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Hybrid System Malfunction

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2020 rav4 xse hybrid system malfunction unknown problem
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soundofboom

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello Rav4 owners. I am posting this to see if anyone else has experienced the same issue. I've read other posts that are very similar to my issues but nothing is exactly what I am experiencing.

I purchased my 2020 XSE in may of 2019. Nothing but regular freeway commuting in California. I had no issues until yesterday at my 15,000 mile mark (also TC3 time). I turned on my car as usual in the morning to warm up the inside with the heater and seat warmers on. When I got back in the car, it did not feel warm and when I shifted to drive, I received three cycling error messages on my dash cluster.

The first error message: "Hybrid System Malfunction. Shift to park. See Owner's Manual"
When I shift to D, the error message changes to " Hybrid System Stopped. Shift into P."

The second error message: "Braking Power Low. Visit Your Dealer."

The third error message: "Pre Collision System Malfunction. Visit Your Dealer."

I had to have my car towed to the nearest Autonation Toyota in Hayward. After one day, they could not figure out what the problem was so they kept it overnight. After speaking with the service manager today, he informed me that the main computer in the car which is located behind the dashboard, is not receiving the proper amount of voltage. They were honest with me that they have not experienced this problem before and that they are calling in Toyota engineers to take a look at it. They are not able to verify when the work can be completed or even what necessary work needs to be performed.

I'd like to rule out that it is related to the key fob since that is on another discussion in this forum. I'm also going to have to rule out that it is related to cold weather since I'm in California. The car hasn't been in temperatures below 40 degrees.

This obviously has me very worried because the car is still pretty much brand new.

Any ideas or similar experiences here?
 
#2 ·
That problem occurs with a low 12v battery, there’s an active TSB for battery drain. Be sure your dealer checks your vehicle for the issue and resolves it. (My Hybrid doesn’t have the drain issue, so not everyone has this happen.)

In cold environments there was a defect on some models where sometimes the IGN relay near the battery can jam and it will cause a Hybrid System Malfunction. Newer builds of the vehicle come with a different relay part that doesn’t have this issue. (Also, if you happen to live in a warmer area you probably wouldn’t experience this issue.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
rys said:
That problem occurs with a low 12v battery, there’s an active TSB for battery drain. Be sure your dealer checks your vehicle for the issue and resolves it. (My Hybrid doesn’t have the drain issue, so not everyone has this happen.)

In cold environments there was a defect on some models where sometimes the IGN relay near the battery can jam and it will cause a Hybrid System Malfunction. Newer builds of the vehicle come with a different relay part that doesn’t have this issue. (Also, if you happen to live in a warmer area you probably wouldn’t experience this issue.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply!
I spoke with the service manager about the 12v drain issue which is a problem with 2020-2021 Hybrids. He said he’s aware of that issue which is just a firmware update. Unfortunately he said that is not the unknown issue with my car :( wish it was that simple.
 
#4 ·
Just had mine towed to the garage for the same thing. It seemed like I had good 12V battery power. Everything looked normal in accessory and ignition position (lights not dim etc).
It stranded me 450 miles from home. Had to leave my car there and get a rental to get home for work. Now I have to drive 800 miles round trip to get my car when they get it repaired. Not happy.
 
#5 ·
soundofboom said:
Thanks for the reply!
I spoke with the service manager about the 12v drain issue which is a problem with 2020-2021 Hybrids. He said he’s aware of that issue which is just a firmware update. Unfortunately he said that is not the unknown issue with my car :( wish it was that simple.
Click to expand...
Any news on your car? Mine is still at the dealer where it was towed and hasn’t been looked at in 4 days. Said they are really busy. I’m not too optimistic this is going to be fixed any time soon.
 
#6 ·
Had same or similar issue happen on a 2017 Prius Prime about 3 years ago. We were traveling for a college visit for my daughter and were staying at a hotel in Syracuse NY. In the morning I was warming it up with defrosters and heat running and went back out to the car and it was off. Pushed the button on the dash and had warnings flashing. We had to make a meeting so I put it in reverse and it backed up and put it in drive and as I accelerated the Ice fired. The dash had warnings that the hybrid system and the collision systems malfunctioned. We drove about 60 miles round trip and stopped at a local dealer in Syracuse. They had a few techs trying to figure it out with their laptop attached to it. They could not figure out what initially caused the issue, but said there was a can-bus issue. Force reboot on the computers and about 1 1/2 hours it was back to normal and we were out of there. They also said that the car went into a "safe mode" of operation and flashed the malfunctions that we saw. Safe to drive minus all of the safety features.

Bright it to local home dealer said that they have never heard of the issue and I have never had the problem again.

Curious to see what problems are found. I am sure I have not seen the last of this issue after reading the thread.
 
#7 ·
PAhockeydad said:
Just had mine towed to the garage for the same thing. It seemed like I had good 12V battery power. Everything looked normal in accessory and ignition position (lights not dim etc).
It stranded me 450 miles from home. Had to leave my car there and get a rental to get home for work. Now I have to drive 800 miles round trip to get my car when they get it repaired. Not happy.
Click to expand...
Garage diagnosed the hybrid malfunction as the relay failure due to cold weather. The weather this weekend was 34F. It’s ridiculous that Toyota has: 1) vehicles that fail under mild winter weather and 2) known about this issue and won’t issue a recall. I won’t be purchasing another Toyota (after having 6).
 
