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That is a very good question, it looks like the shape and size will be identical, it also seems like the two connectors on the back are identical on both versions, just by glancing at both they appear to be the same pattern. Does this mean that it will be a matter of plug and play... probably but it's hard to say. Looks like you may have to bite the bullet and find out yourself. It may be that some of features on the LCD may not work properly or work at all as you may think, if you decide to jump on this project let us know if it works out for you.

Regards,
 
Hello again friend,

You sparked my curiosity the other day by bringing up this subject, so I decided to look for a speedometer from a 2016 Limited in eBay, I came across one that wasn't too bad in price and decided to take my chances and purchase it.

Here are my findings installing this, keep in mind that my vehicle is a late 2013 XLE Plus, was not equipped with factory TPMS, was in metric format (Celsius and Km/h).

  • Like I mentioned in my previous reply, the shape and fitment are identical, the connectors are the same and will interconnect without an issue.
  • Looking at them from the back they are slightly different but the clips and the ears where the screws go are in the same location.

Here are pictures of my original speedometer and the upgrade:

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Notice that my vehicle has around 79K kilometers, idling at 1K RPM, full tank of gas, measuring outside temp @ 15°C, seatbelt light is on, park brake light is on, door ajar light is on and the ECO mode is selected.

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Note the back of the clusters, the original is the bottom and the one I purchased is the top one

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Newer cluster installed, installation was seamless no issues with harness fitment or cluster fitment.

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To give it a try, I opened the driver's side door and the LCD screen displayed the appropriate door opening, then I opened the passenger door and does recognize it as well, I took a picture when both front doors were open (also registers when rear doors open as well as the rear hatch). Notice that the odometer does not match my actual kilometers when you do the conversion. The cluster retained the previous mileage and in your case, it will have to be programmed.

Here is a video when I started the vehicle with newer cluster:

New Cluster installed video
Notice that all the dummy lights turn on to perform a check test and once the car is on, two unwelcomed lights are now on

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Notice in this picture that now my vehicle has around 31K miles which does not match from previous, idling is right at 1K RPM as before, full tank of gas, measuring outside temp @ 59°F which does convert from the 15°C from the original cluster, seatbelt light is on, park brake light is on, doors are all closed and the ECO mode is selected. Two additional lights are now on 😞, the TPMS (which was to be expected as my vehicle is not equipped from factory) and the power steering malfunction, I know my car does not have a malfunction so I can assume there's is a pin change in newer models.

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Headlights on with fog lights. Coolant Temp is climbing as it should.

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Bright lights are now on.

I tried changing the display screen by pressing the DISP button on the steering wheel and only goes to trip and fuel economy. It does not display any other information on the LCD display. I was hopping to a least show the music info but I guess my car was not designed to do that in the first place.
I took it out for a drive and found another minor inconvenience, I get a hyper flash when I use the turn signals, I did installed LED lights on the front a year ago but I also added a proper Load Resistor to prevent that, I can assure that it was not hyper flashing prior to me changing out the cluster. Who would have thought that changing the cluster would cause this hyper flashing, not sure if this is due to the fact that the Limited and SE versions are equipped with rear LED in the 2016 models, the cluster needs a feedback from the diodes to make sure the rear lights are working properly, but I believe the turn signals are still halogens even in the Limited and SE Versions so not sure what to think, maybe uses different circuitry to check for burned out bulbs. A bonus is that when the Cruise control engages, it prompts the set speed for a brief second and goes away.

In conclusion, I'm not sure if its worth the money to do this upgrade in your case since there's no gains in the functionality other than having a cool looking color LCD with more graphics, not sure if the 2015 is wired differently from a 2013 to prevent the electric power steering malfunction light or if it will display more information with this modification. This goes back to my first reply stating that some features might not be available with early RAV-4. If you do decide to purchase this in your country, the dealer might insist on you to provide a VIN, if that's the case then they might not even sell it to you because they will see that it's not for your particular year model so keep that in mind. I'm not sure if I will spend any more time trying to fix the small issues I have encountered (getting the electronic power steering fault sorted out, disable the TPMS on this cluster) not even sure if I will keep this cluster since I would like to retain the metric units, at least now you have some answers.

Cheers
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Oh man you are great :) I believe the wiring should be all the same on 2013 vs 2015. You should be able to program the new dashboard cia Techstream and get your issues fixed. How much did you ended up paying for it?

So there's no digital speed indication or anything else, apart just graphic display of open/closed doors?
 
I paid $75 USD + Tax with free shipping

You should be able to program the new dashboard cia Techstream and get your issues fixed.
Not sure if I will spend anymore time on this, I was a bit disappointed myself. I'm with you, I was hoping to at least see vehicle speed and music playing info.

So there's no digital speed indication or anything else, apart just graphic display of open/closed doors?
Nada, I could not get it to change to other screens. It just goes to trip and fuel economy, that was it.
 
