmware version" out of anything, but 1.3.57 isn't a revision convention I've seen yet.

I haven't had this problem (and hope not to) but I'm wondering whether my two-week-old car has all the updates, and how many places I'd have to look to find out for myself.

 

[Joe_EV]

You may want to ensure the latest firmware is flashed in before it ships. They updated mine to 1.3.57.

How does one determine which version of firmware is on the car? Is there any way to do it remotely? I don't have my car yet, but I do have Entune setup and can see the range of the car.

I'll have to poke around and see if I can get a "firmware version" out of anything

Hope someone can tell us how, or offer a third-party tool for this, but at this time I don't think we're able to find the firmware version ourselves. Dealers uses special "scanners" to read versions, error codes, etc., and to flash in the updates. I got my version number off the dealer service receipt:

(Note: The service rep combined two of the problems in a slightly misleading way. The "Also fails to complete a charge" part refers to some failed scheduled charges with a "charge interrupted" error, as well as frequent hanging of scheduled and manual charges at the last 10%.)

 

[BloomRAV4_EV]

I'll have to poke around and see if I can get a "firmware version" out of anything

Hope someone can tell us how, or offer a third-party tool for this, but at this time I don't think we're able to find the firmware version ourselves. Dealers uses special "scanners" to read versions, error codes, etc., and to flash in the updates. I got my version number off the dealer service receipt:

I see. I've got a Bluetooth OBD-II tool, was hoping to follow the Prius instructions to disable the constant reverse beep without requiring dealer service, but that hasn't panned out. I've also checked most of the different info / setting screens, but I haven't found any additional information there.

I suspect their special scanner is an OBD with serial interface to a unit that has all of the proprietary codes. I know when I went to update, it just wanted a USB stick with the firmware revision on that. I imagine it's only a matter of time before those updates leak into the wild and we can do it ourselves, but then again that could be wishful thinking. There is a vested interest in not having owners potentially brick their vehicles, after all.

For the sake of argument, if you go to:
Main Menu -> Settings (little cog icon) -> General -> scroll down to System Update

There should be a Model ID, a Navigation, and a Bluetooth version listed. On mine, these are

Model ID: 11TSANNA-AZ03
Navigation: VB503150
Bluetooth: 21.210

What are yours? That might be as close as we get to a definition of 1.3.57 without being able to use Toyota's gear.

 

[Joe_EV]

That's the software for the navigation/entertainment/communications system, not the power train and charging systems. I actually have an older Navigation version (VB503102), but everything else is the same.

 

[BloomRAV4_EV]

That's the software for the navigation/entertainment/communications system, not the power train and charging systems. I actually have an older Navigation version (VB503102), but everything else is the same.

Well, that's no fun. I'm guessing that'd be totally unavailable, or visible only through the Tesla OBD (-ish?) port, which I haven't tried plugging into yet.

Older navigation system, is that also with older maps? I'm saddled with maps / POI info from:

Map Version: 21-12-27 [2012-06-1]
Map Update ID: 1102-7225-0800-2116

It's newer than the nav info in the 2012 model but still a year out of date (two years on the points of interest).

 

[Karen]

Unfortunately, as of July 16, I've joined the "Screen of Death.. Check EV System" Club. Car has less than 2,000 miles on it and had been driving great. Parked it at a shopping center and an hour later was greeted with the death message. I couldn't get the car into reverse but I was on a slight slope and the car started to roll forward (almost into another parked car). I did power on and off several times and finally was able to drive the vehicle. I called the service department at Simi where I purchased it and said I was bringing it right in. Upon arrival my service advisor said he was not going to charge me for a "diagnostic fee" (like he was doing me a favor) since the car was new and it probably wasn't my fault. I heard back today that a rental car had been authorized. I'll update when I hear something.

 

[madcow]

Unfortunately, as of July 16, I've joined the "Screen of Death.. Check EV System" Club. Car has less than 2,000 miles on it and had been driving great. Parked it at a shopping center and an hour later was greeted with the death message. I couldn't get the car into reverse but I was on a slight slope and the car started to roll forward (almost into another parked car). I did power on and off several times and finally was able to drive the vehicle. I called the service department at Simi where I purchased it and said I was bringing it right in. Upon arrival my service advisor said he was not going to charge me for a "diagnostic fee" (like he was doing me a favor) since the car was new and it probably wasn't my fault. I heard back today that a rental car had been authorized. I'll update when I hear something.

Can you tell us more specifics on your car? For example, is it a 2012 or 2013? When did you receive your car?

 

[Blastphemy]

Upon arrival my service advisor said he was not going to charge me for a "diagnostic fee" (like he was doing me a favor) since the car was new and it probably wasn't my fault.

There is no diagnostic fee for service on the Rav4 EV, nor is there any maintenance charge for the regular 5,000-mile incremental maintenance. If your service adviser tries to charge you *anything* for work done on the Rav4 EV (aside from replacing tires or doing body work), go over his head and complain to the manager. When you took delivery of the vehicle, you should have received a small maintenance manual that details all the free service.

 

[duggie]

I am also now a member of this club. The error on my RAV appeared about a mile from the dealer when I first purchased it. Called them and they told me to bring it back the next day. They haven't told me much now, just that I won't have the car back for the weekend.

At least they've given me another 2013 RAV4 EV in Blizzard Pearl so it's almost like I'm driving my own car. Still, there's things I want to do to my car that I can't. Since it's only been a day since I bought my car, do you think they would give me another one? Not sure what type of paperwork nightmare that would cause...

 

[miimura]

I am also now a member of this club. The error on my RAV appeared about a mile from the dealer when I first purchased it.

Wow. What an unlucky record you hold - shortest time and mileage to a Check EV System error.

 

[Karen]

My Rav4 EV is a 2012 that we bought in April 2013. Just heard back from the dealership that the car is ready and just needed a software update. Hopefully its fixed.

 

[the2bobs]

My Check EV System light came on again last weekend and I took it in for the fourth time since replacing the high voltage water heater didn't do the trick. This time they replaced the gateway ECU which seems to have resolved most folks problems so hopefully it works for me as well. Fingers crossed....