Computer flaked out... (long)

My worst fear came true last night. The ECU went brain-dead.... After my long commute home, I pulled into my driveway and came to a stop with my foot on the brake and still in Drive mode. The BT phone screen appeared to notify me of an incoming call. I didn't want to answer it, so while this screen was displayed, I hit Park and Power to turn off the car. I got out, shut the door and pressed the little black button to lock it up. It started beeping at me and wouldn't lock. I could see the idiot light flashing inside that was telling me the fob was still inside the car, which it wasn't. It was in my pocket same as always. I spent the next 30 minutes going through every possible sequence I could think of to get the car to "let go" of the key fob, but it simply wouldn't. I even tried the spare fob just in case. So now my car is parked outside, unable to be locked, and ready to be driven by anyone who gets inside it because the ECU thinks the key is already there. I was horrified.

I called Roadside Assistance, but all they could do was have the car towed to the dealer's lot. The dealer was already closed so why leave it outside there instead of in my driveway since I'm liable either way. They told me to try calling the Customer Satisfaction hotline, which I did, but they close at 5pm. So for the next few hours I just kept checking my car to make sure it was still there. I went out periodically to try to see if the computer would "resynch with reality", but it wouldn't. About three hours later, as I was trying the Start/Stop cycle again, the car stopped responding completely. I sat there and pressed the Power button for about 15 minutes and got absolutely no response, no display, no MFD, etc. Finally, one of my button pushes registered and the car started up. The key problem was still there. I gave up and went to bed.

This morning, I went out to see what would happen, and the Power button didn't respond for about 15 minutes, and then finally let me start it up. I drove straight to the dealer, without an appointment and went to the Service desk. The service guy went out to the car with me, and the very first time he tried it, it worked fine. The Smart Entry locking worked fine. I made him repeat it for about 5 minutes and it didn't fail once. I was so aggravated. He told me that I should just bring it back if it did it again. I refused to take the car. There was no warning that this failure was going to happen and I didn't want to get stranded later in the day if it happened again. After much debate, he agreed to keep it for the day in case they had time to squeeze in time to run a diagnostic. No guarantee that they would, and if they don't find anything wrong, I have to pay for the rental car.

I do have the two speed defeat switches installed and the EV stalk modification, but these have had no impact on the ECU and everything has worked fine for quite a while. I sincerely hope the dealer doesn't try to pin this on me because of those mods. I'm axious to see what happens.

More later as things unfold...

 

Now that you mention it, when the service guy tried it, he did put the fob in the slot and started cycling the Power button. I've noticed that the dealership always uses the fob instead of the SS/SE regardless of whether or not you have it. He probably fixed that problem without even realizing it. That would't necessarily cause the dead computer problem. I wonder, though, if you just sit there and keep pressing the Power switch on and off really fast if it screws up the computer's power-on reset. After all, with SS/SE enabled, at least, the car isn't really "off" to begin with so cycling that switch doesn't necessarily clear a software fault.

 

Well, here's what happened. Naturally, there are no faults logged in the ECU since it never really detected that anything was wrong. They believe this was all "operator error" and I'm now responsible for the service bill and the rental car bill.

It's entirely possible that the car not powering up part was my fault. After a couple hours of not being able to get the car to let me lock it with that stupid idiot light flashing, I was pushing every button in sight including the SS/SE disable. They claim that the SS/SE was disabled the entire time, so that's why the car wouldn't start. If that were the case, then repeated pushing of the Power button and *nothing else* wouldn't have made it suddenly power on. As for the key fob not being recognized without being inserted into the slot, they're blowing that off completely. it's not a documented problem so it must be my imagination. As you can see by Frank's posts above, it has happened to at least one other person. There's no documentation about having to resynch your fob with SS/SE system.

Long story longer, even though I took the time to have the 24 hour roadside assistance people document step by step what was happening, Toyota "Customer Care" won't even bother to read the notes to confirm it. I've been dismissed as an idiot. I'm not happy, and I'm out some bucks I didn't plan on.

 

It appears there's enough data here to believe that the fobs CAN indeed lose their programmed link with your car. It also appears that the method of reinserting the fob in the slot and cycling power to the car will "re-teach" the fob and re-establish the link.

There is no reference to this being a possibility nor how to correct it in the manuals. The service people at the dealership and at the Customer Satisfaction hotline have never heard of this. As we've said before, I certainly hope someone from Toyota reads these posts...

 

Poof! Your wish is granted...

Speed Sensor Defeat Switches

Good thing the weekend is here. I'd hate to think of you crawling around in the dark with a flashlite getting this done as soon as possible.