#8 ·
PAhockeydad said:
Garage diagnosed the hybrid malfunction as the relay failure due to cold weather. The weather this weekend was 34F. It’s ridiculous that Toyota has: 1) vehicles that fail under mild winter weather and 2) known about this issue and won’t issue a recall. I won’t be purchasing another Toyota (after having 6).
Click to expand...
Did they apply T-SB-0045-20?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
PAhockeydad said:
Just had mine towed to the garage for the same thing. It seemed like I had good 12V battery power. Everything looked normal in accessory and ignition position (lights not dim etc).
It stranded me 450 miles from home. Had to leave my car there and get a rental to get home for work. Now I have to drive 800 miles round trip to get my car when they get it repaired. Not happy.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late update guys!

Toyota had my car for about a week. It took them a few days to diagnose (I'm not sure if it took so long because they were busy or if they just couldn't figure it out). The service manager said the ECU was not sending the correct voltage to the Hybrid System. This was caused by a bad "pin" connection. They ordered the pin and had it resolved in 4 days because they had to wait for the part to be shipped.

I've had the car back for about 1.5 weeks now and everything seems to be working fine. It has recently been fairly cold in CA.. approx 37 degrees in the AM. The dealer did not mention that this faulty connection occurred from cold weather. He also verified that this was not due to my 12V being drained. Simply a bad connection. I guess this can happen when anything is in mass production, including cars. Seems like I was just in the unlucky percentile that it happened to.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
PAhockeydad said:
Garage diagnosed the hybrid malfunction as the relay failure due to cold weather. The weather this weekend was 34F. It’s ridiculous that Toyota has: 1) vehicles that fail under mild winter weather and 2) known about this issue and won’t issue a recall. I won’t be purchasing another Toyota (after having 6).
Click to expand...
This sounds like the issue I had except that the dealer did not say it was related to cold weather. However, I do agree with you that this is unacceptable. There isn't any CA weather that should affect any of the systems within the car. Toyota definitely needs to make this a recall.
 
#12 ·
PAhockeydad said:
Just had mine towed to the garage for the same thing. It seemed like I had good 12V battery power. Everything looked normal in accessory and ignition position (lights not dim etc).
It stranded me 450 miles from home. Had to leave my car there and get a rental to get home for work. Now I have to drive 800 miles round trip to get my car when they get it repaired. Not happy.
Click to expand...
This just happened to me.. 400 miles from home as well. I’m starting to prefer the all gas powered Tacoma they lended me instead..
 
#13 ·
Emerald said:
This just happened to me.. 400 miles from home as well. I’m starting to prefer the all gas powered Tacoma they lended me instead..
Click to expand...
They ended up replacing the SMT relay which took 20 min per the service manager. I rented a Ford Ranger for the three weeks it took for the repair. Wasn’t bad but I wished I had the Tacoma.
 
#14 ·
soundofboom said:
Hello Rav4 owners. I am posting this to see if anyone else has experienced the same issue. I've read other posts that are very similar to my issues but nothing is exactly what I am experiencing.

I purchased my 2020 XSE in may of 2019. Nothing but regular freeway commuting in California. I had no issues until yesterday at my 15,000 mile mark (also TC3 time). I turned on my car as usual in the morning to warm up the inside with the heater and seat warmers on. When I got back in the car, it did not feel warm and when I shifted to drive, I received three cycling error messages on my dash cluster.

The first error message: "Hybrid System Malfunction. Shift to park. See Owner's Manual"
When I shift to D, the error message changes to " Hybrid System Stopped. Shift into P."

The second error message: "Braking Power Low. Visit Your Dealer."

The third error message: "Pre Collision System Malfunction. Visit Your Dealer."

I had to have my car towed to the nearest Autonation Toyota in Hayward. After one day, they could not figure out what the problem was so they kept it overnight. After speaking with the service manager today, he informed me that the main computer in the car which is located behind the dashboard, is not receiving the proper amount of voltage. They were honest with me that they have not experienced this problem before and that they are calling in Toyota engineers to take a look at it. They are not able to verify when the work can be completed or even what necessary work needs to be performed.

I'd like to rule out that it is related to the key fob since that is on another discussion in this forum. I'm also going to have to rule out that it is related to cold weather since I'm in California. The car hasn't been in temperatures below 40 degrees.

This obviously has me very worried because the car is still pretty much brand new.

Any ideas or similar experiences here?
Click to expand...
I am having similar issues as everyone else here! This is the second time this has happened to me. I discovered the problem initially by visiting this site. The dealership has no clue what causes it and told me next time, do not charge the battery, but to jump it. Really?! I am a female in a major city, and you want me to be stranded? I only have 5500 miles on my 2020 RAV4 and have had issues since I purchased it. I am thinking about trading in my car at this point.
 
