Out of State service

[fromport]

Just bought a used 2014 model in Colorado, and tried the heat today: no heat. I emailed Kevin Spillane and my local dealer. Very disappointing! I didn't think to try it on the test drives since it was hot those days.

I hear the following, but have not looked at it myself, check before buying.
_If_ it is out of warranty, try and find the part from a crashed early model nissan leaf (2011-2012)
They are supposed to be the same 6kW heater unit.
Should save you a bunch of money.

 

[mickeymammoth]

Kevin Spillane from corporate called me back and he's getting the ball rolling for a repair, so that's a relief!!

 

[mickeymammoth]

Had the heater, and then the gateway ECU replaced, and still the Rav won't get to Ready or accept the firmware upgrade. I hope this doesn't take 2 months like the one I read about in Seattle... The used car dealer gave me a loaner. I hope they're on board for letting me keep the loaner as long as it takes, esp. since my other car got crushed by a tree. Starting to feel kind of depressed about both cars at this point (the crushed one is at the body shop waiting for an estimate since they wouldn't total it at first look).

 

[TonyWilliams]

Had the heater, and then the gateway ECU replaced, and still the Rav won't get to Ready or accept the firmware upgrade. I hope this doesn't take 2 months like the one I read about in Seattle... The used car dealer gave me a loaner. I hope they're on board for letting me keep the loaner as long as it takes, esp. since my other car got crushed by a tree. Starting to feel kind of depressed about both cars at this point (the crushed one is at the body shop waiting for an estimate since they wouldn't total it at first look).

Did they replace the DC to DC converter? That usually is damaged when the heater fails.

 

[mickeymammoth]

No to the dc-to-dc converter; maybe that will be the next thing they try.

 

[Spiffster]

No to the dc-to-dc converter; maybe that will be the next thing they try.

What the heck. Im in Littleton, CO and I talked to Kevin around 2 months ago. He said he would arrange to have the recall done for me and I would get a call from Stevenson Toyota when their special tech was in town. This is after Stevenson Toyota said they could work on it, kept the car for half a day, then told me I should not have taken to them for service. Complete a-holes about the whole situation too... The service manager practically went out of his way to be a ******. That said, I would be willing to drive across town to do business with another dealership because these guys are just terrible.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, just a bit confused as to how you are getting all this work done in CO.

 

[mickeymammoth]

If you want to come to Boulder, I bet you could coordinate the upgrade for when the tech comes to work on my car. The very friendly Boulder Toyota service manager is named Andre Alirie at 303-415-3353. If you call him, he could relay the request to the tech person. I still live in hope that my car will get fixed soon, but who knows. They can't keep it forever right?

 

[Spiffster]

If you want to come to Boulder, I bet you could coordinate the upgrade for when the tech comes to work on my car. The very friendly Boulder Toyota service manager is named Andre Alirie at 303-415-3353. If you call him, he could relay the request to the tech person. I still live in hope that my car will get fixed soon, but who knows. They can't keep it forever right?

Thanks for the reply, Mickeymammoth. Boulder certainly isnt out of range for me but getting picked up and dropped off up there would be difficult. I will contact Kevin again and see what we can get done at another dealership around here.

Im a bit apprehensive to get any work done as our RAV4 EV has been rock solid for 30k miles now... but last thing I need is the thing going into neutral on my wife, with the kids in the car.

I wish you luck with the repair. This is our third winter in the RAV4 EV and we LOVE it!

 

[mickeymammoth]

So the latest is the aux battery died, and now they can't get into the car because the 1 key I received has a laser-cut physical key that doesn't actually fit the door! They are ordering a new key based on the key code and we're all hoping it fits the door lock. If not, that would imply they changed the locks on the doors, which would be...odd? No other word on what the next repair attempt will be.

 

[miimura]

It sounds like they did not use the correct procedure when flashing the car. There is a specific Toyota battery maintainer that is supposed to be connected to the car during all firmware updates on the RAV4 EV.

 

[mickeymammoth]

After over a month, I finally have my RAV4 EV back. Tesla had been diagnosing the car over wireless, and the tech installed some firmware, but it still wouldn't start...one thing and another, they unhooked the main battery overnight, and when they re-hooked it up the next morning, it started. I really don't know what happened to both brick it and then fix it, but the after-market leather people picked it up from the dealer and are presumably leathering it now. I get back from Mexico on 12/30, and I can't wait to see my long lost EV!

 

[eplantz]

I am a RAV4EV owner in suburban CHICAGO. I had the recall done via special appointment arranged by Kevin of Toyota Corp.

I was without the car for 8 days. They either fried or made incompatible the gateway ECU and had to get a replacement from California. It seems normal now so I guess they made it work.

 

[mikegerard]

Had my recall work performed yesterday in Rochester, New York.

I contacted Kevin about three weeks ago. Kevin set up an appointment with the regional tech (Brant) and he came out (6 hour drive) to do the update. For future service (changing cooling fluids at 50k) Brant asked me to talk to the local service manager who can then reach him.

The personalized service was something I've never experienced with any vehicle. Kevin called me to finalize the service date, then Brant called the day before to see what time was best for me (I stayed while he did the service). At the dealership I was met by Brant and the service manager as I pulled in.

On a side note, Brant thinks there are around 18-20 of these in the Northeast. I had previously looked at NY license data and it appeared that there were 5 in NY at the end of 2014.

 

[TonyWilliams]

We have 4-5 JdeMO customers in the northeast, so that's a very realistic number.