Giving it another try,

I'm giving it another shot at this, I had been looking at schematics and other data and made some hypothesis:

  • The issue with EPS might be due to the fact that my '13 is not equipped with lane assist, since a lane assist module is not communicating with the cluster then it's warning that there is an issue with the lane assist (not sure if it's even possible to disable that future on the cluster.
  • The PTMS light I already know it's lit because my vehicle is not equipped with TPMS from factory but I believe it can be disabled.
  • The hyper flashing might be due to the CAN-bus system, from what I could tell this new cluster is highly intricate and may be checking for burn out bulbs other means instead of using current draw. May need to go back to halogen bulbs or get LED with CAN-bus. When I installed the LEDs a year ago, I installed a big enough resistor so that if one of the LEDs malfunctioned it would pick it up by hyper flashing due to lack of current draw. Still scratching my head over this.
  • In order to make the cluster go through the various screens, I need to have the correct steering controls, previously the cluster was not responding because when I pressed the buttons it didn't have the correct resistance. To fix this, I will be installing the steering controls from a '16 limited version. I did notice that the controls are different comparing a limited/SE edition to the other platforms.

Here is my current steering wheel controls vs the Limited steering controls, luckily it has the connector for the paddle Shifters.

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I'm missing some information as I do not have the complete schematics for my '13, I only have partials. I do have the complete schematics for the '16 😅🤣.

We'll see what comes out of this

Cheers
 
So you think if you'd change steering controls, the dash would start responding? I own 2015 RAV4, but the steering controls are the same as yours..
It's worth a try. I only paid like another $68 USD for a complete steering off a Limited version, I ended up removing the steering controls and will be using my leather steering wheel, as the leather on the other one was pitted and does not have the paddle Shifters. I was only interested in the main controls... worst case scenario is that the clock spring is totally different and may need to move a few wires around or that I may have to route new wires to the cluster. Have you done anything or you decided to settle with what you have?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Let us know what you find. I decided to settle with what I've got. I was searching for new dashboard but they are quite difficult and expensive to get where I am.. I ended up in upgrading my OEM radio to nice android version, which gave me a lot of benefit already and reduced need for new dash
 
Oh, I see.

May I ask which Android unit you ended up getting? I'm also interested in getting one but I'm not sure which one to get. I'll keep posting as I progress in this project

Cheers
 
Quick update on this project,

I've made minor progress on this since the last time I posted, there's a difference between the two control pads, the pins are different. Horn and illumination wires are in different pins (just to clarify the horn does not go through the steering wheel controls but uses the same connector to go through spiral clock spring) and unfortunately there's a wire missing that goes over to the dash cluster, I believe I have identified the pins but there's information I'm missing for my 2013, I'm waiting on a service manual CD that I purchased thanks to a link from a subscriber, need to go over the electrical diagrams and make sure before I go full gorilla. From what I can tell there's a pin available in my case (potentially three pins if you don't have paddle Shifters) that may be empty and can be used to add this additional wire (unless you have heated steering wheel).

I got rid of the hyper flashing by simply installing the halogen bulbs back that it originally came with, I doubt that installing CANBUS LED bulbs will help, I'm starting to believe that this new cluster checks for more current draw from the bulbs, if it was CANBUS related, the dash would warn you that there's a burned bulb; a bigger resistor with less resistance may be needed (which I'm trying to avoid). So installing original halogen bulbs seems like the most logical way to go. I don't think there's any LEDs out there that use more than three amps to avoid the hyper flashing

The bad
In case you decide to jump on this and add the newer style steering wheel controls and If you're planning on leaving the original head unit, you will loose a few functions, you won't be able to use the following buttons on your steering wheel for your head unit anymore: left, right, enter and back, the reason is that those buttons are no longer there on the new steering wheel pad, the set of buttons left, right, up, down, enter and back that you see on the picture I posted above are to navigate thru the cluster menu. Keep this in mind so there's no surprises about that. I've made up my mind to upgrade to an Android stereo so loosing those functions won't be a big deal for me.

I will try to post pictures when I get brave enough to start messing with the spiral clock spring wires. I'm waiting on some repair harness kits from Toyota in order to add the missing cable, not sure if both ends use the same terminals yet. But I will make sure I post the correct part #s for the terminals.

Something else to note is that the last time I installed the new cluster again and used the Cruise Control the indicator light(s) do not light up, neither when I set the speed, the cruise control function still works but there are no indicator lights on the dash. Reason: unknown but I had this conversation with another subscriber who is wanting to do the swap and we hypothesized that is probably due to the lack of the radar cruise control in my SUV. The first time I tried it I was sure I saw the set speed come up for a brief moment but it didn't do it the last time I tried it. It is probably best to get a dash from an XLE version without radar cruise control and without LDA. It may have been a huge mistake from my part to get the cluster from a Limited version. Hopefully we know more about it later this week.

Cheers
 
I know, I should be kicking myself on the head for not following my own advice, but at this point I'm way too far in and have done a bunch of research to just walk away from it.

Hopefully it turns out okay
 
Oh boy, the deeper you go, the more problems... I am curious about your progress going forward!
I finally got the dash to work with new steering wheel controls. Although it is very limited. I only have a few screens to scroll thru. Don't get music info, nor navigation info. I have not made any progress in the EPS warning light or the cruise control enable not showing up in the dash. It's making me wonder that this cluster uses a different CAN-BUS protocol and the data being delivered from both the Main ECU(Cruise Control) and the Power Steering ECU to the cluster is not compatible and the cluster doesn't know how to interpret that data. This is just a theory but I'll have to ask someone about that.

Here's the link to the video in case you want to see the screens that are available in my RAV-4 after the Dash swap.
YouTube Dash Menu Video

Cheers,
 
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