Lawsuit Against Toyota on Prius Inverters

My ICE runs longer and more often on HOT Texas days, causing me to loose about 5 TO 6 MPG.
I wish I NEVER GOT THOSE SOFTWARE UPDATES!!

 

This does not compute.

 

My car does too! That’s because, on these hot California days, the A/C is running full blast.

 

With A/C; or without A/C (window down); its about 5 to 6 MPG different than what I used to get before the updates.
In winter, it is not that bad!

 

I’ll agree that the software update suck in respect to the performance aspects. It’s for sure that it didn’t improve the fuel economy in a positive way. In order to attain the fuel mileage I had before the update, I have to be very diligent with my throttle management. The Prius is a fickle little machine in the respect of fuel consumption figures. There are so many variables that can effect it. Tires, tire pressures, weather conditions, HVAC usage, and driving habits, to name a few.

 

Look at Ford and the Pinto. It was cheaper to pay off the families that were injured or died in fires from the punctured gas tanks than recall the car and fix the problem. The repair was less than $10 plus labor at the time.

 

Mine started doing that a couple months before I got the P0A7F code saying my Hybrid battery was degrading.

On the other hand, if your AC is constantly running due to the high outside temperatures you will see a MPG drop like that.

 

I never owned a Gen 3 Prius but my 2016 is headed for another 600 mile tank and I run the A/C just about all the time. They seem to have made things more efficient.

 

They say that the 2016’s ICE has better thermal efficiency.

 

do we know if there are more failures in hot states?

I noticed that after that software update, when I'm coasting and braking going downhill, the regen braking suddenly stops in the middle of the hill (that I drive every single day) and transitions to regular braking and almost never I get full HV battery that way. Before, the regen braking was all the way to the bottom and I would get full HV battery often. It's clearly energy lost and costs me lost MPG.

My thinking is the transistor temp is monitored more closely and regen braking or other high load is interrupted at some threshold temp, maybe lower than it used to be.

now I'm thinking people who block their radiator intake (I don't do that) are doing themselves a disservice.

 

I completely block bottom of grill all year long, most drives are less than 15 minute duration. 550-570 miles per 10 gal tank average hand calculated.

 

do you monitor the inverter temp?

 

HV will never be charged to full, regen charging cuts off around 80% capacity and begin charging around 48%

 

With techstream.

 

and?

 

i know that, i'm talking all bars on display.

 

Since I replaced the HV battery, I see that several times a day. I almost never saw a full pack with the old pack even when it was new.

 

nice!

 

Hello,

I found this site while searching for corroborating info on the inverter failure in my 2011 Prius with 120K miles. Yesterday, It went into the "fail-safe" mode on a busy multi-lane thoroughfare a few miles from my home. I was accelerating past a driver that was moving at the speed of Dr. Nefario on his scooter when I heard a thump sound, the dash lights went bonkers and I lost acceleration. I quickly maneuvered it into a long turn lane, came to a stop and shut it off. I was under the impression the car had completely lost the ability to move. The thump I heard made me think that some kind of transmission-related component might have failed. I waited a minute and turned it back on and saw the "Check Hybrid System" message along with several other indicator lights. I did this a couple more times with the same results. On my last power-on attempt I pressed the accelerator and found the EV motion worked and used it to move the car into a parking lot adjacent to where I was. I dug out the manual and it was obvious this was something that was not going to be resolvable immediately. I contacted my roadside assistance and had the vehicle towed to a local shop that had previously fixed the brake master cylinder/actuator failure with used parts for 1/4 the cost of the dealer. They ran a diag on it today and reported that the inverter had failed and they could repair it for $1100 with a used part. I checked my VIN at the Toyota recall page and found that a second safety recall was issues this month because the 2014 recall firmware fix did not actually resolve the underlying problem. I contacted Toyota customer support directly and after looking it up and the agent believed what I reported would likely be covered but would have to take it to a dealer to confirm. I'm having the car towed there tomorrow. The shop I provided the diag code "P0A94" which in a search turned up an interesting page at CarSpec MN which described the codes which would result in a covered repair for the original 2014 recall.

Excerpted from 2014 blog post on CarSpec MN:
"So what exactly are they covering? They’re replacing the inverter/converter if it fails, but only for a handful of very specific reasons. If your car breaks down and the inverter fails, Toyota will replace it for free under the warranty if you have the following error codes:
P0A94 – DC/DC Converter Performance
P324E – MG ECU power relay intermittent circuit
P3004 – Power Cable Malfunction
P0A1A – Generator Control Module"

This is the text of the October 3rd, 2018 recall notice "J1V" from the Toyota Safety Recall site:
"Certain 2010-2014 Model Year Prius Certain 2012-2014 Model Year Prius V Hybrid System Software Update Frequently Asked Questions Original Publication Date: October 5, 2018
Q1: What is the condition? A1: The involved vehicles were designed to enter a failsafe driving mode in response to certain hybrid system faults. Toyota has found that in rare situations, the vehicle may not enter a failsafe driving mode as intended. If this occurs, the vehicle could lose power and stall. While power steering and braking would remain operational, a vehicle stall while driving at higher speeds could increase the risk of a crash. This recall remedy, when available, will address a new condition in the vehicles involved in previous Safety Recalls E0E & F0R. The previous recalls E0E & F0R did not anticipate the new condition remedied with this recall.
Q2: What is Toyota going to do? A2: Toyota is currently preparing the remedy for this condition. Before then, Toyota will send an interim owner notification informing the customer of the condition and that they will be notified again when the remedy becomes available. When the remedy becomes available, dealers will perform a software update for the hybrid system FREE OF CHARGE. For customer satisfaction, if the vehicle has experienced an inverter failure with certain hybrid system faults related to this condition, the inverter assembly will be repaired or replaced FREE OF CHARGE. NOTE: Until the J0V remedy becomes available, dealers should continue performing Safety Recalls E0E and F0R.
Q2a: When will the remedy be available for Safety Recall J0V? A2a: Toyota is currently preparing the remedy for this condition as quickly as possible. At this time, we anticipate that it will take two to three months to prepare the new software."

I believe I'll have a covered repair based on all of this. I posted here in case the new recall info is of use to anyone that has an inverter failure in the near future.

Regards,
-felipe

 

If TOYOTA does not fix it; maybe you could be in the lawsuit against TOYOTA.
What happen to you; I worry about this happening to me. It could happen to anybody!!
This is a SAFELY issue!!