I’m currently at Toyota Sunnyvale looking at a long wait (maybe five hours?) for their EV technician to do diagnosis on my “Check EV System” message that resulted from draining my 12V battery while away for a couple of months.
My issue is that they’ve given me a $298 estimate for doing a diagnosis that I’m told potentialy won’t be covered by my Platinum extended warranty if it’s just a code that needs to be cleared and not due to something that the warranty covers. I’ve pushed back on a fee that seems exorbitant if it turns out an error code just needs to be cleared but they’re not budging on that.
Has anybody had better luck dealing with this somewhere else?
Update (five hours later): Yes, it turned out to just be an error code (yes, DTC 312F) that needed to be cleared. Apparently that translates as "Electric Propulsion Control Module Requested Mil". I don't know what "Mil" means but I'm told that the error code is associated with low voltage on the 12V battery, which of course is what I was expecting. (My Bosch AGM battery tested out fine by them. See my earlier message about recovering it.)
Setting aside the issue we all know already about how leaving your RAV4 EV to sit too long without being used (and forgetting to put it on a 12V battery trickle charger) can kill your non-AGM 12V battery and may result in a dealer-only serviceable "Check EV Message", I see two more glaring issues:
#1: Getting this "Check EV Message" error code cleared is not covered under our extended warranties;
and #2: Toyota Sunnyvale wants you to pay $298 as part of their standard diagnostic service to clear it.
I tried calling and emailing the service department at Toyota Magnussen (Palo Alto) to find out how much they would charge but I didn't hear back in time. The answer eventually came back as $160. In the end, after raising an argument with Toyota Sunnyvale, they lowered their charge to $198 for me. Erg, still too much when all I needed was for them to check and clear an error code.
So, buyer beware and here's another reason to stay away from Toyota Sunnyvale. (Yeah, I know, people have already reported having troubles with them. I mistakenly thought diagnosing an error code with an extended warranty in hand wouldn't leave me gouged.)