#15 ·
Our 2020 RAV4 XSE was parked on Sat at about 10 am, tried to move it Sunday night at 6 pm and it would not start. Put it on a 12A charger for a few hours and then connected a jump battery to it. Was then able to start it. Calling the dealer today to check/do the TSB.
 
#17 ·
Just had exactly the same problem here in the UK.
I always look at the hybrid system on the screen, just out of interest to watch it working. Nothing seemed unusual until everything seemed to start failing!
Really glad you posted this, and folks have replied, hopefully I’ll get the same decent customer service!
 
#18 ·
soundofboom said:
Hello Rav4 owners. I am posting this to see if anyone else has experienced the same issue. I've read other posts that are very similar to my issues but nothing is exactly what I am experiencing.

I purchased my 2020 XSE in may of 2019. Nothing but regular freeway commuting in California. I had no issues until yesterday at my 15,000 mile mark (also TC3 time). I turned on my car as usual in the morning to warm up the inside with the heater and seat warmers on. When I got back in the car, it did not feel warm and when I shifted to drive, I received three cycling error messages on my dash cluster.

The first error message: "Hybrid System Malfunction. Shift to park. See Owner's Manual"
When I shift to D, the error message changes to " Hybrid System Stopped. Shift into P."

The second error message: "Braking Power Low. Visit Your Dealer."

The third error message: "Pre Collision System Malfunction. Visit Your Dealer."

I had to have my car towed to the nearest Autonation Toyota in Hayward. After one day, they could not figure out what the problem was so they kept it overnight. After speaking with the service manager today, he informed me that the main computer in the car which is located behind the dashboard, is not receiving the proper amount of voltage. They were honest with me that they have not experienced this problem before and that they are calling in Toyota engineers to take a look at it. They are not able to verify when the work can be completed or even what necessary work needs to be performed.

I'd like to rule out that it is related to the key fob since that is on another discussion in this forum. I'm also going to have to rule out that it is related to cold weather since I'm in California. The car hasn't been in temperatures below 40 degrees.

This obviously has me very worried because the car is still pretty much brand new.

Any ideas or similar experiences here?
Click to expand...
Experienced same issue today in my 2020 RAV4 Hybrid: stopped. Shift to Park. Slow charges 12v battery for a few hours, and everything now works. This is the second time experiencing dead battery. I'm investing in a hand-held quick starter.
 
#19 ·
myles.falvella said:
Experienced same issue today in my 2020 RAV4 Hybrid: stopped. Shift to Park. Slow charges 12v battery for a few hours, and everything now works. This is the second time experiencing dead battery. I'm investing in a hand-held quick starter.
Click to expand...
Load tested the 12v recently? Or even the connection to the posts? They do fail. Many auto part shops will do it for you.
 
#20 ·
soundofboom said:
Hello Rav4 owners. I am posting this to see if anyone else has experienced the same issue. I've read other posts that are very similar to my issues but nothing is exactly what I am experiencing.

I purchased my 2020 XSE in may of 2019. Nothing but regular freeway commuting in California. I had no issues until yesterday at my 15,000 mile mark (also TC3 time). I turned on my car as usual in the morning to warm up the inside with the heater and seat warmers on. When I got back in the car, it did not feel warm and when I shifted to drive, I received three cycling error messages on my dash cluster.

The first error message: "Hybrid System Malfunction. Shift to park. See Owner's Manual"
When I shift to D, the error message changes to " Hybrid System Stopped. Shift into P."

The second error message: "Braking Power Low. Visit Your Dealer."

The third error message: "Pre Collision System Malfunction. Visit Your Dealer."

I had to have my car towed to the nearest Autonation Toyota in Hayward. After one day, they could not figure out what the problem was so they kept it overnight. After speaking with the service manager today, he informed me that the main computer in the car which is located behind the dashboard, is not receiving the proper amount of voltage. They were honest with me that they have not experienced this problem before and that they are calling in Toyota engineers to take a look at it. They are not able to verify when the work can be completed or even what necessary work needs to be performed.

I'd like to rule out that it is related to the key fob since that is on another discussion in this forum. I'm also going to have to rule out that it is related to cold weather since I'm in California. The car hasn't been in temperatures below 40 degrees.

This obviously has me very worried because the car is still pretty much brand new.

Any ideas or similar experiences here?
Click to expand...
This happened to me yesterday after driving it for months with an error message to call my dealer which I did right away only to be told it needs this cord that is on back order from Toyota that costs 7,000 but my 2020 is covered under warranty. This cord problem is only happening in America, in Japan this problem does not exist. My cord came in last week and they are supposed to do the work this Monday my car stopped working completely like yours yesterday so I had to get it towed to the dealership yesterday Saturday. Let's see if they pay for the towing. I doubt it. I'm disappointed in the service and quality, Toyota use to have a very good reputation but not anymore. Our Tocoma no problems with it but the Rav I'm thinking of trading it in for a Subaru. Very sad because driving a hybrid saved me a lot on gas. I also read that there is a class action suit regarding this problem with Toyota.
 
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