[BecauseICanTBH]

This is for a 2020 RAV4 Limited Hybrid.

In true idiot fashion, I attempted to pull over and park yesterday in some pretty high snow. I got stuck. I attempted to get out on my own but ultimately had to call AAA to come rescue me.

While I was trying to get out, I disabled TRAC/VSC and tried rocking the car free. At some point, it started throwing a bunch of malfunction messages.

A tow truck came and pulled me out and I drove off. The malfunction messages remained. I went to a self service car wash and used a high pressure wash to clean out the wheel wells, underbody and the sensor areas (the whole car, for that matter). There actually wasn't much to clean, but I figured maybe a sensor was blocked.

Nope, still getting the error messages. So I disconnected the 12v battery (both terminals), held the horn for 30 seconds, then left the car for about a half hour before reconnecting it. The error messages are still displaying.

Cruise control (DRCC and regular), LTA, LDA, VSC, TRAC are all nonfunctional. The parking sensors all seem to work fine, and so do all of the cameras. Road sign assist works. Birds eye view and backup cam work.

Nothing under the car looks physically damaged. The snow that I drove into was only a couple inches over my ground clearance. Any idea what might have happened?

 

[Ravvydoog19]

This is for a 2020 RAV4 Limited Hybrid.

In true idiot fashion, I attempted to pull over and park yesterday in some pretty high snow. I got stuck. I attempted to get out on my own but ultimately had to call AAA to come rescue me.

While I was trying to get out, I disabled TRAC/VSC and tried rocking the car free. At some point, it started throwing a bunch of malfunction messages.

A tow truck came and pulled me out and I drove off. The malfunction messages remained. I went to a self service car wash and used a high pressure wash to clean out the wheel wells, underbody and the sensor areas (the whole car, for that matter). There actually wasn't much to clean, but I figured maybe a sensor was blocked.

Nope, still getting the error messages. So I disconnected the 12v battery (both terminals), held the horn for 30 seconds, then left the car for about a half hour before reconnecting it. The error messages are still displaying.

Cruise control (DRCC and regular), LTA, LDA, VSC, TRAC are all nonfunctional. The parking sensors all seem to work fine, and so do all of the cameras. Road sign assist works. Birds eye view and backup cam work.

Nothing under the car looks physically damaged. The snow that I drove into was only a couple inches over my ground clearance. Any idea what might have happened?

No idea what happened but you could try cycling them individually on and off to see if that helps. I assume you have AWD?

 

[crazyhorse]

No idea what happened but you could try cycling them individually on and off to see if that helps. I assume you have AWD?

Don't all gen 5 RAV4 hybrids have AWD?

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

No idea what happened but you could try cycling them individually on and off to see if that helps. I assume you have AWD?

Yes it has the as-needed AWD. I'm not able to turn any of them on. It just dings and gives me an error message when I go to turn any of them on.

 

[Quickdtoo]

Don't all gen 5 RAV4 hybrids have AWD?

Yes in North America, FWD HVs are available elsewhere in the world tho.

 

[Axel]

This is for a 2020 RAV4 Limited Hybrid.

In true idiot fashion, I attempted to pull over and park yesterday in some pretty high snow. I got stuck. I attempted to get out on my own but ultimately had to call AAA to come rescue me.

While I was trying to get out, I disabled TRAC/VSC and tried rocking the car free. At some point, it started throwing a bunch of malfunction messages.

A tow truck came and pulled me out and I drove off. The malfunction messages remained. I went to a self service car wash and used a high pressure wash to clean out the wheel wells, underbody and the sensor areas (the whole car, for that matter). There actually wasn't much to clean, but I figured maybe a sensor was blocked.

Nope, still getting the error messages. So I disconnected the 12v battery (both terminals), held the horn for 30 seconds, then left the car for about a half hour before reconnecting it. The error messages are still displaying.

Cruise control (DRCC and regular), LTA, LDA, VSC, TRAC are all nonfunctional. The parking sensors all seem to work fine, and so do all of the cameras. Road sign assist works. Birds eye view and backup cam work.

Nothing under the car looks physically damaged. The snow that I drove into was only a couple inches over my ground clearance. Any idea what might have happened?

Interesting....this is a new car, the dealer will be able to "reset" the malfunctioning features. I think you may have red-lined the engine and the functions you mentioned are all related to the driveline and just 'gave up'.
Your ground clearance is 8.6 you say the snow was somewhat higher that would make it 10-11 inches. You axle is about 13 off the ground. So when you started rocking the car you probably over revved until blue smoke appeared. When that happens you melt the snow and create ice in front and behind your wheels to the point that you can not get out. Next time clear one foot of snow in front and behind your tires to get a 'run' at it and keep the steering wheel straight.
Please post how this was resolved.

 

[Quickdtoo]

Your ground clearance is 8.6 you say the snow was somewhat higher that would make it 10-11 inches.

Ummm.....HV ground clearance is 8.1" for all HV trims, only gas models with 19" wheels have 8.6" ground clearance.

 

[rdgrimes]

. So when you started rocking the car you probably over revved until blue smoke appeared.

This is not possible in the HV systems.

