Inverter Failure - Part Backordered - No ETA

There were posts from some in Europe that inverter wait times were 5+ weeks. It was speculated that Toyota was improving the design so instead of making more stockpiles of older designs, they were banking on the new one coming out. I don't think this has ever been proven and those that finally got the replacements have noted that the part numbers are exactly the same.

Long wait times on parts is apparently normal. I didn't realize it so but my Leaf is getting a new door skin and the part has been out of stock for 7 months and once it came into stock it has taken 4+ weeks to be delivered from Japan. My insurance company has tried (and failed) to placate me by telling me anecdotes of Jeep owners waiting over a year for various body and electrical parts and many Chevy body parts taking a similar amount of time.

 

I hope that will be a warranty fix! Did you have the recall done that is supposed to correct problems with the inverter. Sounds like it came to late for you. What was the code? H

 

It is usually a $4K job to replace an inverter. They rarely ever fail, but overheating due to inverter coolant pump failure is definitely a contributing factor. A reverse polarity "jump start" can also fry an inverter.

I would start asking the dealer for a loaner car. The Lexus dealership gives you a loaner for free even for an oil change.

 

ask for a loaner, it should be part of the warranty coverage, especially when they can't give you a short time frame. everyone else has gotten one, albeit, not the car of their choice.

 

Isn't the gen3 inverter cheaper but less hardy than the gen2 which you have? I had my inverter replaced 18 months ago and I think I was one of the first, way before the recall.

Wasn't failure just because they're overloaded? I was driving my car with erm enthusiasm and halfway overtaking a long truck (you call them semi's?) when it went pop.

I think the recall was to stop these failures before they bankrupt Toyota.

 

Our 2010 is also at the dealership waiting for an inverter. We had the recall done and it still failed. Dealership has 4 waiting for inverters. 2 had recall. 2 did not. A 5th one was just fixed after waiting 4 weeks for the part to come in. We are driving a V loner so all is not bad. Ours failed on a 100 degree day so my theory on the failure is heat related.

Ours was drive-able although without a transmission it was pretty slow .

 

I hope your wrong about bankrupting toyota! I like my gen2 and3. I must add that my gen3 gives much better fe.. It tells you more on the HSI, helping the driver more. The gen2 does not show as much info. H

 

They must have done something right with the Prius"v."

It is NOT part of the recall of Gen III's.

However, it might be early Gen III's from 2010 that have inverter failures.

Anyone know about 2012+ inverter failures? Did they change something in 2012?

 

my 2010 prius is now waiting since may 20 for an inverter (recall update done in march) and they gave me a scion iq for a loaner.....

 

Under "normal" situations, the inverter hardly ever fails. However, the recall identified a number of cases where cracks had appeared under the power, "boost" transistors in the inverter. The recall changed the software so (good guess) the stress is reduced, this preventing the cracks.

However, a pretty strong argument says that if the cracks have already formed, but aren't quite bad enough to be detected during the recall inspection process, then it's possible for the transistors to fail later, post recall.

There's a pretty good hypothesis that good-sized numbers of these inverters are being detected as being faulty during the recall inspection, as well as the odd failures that occur before and/or after the recall change. In any case, this has apparently caused a run on new inverters, so Toyota's seemingly run short. Fun.

KBeck

 

Well that is no good. We are only 3 weeks in. I am starting to worry about the batteries. I know our 12v one will be toast after sitting for so long. The traction battery is not going to like this either. It can't be good for it.