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The “Car Care Nut” on YouTube addressed this on his live stream tonight. He stated he has not seen it yet, but there is “allot of chatter at high levels about it.”

He would like someone to send him images so he can give his opinion. His Toyota Dealership must be in a warm climate.

 

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His dealer is in Chicago. I lived there for 65 years. They use a lot of salt on the roads in the winter.
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Ok, thanks for that information. While Chicago does use salt it is a relatively flat area. I would assume not as much salt is used as where I am in Hilly Upstate, NY. Although I am semi rural and TBO more gravel/ sand is spread than salt. I also rarely drive in large cities that use the most salt. The major expressways around me get the salting while the majority of the side roads are gravel.

I understand peoples comments about “getting Toyotas Permission,” however I have been a subscriber to his media outlets for years. He is not afraid to point out Toyota defects when he experiences, evaluates, and repairs them.

I do agree he knows more than he let on, I just don’t think he has worked on one in his shop, so he didn’t go in depth. That’s his modusoperandi.

 

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Was removing the snow tires yesterday, took a quick picture of the cable. As you can see there is water dripping from the cable both to the left and right of the gas tank support. Unfortunatly I live in upstate NY where significant amounts of salt are used on the road. Not sure what the purpose of the plastic cover beneath the motor is, it doesn't provide much splash protection, and being plastic doesn't make for a good scuff plate. Water came out of the weep holes when I jacked the car up.

A picture from the opposite side would be nice showing any moisture dripping from the connector housing.

 

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Yeah, would have been good. By time I got to the other side of the car I could hear thunder in the distance, was rushing to finish up.

Yikes, good you got in before the WX hit.

 

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All he has to do is look at this letter. Toyota recognizes there is a corrosion issue. Just not covered by warranty.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10183289-9999.pdf

Yes, yes, yes. I’m sure he knows about it. As has been stated prior, he is not a Toyota Mouthpiece. He has been very honest in pointing out issues over the years including the infamous Gas Tank fiasco, and many other Toyota issues ( not that there are many 😎)

He simply has not had a Gen 5 RAV HV in his dealership (yet) to work on. Example: Inspect, diagnose, repair, offer an opinion. This is who he is. Unless he has seen it and worked on it he doesn’t dive deep. The fact that he took my question in the chat and made the statement “there is allot of chatter high up over it” demonstrates there is an issue. He just has no personal experience with it yet.

Subscribe to his channel. It’s very easy to digest and you’ll learn allot. 😉

 

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The Car Care Nut was asked 2 more times about this in his Q&A show. It's at 15:25 and 51:40.

So now he has seen one, and gives more information. Fairly strong dig at Toyota for being asleep at the wheel. I'll wager he knows more, but can't post on YouTube. Love AMD.

 

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Yeah, I don't know if he knew about the TSB in Canada so it remains to be seen if there is something new on the horizon like a redesigned part or a warranty extension on the cable. I think it would be very expensive for Toyota to replace every cable preemptively. However, if anything safety related like fires due to shorts emerge then who knows. I'm going all in on these hybrids so when I see stuff like transport ships no longer taking EVs it makes me wonder if too much risk is going to trickle into the ownership experience.

Completely agree with the ships not taking Hybrids, and the 30 Day QC Hold on April 7th. Something big is up IMO. Either they have a new part that they feel they can retrofit on vehicles not in customers possession yet, or it is a safety issue and they are cutting their losses and just make people wait until a new part can be installed.

I certainly hope it is the former. I must admit, since finding out just how serious this is I may have gone with a different manufacturer no matter how painful that would have been given our families history of Toyota ownership.

Going to try and stay positive for now.

 

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I pulled the orange cover off mine this past weekend and blew out the sand with compressed air in the braiding and then sprayed hot water at it to remove salt. Never disconnected it. Just cleaned it. This is three winters of salt in Michigan. There was an upper steel clamp that rusted and was loose so I removed that also. Car has 50k miles. I used a garden sprayer on the stream setting to wash away salt, so it was a low pressure rinse.
Keith

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Very interesting. Certainly appears that the Metal Clamp at the top is the genesis of the corrosion as it reacts with the salt/moisture. I wounder what the result would be if Toyota used a polymer clamp? Does it have to be a metal alloy? If so why?

I'm curious now.

 

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Is the cutaway a section of the orange cover ? Is it to allow water to drain from the connection or for water to be used to rinse out the connection ? Anyone have pics of the 2 different parts ?

There are images earlier in the thread. The revised part to my eyes is simply the original design now without the outer half that would clip on.

Is it to self flush, dry faster, keep sediment from packing and retaining moisture? Probably a little of each. Was it done to allow owners to crawl under with a hose and rinse it? Unlikely IMO.

Ours experienced quite a bit of road salt and allot of sand/gravel from delivery in early January up until I looked at it last week on a nice warm day. All I can say is it wasn’t filled with debris. So, does that mean it’s a fix? I don’t think so. I do think it will allow area to stay dry.

Only time will tell. Still wouldn’t go back to a ICE only. This is the nicest power train I’ve experience out of all 5 of our RAV4’s.

