Who has done their recall?

About the Prius recall I did some research and there's a software change that will reduce transistor damage in the ECU.

If you wonder what the transistors look like, there's an article in the Electrical Engineering Times web page. The IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) module shown in the lower left side of the photo and that's what over heats.

Special Issue: Inside the Toyota Prius: Part 5 - Inverter/converter is Prius' power broker | EE Times


The article goes on to say....

With the large currents involved throughout the ICU, cooling of power semiconductor devices is paramount. The two sets of power components--both bare direct-mount slices and the TO-packaged parts--are mounted back to back on the metal case of the ICU. Heat transfer is achieved by way of a dedicated liquid cooling loop that runs through the ICU casing and is shared with the two MG assemblies.

I think the recall will steer back the EV mode and put less stress on the IGBT. I think it might reduce the Mpg. After the recall on my 2012 P2. That's something I plan to monitor.

 

That is the only way I can see to reduce the load on the inverter. Reduce it's drive (output). There are two flashes taking place. A hybrid computer and the gas motor computer (ECU). The car would be weaker if just the hybrid drive was reduced, so they compensate by turning up the wick in the gas motor. Someone should put their car on a chassis dyno before and after the updates to verify this. The torque graph should look different since a electric motor torque over an RPM range is very different than a gas motor could be.

Mike

Somewhere on my phone ;-)

 

I haven't noticed anything different. Was in and out in less then a hour.

 

Toyota will hopefully have this fix done on any unsold Prius still in their lots? Have not had the recall done, but will try to get it in soon.

If no letters are being sent out, are dealerships informing customers, or do only Prius Chat readers have knowledge of this recall. Prius Chat is where I first found out about it.

 

When I got an oil change last week at dealer they said I should get my recall done soon since it is "safety" related. They said they can't sell any new Prius until they did the recall.

 

That's a sign of a good dealership. I won't be due for an oil change for a while, but will drop by our dealership and see how they are treating this recall.

 

Did mine, took 1.5 hours

 

Did mine on Friday. Fairly useless 15k "service" and the recall in about an hour.

 

I did my recall at the Toyota dealership in Buena Park, CA. I dropped it off at 8am and didn't receive a call to pick it up until 1:30pm. Ridiculous! Fortunately I don't live to far so my family member was able to pick me and and drop me off for me to relax at home. My service adviser told me that their internet was down, which is why it took so look for them to do the software update. However, they took of the annoying reverse beep for free when I asked for them to take it off. Still pissed about the long wait though.

 

Got my recall done today and have noticed a difference - though most Prius owners might not (I don't hang around!)

If braking gradually from 60 mph down a slight slop the car seems to rely totally on the friction brakes now, rather than a blend of friction and regen.

I also found that under hard acceleration the car doesn't seem to draw from the HV battery/electric side as much as it did.

Anyone else noticed the above?

 

I had mine done today it took 45 mins. I can't notice anything different.

 

Mike,

Actually, my hypothesis is differential heating. It's very likely that the silicon die and the aluminum alloy mount are designed to expand and contract at the same rate with the temperatures of the two are more or less the same. However, when one first slams the pedal down, my argument is that the tranny gets hot first and the aluminum has to catch up. The brief interval while the heat sink is catching up would be when the mechanical stress would be maximized; once everything has reached roughly the same temperature, the stress would go down.

This fits Toyota's explanation of the problem, why it was hard to find (a true second-order, maybe third-order effect), and why it resulted in cracks under the transistors.

Things that would make this worse:

1. Boosting a low battery voltage (more dissipation with a low battery to a high boost voltage)
2. Flooring it, which would cause the battery voltage to droop a bit, along with lots of current going through the boost transistors and diode(s).
3. Cold temperatures? (Not sure about this one..).

In any case, assuming this hypothesis is correct, it's not constant high power that would do the trannies in; it's just at the onset of high acceleration. So, slow down the boost during the initial jump and this would leave the silicon and metal time to equalize temperatures a bit better. Max power wouldn't be affected.

People have mentioned that the car seems to drive a bit smoother after the upgrade, but small changes are hard for people to detect, so the stories are a bit suspect.

KBeck

 

Ah, I thought the devices were failing. Didn't know it was a mechanical issue from heat stress. Throws my theory out the hatch in a hurry
tnx,
Mike

 

At the dealership right now having mine done. They said it would take about 40 minutes.

 

When driving around town I try to drive only on the hybrid motor as much as I can. Ever since the recall service, I've noticed that my battery doesn't seem to go down as fast or as much. My mileage seems about the same and actually may even be a little bit better.

 

I've noticed this too. Whether it's just because they reset the system or whether it manages things differently remains to be seen.

 

did my recall today ..... time it took 1.2 hours what I noticed
brought the Prius in , in ECO , when they said it was done it was in NORMAL ,
the temps outside in west Michigan 14 degrees above zero, remember this sat in a heated garage for One Hour
my trip home 15, miles showed 55 MPG ..... no noticeable changes I could feel

 

Had mine done today. They didn't have the brake pump(brake pump recall) so will call me back in 10 days. They also did the reverse beep and unlock all doors.
Haven't driven it much but did notice it going over the middle line a little livelier when taking off and accelerating.

 

Haven't noticed any post-recall changes that couldn't be chocked up to placebo effect. I did a fillup and trip odo reset though so we'll see if there is any overall per-tank average.
It's been a long, cold winter of crap MPG for me though so it's not going to be noticeable unless it's a bit swing.

 

I find it odd that Toyota is scrambling to get this recall done without publishing a letter to it's customers. How on earth can the dealers be inundated with this campaign when the lines of communication are so vague. It seems that they are keeping this under their hat to avoid bad publicity. Is it as critical as some tend to believe? If so, I hope the damage hasn't already been done. I hate to be a worry wart but this clandestine approach makes me wonder.