Check EV System warning message

[user 340]

I will buy the extended warranty asap. :-(

A wise decision, and everybody who plans to keep their cars beyond 3.0 years should consider doing this.

 

[SeattleRav4]

Sadly I have to report that I just moved from the no-problems-with-my-car group to the drive-problems-group. Over the last couple of weeks I started to notice a very subtle shudder very intermittently. At first I thought it was probably just the road. But after a few times, over several days, I could tell it was internal. No indication on the panel of any kind. But yesterday, while backing up, it went from occasionally noticeable to a dramatic thumping. When in D or B it would shudder at start and then smooth out. So I drove home without problems and no Check EV warning. But this morning on startup, the dreaded Check EV. So it is headed for the shop. Of course I am out of state so this will not go well.
I am wondering if it might be the "CV bolts". The problem definitely feels mechanical and only triggered the Check EV after the shudder was very pronounced.

 

[dstjohn99]

Yesterday I got the Check EV system warning too. It would not clear after 5 power cycles, but it did shift into drive and drove normally even with the error. It was just a short 1 mile trip, so I drove like nothing was wrong. When I got back in the car 20 minutes later and turned it on, no error message. That's the second time I've had the error since last August but the first time it didn't clear. Not sure if I should take it in. I don't want to get stranded, but given the spotty service competence I believe I'm more likely to get stranded if I have it serviced / repaired than if I ignore it.

If it happens again soon I'll have to take it in. Does anyone have knowledge of the competence at Toyota of El Cajon? My other options are Carlsbad or Carson. Both progressively farther away. I imagine with Tony's visits that Toyota Cralsbad must be experts by now.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Two thumbs up for Carlsbad Toyota... already two motor swaps, and the last one only took about a week-ish.

 

[sqwalker]

I purchased my 2014 RAV EV last May from Toyota of El Cajon, but I've only taken it there for the 5k service (currently 7,700 miles). Apparently they have 2 trained EV techs.

I really like the dealer, as I've purchased a few cars from them over the years. Any problems I run into, I plan to take it there first and let them have a crack at it - although Toyota of Carlsbad is probably not any further for me.

 

[dstjohn99]

I purchased my 2014 RAV EV last May from Toyota of El Cajon, but I've only taken it there for the 5k service (currently 7,700 miles). Apparently they have 2 trained EV techs.

I really like the dealer, as I've purchased a few cars from them over the years. Any problems I run into, I plan to take it there first and let them have a crack at it - although Toyota of Carlsbad is probably not any further for me.

Thanks. I bought my Prius there and gave them first shot at selling me a Rav4 EV. But they didn't offer a competitive lease deal, didn't know about the unlimited mileage lease, etc. so I went to Carson. I did take it to El Cajon for the 5k service and will continue to do so for regular service. Probably give them a shot at major repairs too unless I get any negative feedback. So far they have always been great to work with, but I've only had routine maintenance.

 

[DaleZ]

Got the warning message back on March 11/15, which was the very same day that Toyota announced the recall. Was able to drive home with no issues, and after powering off, plugging in, charging up, and powering back on, the warning message went away and hasn't come back on since.

When I read about the recall notice later that evening, I figured the warning message had to be related to the recall, especially since the recall notice mentions that the message may appear. The thought even crossed my mind that perhaps Toyota sent out the warning via an OTA-type alert (sort of like Tesla does with their OTA updates), but then it occurred to me that I don't think our vehicles have that capability.

Went in to Tustin Toyota for my 5,000 mile service 10 days later on March 21/15, and mentioned the warning message (and showed the photo to my service advisor). He said they would check it out, run diagnostics, etc. When I returned for pick up, he said they could not find anything wrong.

Did anyone else get the warning message and have a similar experience right around the time of the recall announcement?

 

[Kohler Controller]

Hi DaleZ,

Yes, I too got the Check EV warning, on March 10th (one day before the recall announcement).
Had it checked out when they replaced my heater. Same result as you, nothing found.

 

[Bobgirl]

I am so grateful for this forum. I had no idea about the recall until I read about it here. Last week, we checked with our dealer, Bob Smith Toyota in La Crescenta, and they told us that it would be 6-8 weeks before the parts came in and the letter would not be mailed until that time.

Unfortunately, tonight we got the error message and power failure. Thank goodness that we are were just driving away from home and weren't on the freeway somewhere. The car will be towed in tomorrow and we will get a rental from the dealer on Monday morning.

I am beside myself because I LOVE this car and the carpool lane has saved my sanity for my daily commute. However, because of what I've learned here, I did not panic and knew exactly what was happening. Thank you all for the constant information updates and wise advice.

 

[shrimantpatel]

Thanks to this forum, at least I am not alone.....

The exact same thing happened to me in the middle of freeway last Thursday(apr 16th 2015), I was on the fast lane was driving north bound on 880 to work with around 70mph, all of a sudden near san lorenzo/580 junction I lost complete power and had to steer it real hard such that I don't get hit, finally managed to make it to the narrow left shoulder and turn on my emergency blinker, part of my right two wheels were still on the fast lane of the freeway and it was a scary scene. The dash had a message check EV soon and "Take it the nearest Toyota dealer immediately" and it would not shift to Drive or reverse even after I did a complete shutdown and tried to turn it on.