 

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They may changed material of metal clamp - it may be now from not corroding metal

This is something I’ve been very curious about. I‘m looking forward to some ambitious owner removing the revised part and identify the material used in the upper clamp.

 

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Same situation here but i haven't gotten a chance to remove the tray for a thorough look yet. Does your come with the new version connector (with half cut open) or the old version?

New.

 

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Can you see it without removing the tray?

Yes if you use a floor jack to elevate the back enough to look over the tray edge. Just make sure you put stands in place for safety. I used a flashlight.

 

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I do not believe it will prevent corrosion at all but it will at least let moving air get to it to let it dry out . I also wonder if there was 2 disimilar metals ( clamp and sheathing) having a chemical reacton along with salt and water causing even more of a corrosion problem pre part # change. . I was unaware of this before we bought ours and think it is a poor design but every vehicle has its bad points. I will keep an eye on mine .

This is why I want to know if it’s the same metal clamp as this is always the genesis of the reaction.

 

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Well, the orange connector cover looks identical to my 2020 RAV4....

Yes. However, is it more horizontal than vertical on the Prime, or it it just the image?

 

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Yes the first pic is the plug to kill the power to the hybrid system, however I don’t believe that traction motor plug would have any power with the car off, but it’s easy enough to do to be extra safe. You remove the cover from the battery vent under the back seat and there is a plastic loop you lift and and pull the plug (connector) out. It’s easy once you look at it.

A previous poster recommended Fluid Film, (that picture is it) I have used it for other things but after reading about it, it is an ideal product for this ( although there are others that would be fine). Fluid film is lanolin, not petroleum based, doesn’t harm plastic, is non conductive and suitable for electrical situations (although there is no current running through that wire mesh). It’s a good corrosion protector, it is used for spraying entire undersides of cars to prevent chassis rust and is environmentally friendly.

Nice write up. Does the Fluid Film harden? Does it cure? I’m just curious if this would be helpful to those of us with the revised cover that leaves the bottom half of the area you covered open to air.

Does Fluid Film maintain a “grease like” texture that would allow debris to attach to it if thrown up from the ground while driving?

Thanks again. 👍

 

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It may be worthwhile to bring it to a Toyota dealer and have them pop cover inspect it, take pics and advise if further investigation required. There is a tech bulletin (T-TT-0630-20 ) in circulation but does not address internal braid corrosion. Dealer may charge for inspection but may be worth it for piece of mind.

This is precisely what I am doing. I had an initial inspection documented at my first 5,000 mile service a couple of weeks ago. Everything was good and documented on the Service Order. I have the open sided cover.

My dealer will do this every April after winter as long as I own it. There was no charge for the inspection. My situation may be unique due to my 25yr relationship with them, but they were aware of the issue, but would not comment further.

They have not had one come in yet with a problem, but will inspect on request. I’m just not certain if it’s a no charge for everyone.

I would imagine if you’re bringing it in during a scheduled service maybe no charge vs coming in just to inspect. Lots of variables with dealers and customers relationships with them.

 

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Thanks for sharing. What year is your RAV4?

2022. Took delivery in January. Our 5th RAV, but 1st HV. I had already looked underneath myself as I mentioned in an earlier post. However, I thought it would be a good idea to start a documentation trail early.

Obviously I’m not going to have an issue with just 2.5 months of snow travel on 4 months post delivery.

Still feel this one is the best we have owned. The HV Drivetrain is so smooth. Going to stay positive. 🙂

 

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Mr LargeCoffee said:
... nobody listening...

I read your earlier posts and am listening.
I'll do an inspection and possible cleanup but I won't be using any coatings.
If anything, I will remove the metal clamp if that appears to be the source of the corrosion and hold the ends of the braids some other way.

Just an FYI, the Metal Band also serves as a Electromagnetic Shield. I’d be wary as not replacing it will cause noticeable EMI interference with some systems in the vehicle. This type of clamp is used throughout EV/HV vehicles.

The poor design causing corrosion is a separate issue.

 

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Yes it's new design, but question is - is it just opened version of cover or opened version of cover + different material of metal clamp

Yup. Is the clamp a new metal, or just with a coating on it, or neither. The $64,000 question.

 

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I did it For the team.
I disconnected the HV connector and cleaned it.

Doesn’t look that bad but is it gonna last 10 or 20 years only time will show.
the weakest point is the metal band that encompasses stainless steel braids. It seems to be made of stamped metal. I had superficial rust but that’s an indication with time it will only be worse.
good news is connection at motor was whistle clean as a rubber seal does it’s job. Definitely gotta seal a 1/16” gap that will let water in as shown in polish YouTube video.
that’s in the fall together with spray for metal band.
I had 1/4” of debris that I didn’t photograph.
I cleaned everything with metal, plastic brushes. Than salt away diluted 15:1. brushed, rinsed with water, Wiped dry, aired and put together.

I Put hv disconnect back in, 12v negative terminal back in and it works.

definitely cleaning is what I recommend. If you don’t wanna do it pay a mechanic 50-100$ to do it.
I parked on a curb on one side so it gave me couple of inches more of clearance .

what’s the connector for in my pic I encircled?








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This was for the open connector, yes? How many miles, and months? What model year and location geographically?

Thanks for the effort. 👍