This is the second time it happened, so I wasn't as freaked out as I was the first time. My battery was disconnected by the dealer to perform the Toyota Safety Connect recall. When the battery gets disconnected, the only data that is lost is time of day (clock needs to be reset). I reset the time and noticed that the date was off by one day. My car was telling me that it was yesterday. I double-checked AM/PM and went around the digital clock a couple of times - but nothing would advance the date to the correct setting. The solution? Patience. After a day or two of three, the date magically fixed itself. Must be a software setting that keeps people from mis-setting the calendar for nefarious reasons.
Are you on 12 hour clock, it could be changing at mid day instead of midnight. Edit: scrub that, I just noticed you said you checked the AM/PM setting. Have you tried it on 24hr mode ?
I noticed all of my trip data was for January so I think my car is off by an entire month. The last time the battery was disconnected was in November when the collision repair place fixed it after I hit a deer. I've checked every setting I could find and can't find anywhere to change the computer date....pretty frustrating...I don't want to have to disconnect the 12-volt to force it to reprogram itself.
I have no idea if disconnecting the battery will solve the date problem, but you should not be afraid of disconnecting the 12V. Just remember to disconnect the Negative terminal only, and while it is off, make sure it does not touch any other metal part. Wrap it in a rag to make sure. Then go inside the car and actuate the Power button. Nothing will happen, of course, but it might release some energy stored in the circuits. I don't know. I'm not an electrical engineer, but it certainly won't hurt anything.
On page 105 of the Owners Manual it discusses changing the date setting. A couple prior pages talks about setting the time. After a year of driving I discovered my car was a whole year ahead. When I changed it back I lost a whole year of fuel prices and mpg.
Do 3rd gens have that too? I seriously have no clue, lol. Strictly gas receipts and spreadsheet here.
My 2011 didn't have this function. It did have a maintenance section where you could put in dates I think. Didn't use it. Every time I gas up and make the car ready I get prompted to enter the fuel price per gallon. It will then tabulate expenses monthly. I track my expenses separately anyway, but I suppose I could compare notes with my car. I have not found a way to save off that information, which would be nice.
So I just changed my battery out, and on the first start-up it asked me to set the date. Except no control would move the date function that I found. Eventually I hit something that made that menu go away (not what I wanted to happen), but it's been off for a week (by one day) now. Today is the 25th, and I drove to work and to lunch. It says it is the 24th.
At least not as bad as Honda: you disconnect your battery, and the effing radio won't work, till you enter a special code. Every new car sold has a little tag with the code, but you know how that goes. In the States I think there's a website you could use to answer some security questions, get the code. But Canada, SOL... It's supposedly to thwart thieves. I put a sticker in the glove box with the code.
