Who has done their recall?

At dealer now. Interesting conversation with Service Advisor. He begins to tell me that Toyota has complaints about transition from ICE to hybrid system and the update smooths out the transitions . Evidently what he has been told to say !

Once I let him know that I knew the real reason he sheepishly agreed with the Inverter/Converter overheating and said yea the Inverters were expensive. When I asked if the Inverter warranty was being extended he offered to look up an extended warranty price for me !

What a crock !

 

Not a very smart Service Advisor, or Dealership if that was a planned response.

Why would you say that, in this day and age? Toyota hasn't been particularly forthcoming with specifics as far as what parameters the software update is actually changing. BUT...they do tell you exactly why they are doing the software "update". To try to make up a totally bogus reason? If you got the letter in the mail, or went to the website...or have 1/4th a brain...you know that story isn't true before you even drive your Prius into the service bay.

It would bother me considerably to have a Service Advisor and/or a Dealership that at best really didn't know why the update was being done, or at worst thought it best to give customers a fraudulent piece of fiction.

 

Here's the content of my letter:

 

I can't tell any difference on mine after having the recall. I've still never received a letter from Toyota.
Here's what the work order said on mine:

 

Do dealers get paid for recall work by Toyota? If so, is it at standard consumer rates or some kind of discounted rate?

 

Well I got it done. Brakes feel different to me. Transition from ice to electric does seem smoother.

The data shows same through most requested areas. Only difference I see is slightly higher amps and higher SoC after update. Everything else is within error range.

 

I haven't gotten the brake accumulator recall done yet. Planning to get that looked at at the next 1 year OCI next month. I am thinking the dealer would do the OCI, do the ECU update and inspect for parts needed for the brake accumulator recall work and then schedule it for later for when the parts would be available. Is there any advantage anyone can see to insisting that the ECU update happen only after the brake accumulator recall work is done? Thanks.

 

Crabbyman:

And this is the answer we were all waiting for. Thank you very much!

Just repeating what you said: No obvious differences and the acceleration and other changes were within the bounds of error.

My handwaving hypotheses from before: A slower increase in rate of change of acceleration or actively controller the difference in temperature between the die of the boost transistors and the heat sink.

The second would have much the same effect as the first. Both of them would tend to make the car a shade less "snappy" at the onset of acceleration; I guessed that the time of the transition through this period would be on the order of a half second or so. Your report of "Transition from ice to electric does seem smoother." would fit.

It's always more fun to argue with numbers.

KBeck

 

Of course that is based on the good ole "butt dyno". I also would say it the car is quicker to flop out of EV mode but again..it could be perceived.

 

Condensed for easier viewing..temperature was within 5-10 degrees F of previous run.

 

Yes, they get paid. I think in general there's a flat rate, that is probably less than a consumer would pay - Toyota decides how much time any given warranty repair should take, and they decide what rate they will reimburse the dealer at.

I'd bet it's not dissimilar to how my employer was paid when I used to do warranty computer repair - each part replaced had a fixed labor reimbursement to take into account how much time it should take to replace that part. The manufacturer also graded us based on how many customers would return within 30 or 90 days with the same issue (to make sure we fix it the first time), how many parts we used per repair (to make sure we didn't replace parts that weren't broken), and I think some other metric. If we did well on those metrics, they'd give us a pretty significant boost in the labor rate they paid us.

 

Monitoring the Battery Voltage after Boost it is obvious that the Boost Converter voltage control has been altered. Before the software update the boost voltage would step between 500 and 650VDC. It no longer steps above 500V but ramps up. This is true on both accel and with regen.

Before the update, on a quick accel the boost voltage would make an immediate step to 650V and remain solidly on 650V until you backed off of the accelerator. After the software update there seems to be a slight hesitation at 500V and then it more like wanders up to 650V than it seems to ramp. This may be the SGII update time though. I think this explains why others have said that when accelerating on ramps, etc. that you no longer have the snap response but you eventually get there.

On regen, before the update the boost voltage would immediately step to 650V, maintain 650V down to about 20 mph and then ramp down as the car approached the stopping point. I would easily see battery amps in the 70-90A range. After the update the boost voltage once again ramps or wanders up to 650V and then begins to ramp down more quickly. I did not see battery amps above about 70A. As others have indicated that the regen current seems to be less and this is what I am seeing on the SGII.

While trying a quick acceleration to change lanes, the response was different from what I was used to feeling. The ICE sound increased first as it appeared that the ICE took the first increase and then the electric motors seemed to catch up. It was almost like a hesitation where before it was more of a snap response.

It also appears that the nominal SOC control point may have shifted upward from the 60% I am used to seeing to 65% now. Others have indicated that their battery level indicates a higher level now. This is what I am seeing on SGII so far.

So as some of us have expected, the Boost Converter control has been de-tuned to reduce the heat generated on the IGBT's. This is what you would expect to see.

I am going to wait a few days before trying a 0-60 test. I have no indication that my 12V battery was disconnected but will wait and let the ECU's do any re-learning after the update.

 

The regen current seems less on braking with the update. However, I've adjusted my driving now to use the cruise control decel for braking (when it can be done safely). From what I can tell, this is in full regen mode until about 20 mph.

 

Interesting. So, on one hand:

1. It it's a ramp, the ramp itself is what's doing the temperature control.
2. On the other hand, "wandering" might imply that they're looking at the delta-T between the transistor die and the heat sink and using that as a limit to the amount of boost at any time. Since that's not a direct control of the boost voltage, you'd expect the boost voltage to not be quite as obvious.

What I like hearing is that 650V is reached, implying that the max acceleration isn't impacted. The reduction in snap makes sense, too.

The whole business does seem to support the notion that it's differential expansion that they're trying to cure.

KBeck

 

Delete

 

Seems to me they should modify the cooling system to increase cooling around the transistors much like that of the flux capacitor.

 

crabbyman and jdcollins5

Thanks for doing the testing. Your posts with pre and post data are gems in this otherwise huge multipage thread containing mostly noise.
BTW, Looks like there are slight disagreements between the Torque and SGII numbers.

 

Speaking of just adding to the noise, I just had to share.

Woo Hoo! I just got my Toyota Recall Notice in the mail. I'd already done the recall so I was afraid I wouldn't get one.

Has a fancy box on the envelope that says "Issued In Accordance With Federal Law"....along with symbols for the NHTSA and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Well, now I can't say Toyota has never given me anything.

 

Driving to work this morning I noticed a couple of items:

1) SOC - After driving through town the SOC was elevated in the 65% range. Once I was on the highway with steady-state, cruise control driving the SOC very slowly decreased to the normal 60% range. It took 5-10 miles to do this as before it would settle out at 60% shortly after reaching steady-state speeds.

2) Cruise Control - Others have commented on the cruise control not controlling as tightly as it did before, allowing the speed to move beyond the typical +/- 1 mph. Living on the coast with relatively flat but gently rolling terrain I did not see much difference. The next time I travel towards the NC mountains I should get a better read on this.

 

I don't know what you mean by "controlling as tightly" but I came on tonight to verify one BIG change after the update.

In Eco mode, hitting the accel direction on the cruise control would instantly go into full Power spectrum on the bar graph and increase speed rapidly.

After the update, in Eco it slowly increases the bar on the Hybrid display and only goes about 2/3rds the way up the Power side of the bar.

This is not perceived. Prior, you hit accel on the cruise and it would "dump" the car into full power within 0.5 seconds. After the update it is a good 3-4 second count before it hits the 2/3rds mark.