Latest Software Update Safety Recall Resulting in 8mpg less...

They made it very clear to me, that unless the car got under 38MPG (or I was also told 40 MPG) the car was meeting expectations and there was nothing they would do. It didn't matter if they did anything to the car to cause any drop, as long as it meet the minimum stated MPG. They also made it very clear that if they did have or know of this as a problem, or that others had this problem, that unless they had a solution and it was in their interest to fix it, that information would be proprietary and they would not share the information with anyone. At this point I do not believe they want comparisons, because it would clearly show there was a problem, and they want to just hide under the minimum MPG requirement.

 

well, it sounds like the mandate from on high is: we know it's going to cost some mpg's to preserve the battery, (or the inverter?) but that is in our best interest in the long run. the press will never get wind of this, but if tons of batteries or inverters had to be replaced, they would be all over it like vultures.

 

I am continuing to try to figure out where the issue is. I have found that most (not all) is associated with lower speed driving. I have also noticed more and more times when EV Mode does not kick in or won't let me use EV mode. The most common is when the battery is 75%+ the car is warm, and I am going at low speeds (10-30 MPH) either decelerating, basically coasting... and get EV mode not available. A new one in the last couple of weeks (I think) is that occasionally when I have a warm car, 75%+ on battery, come to a stop, and the engine is still running. Sometimes I can push EV and it shuts off the motor, while I have had at least one occurrence, where it said EV mode is not available. Before the recall, my EV mode kicked in a lot more... but I do not believe that is the only issue... just another observation.

 

Which yr's and which models of the gen 3 does this recall affect?

Am I safe in assuming my new 2015 has been updated prior to purchase or has the issue been rectified?

Thanks

 

Yes

 

This is strange. After getting the update, ours was more likely to go into EV. This was my immediate impression. About a week later, my wife, outa the blue, said the same thing, and I'd not mentioned my impressions.

From all the reports, the gamut of outcomes, I really think something is flakey with this update, ie: sometimes it takes, sometimes it backfires.

(Geesh, I just glanced up the page at Retired4999's fuely icon: feel kinda sick.)

It didn't cost us zip, if anything mpg has improved post-update. And that's the frustration, the variability in results. There's gotta be an avenue to draw this to someone's attention.

 

i think it's your driving style.

 

Yeah yeah.

Possible "smoking gun" for Larry: the car won't even shut down, warmed up, at a stop? There's something amiss.

 

I do think this is a new issue, since it just started happening more recently and I had gotten the upgrade last spring. I do notice that if I use the "B" brake position and then go out of it just before I stop, it automatically starts the engine even if I am decelerating or about to stop, instead of going back into EV mode.

I am seeing less EV, and I especially notice it on routs were it would typically kick in. Fairly occasionally the engine stull running for a couple of seconds after I stop, even though I have been slowing down going far less than 10 mph, and 70%+ on the battery. I wish they could try reloading the recall... but they say they can't and until my car gets less that 38 or 40 MPG, it is running fine.

 

That can be done. Pretty pathetic, but you could do some protracted idling, with cabin temp set high to dissuade the engine from shutting down. And just drive with aggressive acceleration.

 

Are they saying, when YOU go back and tell them your getting 38-40 mpg? Or will they attach a scan guage or the like to your car and see?

If they are just going off a reset trip odo and whatever the screen shows just reset and go hit your backroads like you stole it and or run an auto cross course a couple times = <40 mpg

 

We had our previous Honda Civic Hybrid in a body shop for about a month. When we got it back the gauge indicated 29 liters per 100 km. I almost had a nervous breakdown. Anyway, there are ways...

 

They implied that I would have to show them my millage records, and then they would have a tech with a scan gage check it. I am not sure what route they would use, but the one they used when I 1st complained is one were it does better. Different routs have different results. I don't think I will be able to resolve it until they find a solution, which any reports are currently company proprietary.

 

Man that's a shame!

My wife was getting terrible mpg with her brand new rav4 XLE AWD when we first got it, so I complained. She was getting 17-19 mpg in mixed driving, well below even the city rating by at least about 6-8 mpg!! The service mgr wanted a few gas receipts with calculated mpg, miles driven....to be sent to corporate so they said.

So we did one better, we brought them 7 or 8 tanks of receipts.

We brought it back eventually along with the reciepts and this one service guy (not the guy that asked us to bring in the reciepts) said that they were not needed!!!! Gotta be kidding me! I insisted that photocopies got put in my file.

Long story short, one of the service managers drove the rav home (35 miles each way) to see what the. Deal was. And low and behold with his 70 some miles of highway commute (said he took service roads half way on drive home) he posted 24.4 mpg!! Go figure right. So I said you achieved the posted city mpg on a mostly highway commute? My wife can't even get 20 mpg on her mixed commute.

Sensing I was frustrated they then (said) they did some diagnostics and gave me a couple signed printouts showing all was within specs with the rav.

A few months have since gone by now and I think she is averaging a little better 19-21, but it sure is frustrating to not be able to even touch the posted city mpg while driving a mix. And no she does not drive the car hard, she uses eco mode, the down fall might be the idling at the lights on the last 1/3rd of her drive...

Oh and I should mention that they did not use a scan gauge, they simply reset the mpg guage on the dash and went off that....

Further on each reciept we provided we showed the variance between indicated and calculated mpg which was about 1.5 mpg high on the indicated side, so we were actually getting worse that that 24.4 for his test....

 

Trade it at another dealer/I have two that get exactly the same MPG=63.4. I usually trade every two years but not this time unless Prius knocks my socks off on 2016.

 

Mine has averaged 37-40 in winter and this past summer I did good to get 52. That being said I have the 17" tires which generally gets you worse mpg. My fuelly app states I am getting better than the computer states though so its a toss up.

 

I think 37-40 in the winter in North Dakota is very good.

 

Do you Grill Block?

 

No I dont.