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

Definitely above-my-pay-scale, just my impression from what I've read: it doesn't reduce power, just slightly slows the initial surge.

When we got the inverter software update on our 2010 (maybe in 2013?), the main thing I noticed was the car had a slightly increased propensity to go into electric-only. I didn't mention this to my wife, and she said the same thing to me, so I would think two independent observations of the same thing, likely the case.

 

J1V is a different recall though. E0E and F0R were about altering how the IPMs were driven so as to reduce the chance of them failing. Possibly those changes could have involved reductions of peak power.

J1V / J0V is just about a bug in the software reaction if an IPM does fail. It's supposed to go into limp-home mode with some limited driving ability. The bug is an unforeseen case where the software turns the car flat OFF instead. They should fix the software to not do that. Limp-home mode is a better outcome.

A side issue was the discovery, while they researched this issue, that some number of the cars that were taken in for the earlier, E0E / F0R recalls only got one of the two software reflashes they were supposed to get (because the technician instructions for those recalls, ahem, left out a step in a crucial place). So those cars (there seem to be about 36,000, according to the December 5 status update) can't be considered to have had the earlier recall completed, so they're still at greater risk of IPM failure.

... so, if everybody responds, 807,300 people will get this recall, and 36,000 of those, or one-in-twenty-ish, will probably also end up getting the earlier recall re-done, correctly, while they're in. And maybe those people will notice a different peak-power behavior, from having the earlier recall re-done correctly, and then blame this one, and that'll just make it harder to keep straight what the different recalls are about.

You can find out if you're in the 36,000 by checking your firmware versions and comparing to the ones the E0E / F0R recalls were supposed to install.

I didn't mean to over-police Air_Boss's thread ... but it does have "Safety Recall J1V" in the thread title, and the recent tagged-on post was a basic question about a car that won't start, with no obvious connection to the inverter at all, let alone any inverter recall, unless it gets followed up with codes or other indications to make the connection.

 

Thanks to a heads-up from @Hopopotamus, it appears that the remedy is now available.

The J0V remedy notice doesn't seem to have shown up on NHTSA's site yet, but can be found at Toyota, Lexus & Scion Recall Lookup (or a PriusChat attachment copy here).

The technical instructions are here.

For the Prius liftback (not v) instructions, see the post in the Gen 3 forum.

Edit: looking over the technical instructions, one could get the impression Toyota was really embarrassed about the E0E/F0R recalls not always completing all the intended reflashes (because of the step missing from those technician instructions). Maybe some of the extra time coming up with this remedy really went into their latest, greatest Techstream version and its new, CUWC "update wizard" plugin, that now automatically runs multiple times as needed to reflash all the affected ECUs, and then ends with a step where Techstream itself verifies the installed calibration IDs in the car and reports them to the national database.

Seems like they really, really didn't want to hear about any more partial updates....

-Chap


about the toyota web sites: the toyota.com/owners site works pretty well if you allow javascript to run from toyota.com, jquery.com, and driverslogin.com. Toyota's other site (for recall lookups by VIN or state and license number) is some truly gold-plated javascript hellhole that still doesn't work after enabling seventeen different-origin scripts (which is where I gave up, leaving fifty-six of them still disabled, many of which I would not enable if you paid me).

 

Meh, gonna file this recall on the bisco pile. I'm paranoid they've snuck more E0E "performance reduction" into it . Wouldn't blame them for going gloves off in trying to stop the bleeding of the entire IPM fiasco.

 

The E0E recall (or F0R, as this post is in the Prius v forum) included updates the firmware in the MG ECU (altering the IPM drive parameters to avoid IGBT failure) and in the hybrid control ECU (to correct one condition where an IGBT failure could lead to a power-off instead of a limp-home).

This new recall addresses two issues: (1) some of the cars that "got" the E0E/F0R recall only got the hybrid control update, not the MG update, so they are still at elevated risk of blowing an IGBT (but that's only about 36k cars out of 800k subject to this recall); (2) it turns out there's another way that the hybrid ECU could end up in power-off instead of limp-home if an IGBT failure occurs.

Taking a car in for this recall will always result in a hybrid ECU reflash, to the latest version where both of the known holes leading to power-off instead of limp-home have been plugged.

