Weird issues after getting the recall update?

The acceleration is much slower than before the update. I drove a 2013 for over 1600 miles this week and found the car seriously slow. It barely could accelerate to 90 mph. Gas Mileage running 76 mph on the interstates was high 30's in 40-50 air temps. The new software to me appears to have turned the car from a 45 mpg Interstate cruiser into a in town car that gets good mpg's when driven under 68 mph. Very disappointing to me as I do a lot of cross country driving and the original software always allowed me to get no lower than 45 mpg running the posted speeds and then some.

Others say their car is just fine with the new software update. I am a very technical person and look at everything in great detail. With the new software this week, I was able to achieve low to mid 50's mpg driving on urban roads, which is good. The power is way down from what it was. Regenerative braking also took a huge hit. The brakes feel weak now. Of course a heavy brake foot will still slow the car down just fine but it now uses the friction brakes more. That means to me, brake pads won't last the usual 100k or so miles that they used to with the original software.

Time will tell how this new software plays out for the maintenance and cost of ownership of this car. I wish Toyota would have left a good thing alone. Now with the 4th Gen coming out, I can not see Toyota doing any more software changes to the 3rd Gen. Those that did the update are stuck with it I wonder if it is possible for someone with Techstream to read and save files from a original Prius and flash another car? I know that can be done with other vehicles from other manufacturers.

Hope you get the light issue sorted out.

Mike

 

So you want to be buying new inverters every few years?

Could it be the car was "reset" and is re-learning your habits?

 

I am also noticing acceleration issues, but have been attributing them to the extremely cold weather since I most notice it when driving the car after it has been sitting awhile.

 

Someone in one of these update threads mentioned that a service manager said that it's poosible to screw up the update if it's not done correctly. Supposedly, the technician has to apply the first update and wait for it to complete before proceeding with the second.

Mike, is it possible that's what happened with the car you're driving? I guess there's no way to tell but others have reported no issues similar to yours.

 

Don't know. My wife is driving it today in town and she is getting upper 40's mpg not going over 65 mph. We have the car for another week and I want to plug in my ScanGauge II to measure the boost voltage this weekend if I can get the time. Busy around here lately

I read that 451 inverters failed in all of the 3rd Gen's worldwide. If that is true, the odd's of having a failure are next to never. I have yet to speak with the Prius autocross people as their car's surely are pushed hard on the track.

Now thinking like a Amateur Radio operator & homebrewer, I would like to get my hands on a failed inverter to remove the potting compound and replace the failed components. Most anything can be repaired and lots of things can be improved to handle higher loads. If it is a matter of the devices cracking from the heatsink from thermo stress, how about putting a heavy metal bar across the tops of the devices so they are more firmly held down to the heatsink?

Mike

 

Wish there was some way to read the software versions. I do not have Techstream to see if it reports that info I know a Toyota mechanic that autocrosses his car. I will go pick his brain on the subject

What I see on this forum is most owners who post regularly do city driving. The car still functions fine in town and gets over 50 mpg. Still weak acceleration compared to before the update and the regen is much less. The car is far from what it was when driven fast on the Interstates and needing it to pull big hills without slowing down.

I just reported my findings. I can clearly see there are members that think I am full of shit or think I know nothing about the car. Not you by any means, just some others. I best leave this subject go so I don't upset more people. My Prius is just a, for the fun of it car for me, not a daily driver as I drive my Kia Soul daily year round

Mike

 

I total believe you!
If it was your car and not a rental, I would have then check the down load on that car to make sure it was done right!

 

Hear you there BTW, my wife n I were at Grizzly's in Eau Claire yesterday for an early dinner. Good eating

Mike

 

Glad you like it! I have been there a few times. I like the Spotted Cow beer! with a burger.
I live about 5 miles away!

 

It's 135 miles from our home. Couple hours of hot footin it Every once in a while we stay at the Holiday Inn while my wife is taking care of meetings in town. Usually we are passing thru your state and time it so we can have a good dinner before heading home. We were in Green Bay Wednesday & Sheboygan on Tuesday.

Mike

 

Next time in town try Northwoods brew pub (if your into local brew!) Bubba's Bumblin buzz brew is a good choice. It's about two blocks from Grizzly's

 

After the update my wife got 54mpg on a return trip that was an hour long and 70mph speed limit, she doesn't drive to be green, she just drives, over the speed limit, doesn't use cruise control, she turns off ECO, I use it, she turns off the power bar, I use it and stay out of PWR unless people are behind me from a stop. I don't detect a change other than the battery bars behaving differently. I am really critical of placebo effect.

 

My findings are as follows;

Friction brakes are used more.
Regen appears to have been reduced.
The car seems to try to keep the battery topped up much higher.
Acceleration is reduced. It appears the car uses the engine more and electric less when overtaking. It definitely feels like you're driving a 100bhp engined car now. Car is noisier on harder acceleration than before.
Economy seems to be down ever so slightly in normal driving. Either that or they've corrected the over-reading trip computer

 

Back in the day I was into modding my Saturn Ion Redline, the aftermarket people figured out how to develop tunes and the work around about the manufacturer locking the computer so a software flash from another car couldn't be flashed onto another car. Toyota has the software locked down like that. If someone has Techstream and wants to try to break the code, I have a feeling it could be done with the Prius. Not to say tweaking the software to get the car to do specific things, but to allow the original software to be flashed onto a updated Prius to bring it back to what it was. Likely 99.9% of the people on this forum would never consider such a venture Words like warranty void and so forth would come up. I ended up with a very nice safe tune on my Ion and to this day it runs better than stock as well as gets better gas mileage. Prius owners seem to like bone stock. That is OK I guess. I myself am not one to leave something alone

Mike

 

Does anyone have verifiable data? For owners with a ScanGauge or Torque Pro, have you been able to document a difference?

If regen really is reduced, that should be evident using Torque Pro or a ScanGauge by monitoring the max amps flowing into the battery when the friction brake sensor begins to report that the pads are being used.

Sounds like we don't want the update then. Another thing to keep in mind is that it can take a lot of miles for the car to fully except the update. When Ford issued the update to the PCM on their hybrids, I was able to watch our Fusion Hybrid gradually change behavior over a few hundred miles in response the update. It was not a quick, black or white change.

 

We have put 1700 miles on the rental '13 so far. It should have learned by now

Mike

 

If the acceleration has been affected, there is a Mustang GT owner who begs to differ because he was left to stare at my LED tail lights after leaving him at the intersection this morning.

 

Mustang would crush a Prius

Mike