ongoing power/power steering problem with 2013 Prius V

Hi all, new here but been reading a lot of posts regarding this subject.

So back story, I'm a Toyota R&D employee, purchased the vehicle from the employees lease program when it was only a couple years old - so all maintenance and records are clean. Car has never given us problems until Xmas 2016 when the car just shut down on my wife on the freeway. We had it towed to our dealership that we always use and it turned out to be a bad auxiliary battery. Replaced it, no problem.

Fast forward to this past Xmas, my wife noticed the power steering going out and car shutting off on her. Took it to the dealership, they couldn't replicate the problem and we took the car back. A few weeks later in Jan, same thing happened again as she was stranded. Dealer replaced the aux battery under warranty and the problem was "fixed". A week later, same thing happened again. Dealer located a TSB on the ECU and gave it an update, and it was "fixed". The very next day, it happened again. Dealer then has kept the vehicle for 5 weeks, during which it had ripped out our dash and entire interior (due to traces of mouse droppings) as they suspected wiring damage. They opened a case with TAS (corporate) and performed parasitic draw tests and other diagnosis which led to their conclusion of the IGCT and integrated relays malfunctioning below 20F (replicated the problem after those relays were put in a freezer).

After all that, I finally picked up the vehicle yesterday and having paid a $1100+ bill mainly for their needless ripping out of the interior - and with the service manager refusing to guarantee any of their work outside of the standard warranty on the parts, my wife drove it to/from work and I took it out this evening to the gym - well under 100 miles and just over 24 hours, the power steering went out and light came on again. This time, I just kept driving, and it appears that the steering only not work when I'm doing a low speed sharp turn, otherwise the car steers fine. And this time, the car did not shut down and no other lights came on like it has in the past, where it would become completely unresponsive to any command to turn off or back on.

I just poked around in the garage under the hood, and tried to see if the inverter coolant pump is functioning, as I have read many instances that is the culprit (at least pertaining to Gen 2). I turned the car on, both ready and running mode, and neither case I notice any movement in the reservoir. I wonder if this is the issue, even though I have asked the dealership and they said the pump has been inspected and there is no problem.

Sorry for the long story but any suggestions or ideas are welcomed, this is getting way past aggravating. I am planning to contact Toyota directly this week to see what they can say/do. I mean I'm an employee, I shouldn't have to be dealing with this nonsense.

Thanks in advance, Ray.

 

No I do not have any code readers. Even the dealer has had problem trying to extract the code because they said each time my lights came on, and they shut down and restart the car, it erased the code(s).

As for the inverter flash...I'm not familiar with what you are asking. As for the wiring damage, we told the dealership that shouldn't be a problem because we were aware of that particular incident with the mouse, that was well over a year ago and any issue with the wiring would've surfaced, but they insisted and at the time we had no other lead except to let them go on a wild goose chase.

One additional detail, the ECU update was for a cylinder misfire code. Other than that, I don't think they have been able to pull any codes, which is why they have no idea what the problem is.

 

the thought has come to mind...several times.

 

just googled the inverter flash

No I was not aware of this, and seems like our car, even though I went to the NHTSA site and searched my VIN and no results showed, falls into the build date range to be part of the recall. I'll check with the dealer tomorrow.

 

***new development***

So because of the issue last night, I drove the Prius and my wife took my Tacoma instead. Literally 5 miles into my commute, the power steering light came on again, and within 30 seconds the rest of the warning lights on the dash started flashing and the car powered off. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road and started tinkering. This time around the power/start button at least was responsive, I was able to turn the car on and off (there's been a couple of occasions where the car would not even shut off). However, I was unable to get it into neutral, or restarted. Everytime I pressed the brake pedal, the nav screen turned off and back on when I release the pedal. I left my hazards on and waited for my wife to bring me some tools and eventually the power got so low that even the hazards started to dim.

I pulled the aux battery out and drove it to the nearest Autozone where they tested it at 11.4v but 0% charge. AZ charged it for about 45 mins and it went back up to close to 100%. I put the battery back in the car and was able to drive it all the way back to the dealership without any trouble.

While at the dealership, I confirmed that the recall on the inverter was in fact performed. Also was able to speak directly to the mechanic that worked on our car this whole time and he agrees that the problem lies in the charging system. He also looked at the inverter pump and felt vibration and says that it's working even though the fluid in the reservoir doesn't show much movement if any. But for right now I'll take his word for it as the car is not shutting down due to the inverter but rather due to the low 12v battery.