The only way this recall reflashes the MG ECU (changing IPM drive characteristics) will be if the car was never taken in for E0E/F0R, or if it was one of the ~ 36k that "got" that recall but didn't get the MG reflash. In those cases, I believe the MG reflash under this recall will be to the exact same firmware version that was supposed to be flashed with the E0E/F0R recall.

For example, if I pull up the four Hybrid Control calibration IDs on my 2010, they match the chart for a "2010 Prius #2" configuration on page 14 of the liftback instructions. The last three of my calibration IDs match the "current" ones shown on that chart (showing that my car already had E0E done, correctly, with both updates applied). So, for me, this recall will only update the hybrid control firmware (to 896B34732000), to protect me from the unwanted-power-off scenario.

Other cars can have their calibration IDs looked up in the charts the same way, for a preview of what this recall would entail for them.

 

Or, if the point of the recall is to eliminate a potential power-off-in-traffic scenario, a difficult conversation with an insurance company or personal-injury attorney following an accident caused by a power-off in traffic.

 

This recently occurred to me:

Looking through the technician instructions for this, there's no way to miss how hard Toyota is trying to avoid any possible power dip during reflashing that could lead to a bricked ECU.

They require a 12 volt power supply (not just a charger) to be hooked to the car's battery. They require the laptop running Techstream to be fully charged or plugged in, or both. They make sure the brake system is at full pressure before starting so the hydraulic pump shouldn't come on and draw power during the test, and they remove three high-amp fuses to prevent things on those circuits from happening.

That made me think: if you have any aftermarket, high-amp things you've added to the car that the dealer isn't going to know about, you probably want to make sure those are disabled before taking the car in for the reflash. I will definitely pull the fuse for my onboard air, for example.



Also, I see they aren't pulling the fuse for the brake pump. but just using the brakes until it runs, so they know the accumulator has been freshly pumped up.

Which would mean, if you've been noticing any increase in pump frequency lately, or it doesn't seem able to hold for an hour between runs if nobody's using the brakes, you might want to let them know that.

 

How can one tell very easily whether or not they full did the recall fix on one's v 2013?

They didn't have my wheel lock, which is partly why I wonder. But now, my very short Intown trips' mpg is in the low to mid 30's. Hence, I am not so happy over that, but I'm hoping that'll change once the weather is nice and beautiful again.

TIA,

 

Why would they need that?

 

Maybe for how it shown in the photo in the above post with the acceleration/braking, because they wouldn't have access to the tires or anything else related, right?


iPhone ?

 

I think they need only to access 12 volt battery in hatch area. Maybe. And other'n that it's plugging into obd port under the dash.

 

Right, their official instructions require them to connect a supplemental 12 VDC power supply directly to the battery posts in the hatch area for the duration of the procedure. They plug the laptop into the diagnostic port under the dash. You can save them time by not having the hatch area full of stuff when you show up. They don't need anything else.

 

Would an Tactrix Openport 2.0 used with Techstream be able to see the relevant ECU firmware versions?

 

Sure would. They're in the "calibration id" column in your Health Check results.

 

I had the initial recall for the inverter completed when it went into failsafe mode around a year ago. i havent gotten the newest recall for the software update done yet. starting just this morning the check engine light came on and when i do a cold start it has a noise under the hybrid unit under the hood. then the noise goes away after a few seconds.

i hope the recall for software is what the issue is. we drive our 2012 prius V a lot. it has around 176,000 miles and consistently gets 44-45 mpg with a city/highway drive.

 

Check engine light could be unrelated to the inverter. Have you ever cleaned the EGR, intake manifold?

 

no i havent done that. i do have a dirty air filter.

spoke with local toyota dealer and they stated that the firmware update could be the issue. i have an appointment for them to look at it on monday. the firmware update will be getting done then also. they said as long as the check engine light isnt blinking it is still good to go for now.


but thank you for the post.

 

How's your engine coolant level? Sudden development of cold-start misfires at your mileage is often (but not always) indicative of coolant leakage into the cylinders which can cause cold-start misfires.

 

Just chiming in here, I've also had noticeably poorer fuel economy since having recall J1V performed. Whatever re-flash they did seems to make the car want to stick to running the gas engine more often around town. I was below 40 MPG in mixed driving after my last fill-up, the lowest I've gotten since I purchased my car a year ago. Southeastern US.