Toyota Announces Voluntary Special Service

I guess they believe they have the optimum programming now for reliability versus efficiency.

I'll get my DVD at the same time.

 

I inquired about the 2006 NAV DVD when I was in Tuesday to order a new parking brake pedal pad. I was told it would be investigated, but I'm not counting on anything too new to fill the free upgrade...

 

Some early vehicles (mine!) could get water inside that rear transaxle which would basically shut the car down. I had thought they had fixed that, and would have done the grease sealing at services for the cars, but apparently not.

Translastion: Yeah, we had a problem and the NHTSA caught us on it. So we're doing the recall/campaign before we're forced to.

 

What DVD?

 

When I had my oil changed two or 3 weeks ago, I visited the lady at the parts counter. She told me the new NAV DVDs were coming out in 4-6 weeks, as someone else asked her for an upgrade.

Only those with DVD versions prior to 4.2 were entitled to a free upgrade. I agree though, I don't know if we'll get anything higher than 4.2 for the freebee.

 

With regard to NAV system, why change a good thing? A dvd based system is cheap with regard to media to publish and easy for a tech to change. On top of that, in a moving vehicle I trust optical media much more than platter based media as a HDD would be. Laptop HDDs are the only ones designed to handle more than a fractional amount of Gs with regard to impact and shaking, and even then most long time laptop users highly discourage abusing a laptop HDD by having it spinning and setting the computer down hard on a desk, or dropping it. If a vehicle nav system were HDD based it would be a lot more expensive to update and a lot more susceptable to damage due to vehicle motion.

 

Hmmm, in some circles it is being called a voluntary recall....
Voluntary Recall

 

L.A. Times uses the recall as well.


Software Glitch Triggers Toyota Prius Recall

 

Oct. 13 2005 Special Service Campaign:
http://toyota.jp/recall/campaign/051013.html

Here is the Babelfish translation (pre-mortar = Prius, NHW20 is the model designation for the 2004-? Prius):


Service campaign of pre- mortar

Concerning the portion of the regular use car of the pre- mortar, from 2005 October 13th, service campaign of the below-mentioned contents (no charge repair) we had decided to execute.




1. Phenomenon of vehicle
(1) There are times when the inhalation air quantity at the time of engine starting decreases temporarily, as fail-safe function working with engine rpm decrease, the warning light lights up, there are times when it
becomes motor travelling.
(2) There are times when the moisture comes in contact with the terminal of the rotary sensor connector for the generator inside the trance axle, as fail-safe function working with resistance change, the warning light lights up, there are times when it becomes motor travelling.

2. Contents of improvement
(1) The program of all vehicle and the engine control computer is corrected.
(2) The grease for waterproofing is applied to all vehicle and the particular connector)

3. Object vehicle
ZA-NHW20
DAA-NHW20
Pre- mortar

NHW20-0001002 - NHW20-0130298 2003 August 1st - 2004 October 13th (1)(2)
NHW20-0130301 - NHW20-0133242 2004 September 23rd - 2004 October 12th (1)
NHW20-3000002 - NHW20-3013252 2004 September 30th - 2004 November 16th (1)
NHW20-7000000 - NHW20-7003412 2004 October 6th - 2004 November 20th (1)

Note:1. Because also the vehicle which does not become the object is included in the range of the under carriage number where the object car is included, please inquire at the Toyota store of the vicinity concerning details.
2. Production period of the object car differs from the time of purchase.


Doing to apply annoyance, there is no excuse truly in everyone of regular use, but making guide from the Toyota store, because it receives, ahead of time, it comes to the pre- mortar handling store of the vicinity and reservation receives store day and time, inspection repair (no charge) to receive that it receives, it asks.

We apologize to everyone of regular use from thing and the heart which very much applied annoyance.

 

It is a Service Campaign and owners can also check their VIN at this website.

VIN Range_____________Production Period
0001002 - 0130298_____2003 August 1st - 2004 October 13th
0130301 - 0133242_____2004 September 23rd - 2004 October 12th
3000002 - 3013252_____2004 September 30th - 2004 November 16th
7000000 - 7003412_____2004 October 6th - 2004 November 20th

Vincent

 

Funny part of this is, wasn't Toyota doing all this already since 2004?
e.g. checking VINs during service and optioning the fix as part of service?

Maybe the issue is because it takes a while to get to the 5K service, it hits people before Toyota gets to it?

 

I belive from the translation they are talking about the resolver(speed sensor) of MG2, it sits atop the cvt and is easilly accesable.......once you remove the inverter.

No we have not been doing anything like this. We have had two reflashes ( actually one that we had to do twice on some cars because there was a bug in the first "fix"). The whole reflash came about near the time we started to get word in the news of "prius intermitant death on the freeway". The "fix" was for us not you...incompatability issues with our scanner, so they told us. I think that might be the timeline confusion.
As far as checking and addressing TSB's when you come in for a LOF, don't count on it. It depends on your svc writer and how many people are "patiently" waiting behind you for write-up. On our system you have to cut and paste the vin from the repair order generation program to the toyota dealer daily program, load and check for saftey recalls and service campaigns. Next he has to go to the TIS program and check for bulletins that have production dates splits and vin breaks. Thats alot to expect from most places. Unfortunately. We try like heck to do it on all cars but we don't. The svc manager is always on the guys to do it though. A while back our cashier/warranty clerk started to do it when she was making appointments via phone. Good for everyone because it generates work for the shop, prevents you from coming back 400 miles after a 5k for a reflash.
I can't say how important it is for the customer to talk once in a while (alone) with a tech. Befriend them, don't act like a trip to the dealer is one step above a root canal without novacane. Give off a good vibe, get to know one of the master techs or MDT's, ask for them every time because that puts $$ in his/her pocket. Once you build a rapport with the mechanic you will get personalised and probably much better service. You may find that not all techs are knuckle dragging, no teeth, gun toting, rebal flag flying from the pickumup cb antenna republicans. You might find that while the tech was waiting for the reflash to finish your tires got inadvertantly rotated at no charge, or you get bumped to the head of the long line of repair orders. Remember we are humans and not robots. Do you like people who don't like you, or act as if the don't? Cars and customers are treated equitably only in a perfect world. This is the way the world is regardless of if you are talking to the butcher, baker or prius fixer.
Regards, Mike

 

At least CNN didn't call it a recall.
Prius has a problem, says Toyota

 

Yes, the headlines are getting worse. But if you read the article, it again states that 75,000 of the recalled cars are in the US. The 160,000 for recall is world-wide.

The article also states that Toyota's world-wide sales of Prii was 125,700 last year. Wow. The article makes it sound like just about all the Prii sold need to be recalled. I guess the journalist thinks all Prii are suspect.

 

Is there any way to predict how likely the problem is to occur in any particular Prius?
Mine (2005) is just about at the 6K mile mark and I've had no problems of any kind.

 

Unless yours was made before Nov 21 04, it doesn't affect you.

If it does affect you, I don't suspect there's any way to predict whether you'll experience it.