[RobertB]

Looks like an excellent solution for the poorly designed connector. Will be inquiring about it when I take the wife's 2020 in for the air bag recall.

 

[RobertB]

Do people also disconnect the connector where it goes into the motor to make sure the internal contacts are also not corroded? Indicated by blue arrows in attached photo. That internal area also gets corroded and causes failure. On the latest designs Toyota now has a new internal foam washer inside the connector to motor.

Yes, the seal or lack thereof is what caused the three phase power connections to short out, not the braid. Spraying the braid and not ensuring the motor/cable connector is properly sealed does nothing as salt laden water will still get into connector terminations and corrode them. There are posts about this when the problem first reared it's ugly head back in 2021. I believe the first connector mod with the open clamshell added an improved gasket/seal but not sure.

 

[RobertB]

I guess I thought that corrosion on that braid worked it's way up to the connector.

This is DC voltage, it’s not 3 phase power. The braided wire you see is shielding. When that corrodes, you start to have issues with AM radio and possibly other symptoms.

Not DC, It is three phase AC. The corroded shielding may contribute to AM static but noise is caused by three phase leakage which will eventually trip inverter ground fault or phase imbalance protection and stop car if leakage is severe enough.