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

Interesting....this is a new car, the dealer will be able to "reset" the malfunctioning features. I think you may have red-lined the engine and the functions you mentioned are all related to the driveline and just 'gave up'.
Your ground clearance is 8.6 you say the snow was somewhat higher that would make it 10-11 inches. You axle is about 13 off the ground. So when you started rocking the car you probably over revved until blue smoke appeared. When that happens you melt the snow and create ice in front and behind your wheels to the point that you can not get out. Next time clear one foot of snow in front and behind your tires to get a 'run' at it and keep the steering wheel straight.
Please post how this was resolved.

This is not possible in the HV systems.

Yep, it wouldn't let me redline the engine. I had my foot to the floor at times, but it did limit the output pretty significantly even with TRAC/VSC disabled. It was maybe giving the wheels ~15-20% of full power at most. There was smoke at one point, only briefly though, and I believe it was the tires. I had spun them all the way down to the dirt.

I'm taking it into a dealership today to be looked at. I'll update.

 

[dnoonie]

I hope it's easily resolved, I'm interested in the resolution.

I've been stuck a number of times and most of the time I've gotten unstuck by shoveling a bit, it often doesn't take much. Since getting unstuck the second or third time by shoveling I now carry a small folding shovel as part of my road kit, along with a tire pump (it's been over 20 years since I've put on a spare tire). In my off road rig I carried a full sized shovel.

Cheers,

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

As I thought, nothing was physically damaged. All the spinning basically just confused the car's computer into thinking there was a malfunction. Which is kind of ridiculous, if you ask me.

Apparently disconnecting the 12v battery, draining the power, and leaving it for 30 minutes couldn't clear the error. My OBDLink MX+ couldn't clear the DTCs because the app doesn't have data for 2020 Toyotas yet, so it didn't even recognize that any error codes were present.

So Toyota reset the error codes for me, that was the resolution. ?

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[dnoonie]

As I thought, nothing was physically damaged. All the spinning basically just confused the car's computer into thinking there was a malfunction. Which is kind of ridiculous, if you ask me.

Apparently disconnecting the 12v battery, draining the power, and leaving it for 30 minutes couldn't clear the error. My OBDLink MX+ couldn't clear the DTCs because the app doesn't have data for 2020 Toyotas yet, so it didn't even recognize that any error codes were present.

So Toyota reset the error codes for me, that was the resolution. ?

Thanks for the input everyone.

That's pretty silly (to say it nice). I hope there was no charge!?

Cheers,

 

[Ravvydoog19]

As I thought, nothing was physically damaged. All the spinning basically just confused the car's computer into thinking there was a malfunction. Which is kind of ridiculous, if you ask me.

Apparently disconnecting the 12v battery, draining the power, and leaving it for 30 minutes couldn't clear the error. My OBDLink MX+ couldn't clear the DTCs because the app doesn't have data for 2020 Toyotas yet, so it didn't even recognize that any error codes were present.

So Toyota reset the error codes for me, that was the resolution. ?

Thanks for the input everyone.

Toyota’s foray into the proprietary (even with TPMS) and charging (the remote start) for every little thing is scaring me away as much as the fueling problem.

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

That's pretty silly (to say it nice). I hope there was no charge!?

Cheers,

Nope. It was warranty service.

Toyota’s foray into the proprietary (even with TPMS) and charging (the remote start) for every little thing is scaring me away as much as the fueling problem.

I'm considering different brands for a next vehicle for many reasons. I've always been impressed by the fundamental reliability of Toyotas, but I'm starting to see truth to "they don't make em like they used to". Guess even Toyota isn't exempt from low-mileage reliability issues.

To their credit, though, the car was still fully drivable even with a near-total shutdown of the computer assist systems.

 

[Lowcountry Rav]

Nope. It was warranty service.



I'm considering different brands for a next vehicle for many reasons. I've always been impressed by the fundamental reliability of Toyotas, but I'm starting to see truth to "they don't make em like they used to". Guess even Toyota isn't exempt from low-mileage reliability issues.

To their credit, though, the car was still fully drivable even with a near-total shutdown of the computer assist systems.

Your correct however everyone is going this direction. Even my 2008 Nissan - which remained unchanged since its design its launch in 2004, has a bunch of proprietary stuff only the dealer can diagnose or reset with their "consult" software - and there is no such thing as a Techstream for Nissan. Fortunately most of this stuff traditionally doesn't give issues, and if it does you just replace that component.

This post does scare me a little however. A driver shouldn't be able to "fool" a computer - irrelevant of what they do.

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

Your correct however everyone is going this direction. Even my 2008 Nissan - which remained unchanged since its design its launch in 2004, has a bunch of proprietary stuff only the dealer can diagnose or reset with their "consult" software - and there is no such thing as a Techstream for Nissan. Fortunately most of this stuff traditionally doesn't give issues, and if it does you just replace that component.

This post does scare me a little however. A driver shouldn't be able to "fool" a computer - irrelevant of what they do.

The world needs an 'open source' car.

 

[andaconda]

Open source car? Like this one?

 

[BecauseICanTBH]

Open source car? Like this one?

That is exactly what I had in mind.