2012-2014 Prius v Safety Recall J1V - Hybrid/Inverter System

The Defect Information Report (PDF) and Part 573 notice (PDF) are available on NHTSA’s website. The former has a few interesting details, especially in the “Chronology of Principal Events” section.

 

Part warranty 15 years from first use, no mileage restrictions. SW only fix. Failed replacement free. Retroactive. But not a total fix as damage could still have occurred and only a better get to the side of the road is provided.

 

i wonder if hard acceleration is the biggest cause?

 

lack of torque may be the reason some people push it so hard, or it might just be their idea of fun.

but you could be right, maybe sustained high speeds, hard to say.

it does seem to be very infrequent though.

 

I was especially interested in the May through September investigation into how there could be cars that had the E0E or F0R recalls supposedly performed earlier, but still didn't have the right firmware versions in the ECUs that were supposed to be updated.

I think in the E0E Technical Instructions I might have found a clue.

The section "I. OPERATION FLOW CHART" tells you you're going to reflash the MG ECUs and the Power Management ECU.

The "VERIFY REPAIR QUALITY" on page 10 (which you might not look at, if you had no reason to open the inverter so you thought you were done on page 8) tells you to confirm that you reflashed both the MG and the Power Managament ECUs.

In between those two is section VI to step you through the process. The section is titled "MG ECU AND POWER MANAGEMENT ECU REFLASH PROCEDURE".

But, uhh, somebody tell me there isn't a step omitted between 4 and 5.

Proofreading. I do stuff like that all the time. I'm so close to all the things I meant to say that I'll totally fail to notice that I didn't get one of them down on the page.

Guess I'll be out checking my firmware versions then... Edit: mine, happily, got all the right versions loaded.

-Chap

 

How do you check the firmware version?

 

For each ECU, the firmware version, also called the “Calibration ID,” can be viewed using a Toyota Techstream diagnostic system—or a third-party equivalent that’s able to retrieve this information.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like the software update will reduce the power available on full acceleration. If that is the case I will let the next owner of my car do the recall.

 

analogous to apple slowing down their aging iphones?

 

Reading the lines themselves (in the Defect Information Report that Elektroingenieur helpfully linked to earlier), this particular update is about correcting a mishandled edge case in the software, where a condition that was supposed to result in failsafe/limp-home mode might instead result in immediate OFF. It also tweaks the limp-home mode "to provide for increased available speed and range under more circumstances in the event of a failure requiring failsafe driving."

I think a limp-home mode with increased speed and range would make me happier than immediate OFF in a variety of traffic situations, so I will probably get the update when it is available.

-Chap

 

OK,
I hope I'm in the right place for this.
My wife has a 2012 Prius. She was went to Walmart one night and for some reason when she left the store and got into the car and pushed the start button it would not do anything. All the dash senors and alarms were on. Called a tow truck and they tried to jump it with no luck. I think this is a recall issue on the inverter but not for sure. I put a trickle charger on the battery and still no luck. I cant afford to tow it to dealership and have them tell me its something other than the recall issue. Has anyone had this issue or could help?
I just want to get it running and sell the car because we have not had much luck with it.

 

This isn't really the right place ... this thread is about the J1V / J0V recall, which specifically has to do with a risk of the car shutting off suddenly in traffic if a power module in the inverter fails while driving.