Called in 911 and Road side and waited for my fate, finally after 20 mins CHP came in, I could see them stopping the freeway, they managed to push my RAV4 EV to the right shoulder with the police car and that gave me a great relief. Toyota road side assistance showed up after an hour and towed it to the Totota One dealer in Oakland california.

Ever since then I have been calling the dealer 2 times a day its been 6 days now and all I get to hear is that their computers are not connecting to the Tesla server, and until now they do not even know what is wrong with it.

I have had my EV for Just over a year with around 14000 miles on it and was absolutely happy with it until this incident happened.
I leased it in Mar 2104 from Toyota Sunnyvale in California and its some sort of a deep blue color.

Wish you all good luck and safe driving hope Toyota finds a solution for this recall soon : https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/cp/f1itofaq.pdf

Finally I have reported my case to Toyota US customer care at 888-270-9371, they have given me a case number and i was told their management team will work directly with the dealer and I should hear from them by tomorrow , keeping my fingers crossed

 

[TonyWilliams]

This is what should be addressed in the recall.

Glad it worked out ok.

Please make a government safety report to:

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml

http://www.SaferCar.gov

 

[cwerdna]

Wish you all good luck and safe driving hope Toyota finds a solution for this recall soon : https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/cp/f1itofaq.pdf

Thanks! That got me to go check safercar.gov. There's a little more info there via the 5 associated docs, so far. I posted links at http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=20032#p20032.

It's probably better to do a lookup by campaign ID since more docs will be added, over time.

 

[fromport]

I am "finally" able to post on this thread as well.
Added another 380 miles today to a total of just under 16K total (11 months)

And I got the message today:

I was moving very slowly backwards

*boom*

No power steering, no traction, contactors released

Had to reset the rav4 4 times with power off/power on and it started working again.
Made it home without any warnings.

Will call my dealer tomorrow.

 

[dstjohn99]

I am "finally" able to post on this thread as well.

Definitely not a good thing.

 

[Bobgirl]

I am so grateful for this forum. I had no idea about the recall until I read about it here. Last week, we checked with our dealer, Bob Smith Toyota in La Crescenta, and they told us that it would be 6-8 weeks before the parts came in and the letter would not be mailed until that time.

Unfortunately, tonight we got the error message and power failure. Thank goodness that we are were just driving away from home and weren't on the freeway somewhere. The car will be towed in tomorrow and we will get a rental from the dealer on Monday morning.

I am beside myself because I LOVE this car and the carpool lane has saved my sanity for my daily commute. However, because of what I've learned here, I did not panic and knew exactly what was happening. Thank you all for the constant information updates and wise advice.

Update: The car was at the dealer for one week and received the required part. Until this recall, this car had NO issues in 32,000 miles, which I proudly told all who'd listen. Has anyone had any further problems once the car was returned?

 

[TonyWilliams]

I am so grateful for this forum. I had no idea about the recall until I read about it here. Last week, we checked with our dealer, Bob Smith Toyota in La Crescenta, and they told us that it would be 6-8 weeks before the parts came in and the letter would not be mailed until that time.

Unfortunately, tonight we got the error message and power failure. Thank goodness that we are were just driving away from home and weren't on the freeway somewhere. The car will be towed in tomorrow and we will get a rental from the dealer on Monday morning.

I am beside myself because I LOVE this car and the carpool lane has saved my sanity for my daily commute. However, because of what I've learned here, I did not panic and knew exactly what was happening. Thank you all for the constant information updates and wise advice.

Update: The car was at the dealer for one week and received the required part. Until this recall, this car had NO issues in 32,000 miles, which I proudly told all who'd listen. Has anyone had any further problems once the car was returned?

Glad it worked out! There won't be any reports, because you might be the first person with the new speed sensor.

 

[fromport]

Update: The car was at the dealer for one week and received the required part. Until this recall, this car had NO issues in 32,000 miles, which I proudly told all who'd listen. Has anyone had any further problems once the car was returned?

When they returned your car, did they gave you a workorder copy of what they did to the car ?
If so, could you scan/photograph it without your personal info, just the technical stuff and share it here on the forum with us ?

 

[fromport]

And I got the message today:
Will call my dealer tomorrow.

Dealer wanted to do a health check.

I made appointment at 10am this morning.
Arrived at 9:52
Got my car back at 10:34

102 minutes to read out error codes, reset them and do a < 1 mile test ride ?!

Codes they found were:

P312F
B15C2
U01246
U1146

Anyone have any idea what these codes mean ?

 

[miimura]

Codes they found were:

P312F
B15C2
U01246
U1146

Anyone have any idea what these codes mean ?

Earlier in this thread someone said that U1146 is "Lost communication with electronic propulsion control system gateway". People have had their Gateway ECU replaced when this code has come up.

IIRC, that user, "Karen" accepted a buy back from Toyota.

 

[Dsinned]

Miimura, you are correct. Exactly what happened to me in my 2012 RAV4 EV last year. And fwiw , I have not had any reoccurrence of this problem since then.