So another round of waiting to see what they come up with this time around...

 

Yes my dealership's mechanic has already been in contact with TAS (Toyota Auto Solutions) and opened a case with them a while ago and he's been working with TASs field technican on this matter.

 

*** another update ***

Well new development, got a call from the dealer last week that went like this:

- We are recommending replacing the inverter
- O..k...how much
- Toyota is paying for it
- Wow, ok cool

Then my wisdom kicked in my head...why? Companies, especially car companies, don't pay because of their conscious, or because they feel like being nice, definitely not when you're out of warranty. So my wife and I followed our suspicion onto google and what a doozy we found. For your reading pleasure:

dealer lawsuit: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-toyota-prius-defect-20180207-story.html
customer lawsuit: https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/834109-toyota-prius-class-action-filed-dangerous-stalling-defect/

So this whole time we were led to feel like we were having some rare special case only experienced by us, when in fact Toyota for the better part of 2 years have been trying to, and failing to, handle this inverter situation. Everything mentioned in those cases fit exactly what we have been dealing with to a tee. All the symptoms, the patch fixes known as software updates, everything is identical to our case. So I confronted the dealer and they stand by the fact that they needed to rip out our interior to the tune of $900+ and another $300 on relays per Toyota's recommendation, all the while they both should've instructed to replace the inverter. I'm waiting for the dealer to deny that they knew, but I told them you couldn't sit there and tell me a scenario serious enough to receive multiple lawsuits weren't made aware to all the dealers by Toyota, especially when one of the plaintiffs is a dealer. Regardless of whether my dealer knew, Toyota definitely knew and should've stepped up and replaced the inverter from the get-go, but instead they once again tried to cheap out with run-around fixes like the software update and making me pay for the new relays. I guess they didn't learn from the gas pedal ordeal after all.

Anyhow, we are new awaiting the inverter to be replaced, after that I'm going to contact corporate to seek reimbursement for at least partially what we had to pay while they knew all along what the problem was. I know, good luck with that but still gonna try. Meanwhile, I'm just updating in case someone else is having a similar issue or in the future, I don't frequent here too often so maybe this whole issue is already well documented, but this is the first I've heard of it - especially with the lawsuits, which are very recent as in within the past month.

Will update when new development happens...

 

I'd assume this has been resolved...but anyhow, here's my similar situation::

ongoing power/power steering problem with 2013 Prius V | PriusChat

 

"FINAL" update:

So it's all done and over with...not without any gripes on my part. As it was, the inverter was finally replaced at Toyota's expense. SInce then, over a month and 3000+ miles now, we have not have any issues whatsoever. So the car itself is good.

Now onto the other stuff, I contacted Toyota customer's service and pretty much got a "get lost" in regards to them wasting my money on the relays and not addressing the inverter from the get-go, which is to be expected. I also have since spoken to the dealership district manager for the region, and he pretty much said there's nothing really I can do, and sounded like the dealership followed the proper procedures as far as working with Toyota and following their repair recommendations.

However, there's a little caveat added in. My complaint to the district manager was directed at the dealership, because when we finally got the car back, it was full of grime. All the floor mats were covered in dirty boot prints with a brown layer of soot, as was the dash and top of door panels, presumably from it sitting uncovered. Some of the felt trim panels had grease smudges. All these we overlooked, and just went ahead and scrubbed everything off ourselves. But while cleaning the car inside out, we noticed 3 of the 5 windows had scratches and holes on our aftermarket window tint. I contacted the dealership, really looking simply for an admission and an apology, but the service manager once again denied responsibility and said his tech did not do it. This is what led me to contact the district manager, who said will bring it to the dealership's attention, and he also recommended me to use a different dealership on the other side of town - which is a decision that I was close to making anyhow.

So all in all, we're out just under $1200, a lot of wasted time back and forth with the dealer, a few scratches on our less than a year old tint job, and a few hours of scrubbing the car. But the car is now fixed albeit a few extra unnecessary new parts, and hopefully will stay reliable for the foreseeable future.

So this is it for now from me, hope by documenting this will help someone else who might be looking at the same issues and save them the headache. By the way, the district manager did admit that Toyota has now issued a recall on that inverter issue. I haven't confirmed whether that is the case or not, but either way, keep an eye out if you are having the same issue(s). Thanks for listening.