Prius Recall Campaign 40D

I just had my 40D service done with no hitches at all. The display read 53.7 when I came in, and 53.3 when I got the car back. I was down to 3 bars on the battery, but it was fully charged by the time I got home. I was nervous about taking the car in for the first time, but had no reason to be. The service manager told me to keep the orange slip they gave me that indicated this service had been done in case it is asked for next time I need to register the car.

Jeff

 

Got my letter today as well. Still haven't decided if I should pull the EVb or not. :?

 

AHA! No offense, but I'm so glad you're having problems, because I was starting to think I was really screwed, since everyone else has had none whatsoever. I had to leave my car after 2.5 hours, finally, tonight and hopefully it'll be done tomorrow (with the battery completely discharged, probably) because my car's not communicating either. They plugged in another car at the same time just to check, and that one went right through. (I was momentarily uplifted because there was one classic and one other 04 there at the same time as mine!) They're very nice about it, offered a rent car, but I'm still ticked that I went in for a 5,000 mile service, had to argue with them about the price ($69.95 for what's basically an oil change?!) and walked out without my car. Let's just wait and see if I have my car by next week. Sigh. :roll:

 

Since the Toyota computer knows which VINs are affected and knows what your VIN is then you can assume you will get the appropriate letter - unless you moved and didn't tell them. Just got my letter and will have it done next oil change in a couple of weeks. It doesn't seem like a major safety deal - the lawyers make them say that - but just a wrong reading on the diagnostic tool so your car will only be in trouble if it needs diagnostic tests and by that time they will know your car is or is not on the list. I had a recall on my Dodge Caravan that said the seat belts could come unplugged in the event of a crash. Now that's a serious safety risk. It got fixed very quickly!

 

I had mine done today. Took about 45 minutes.

 

When I took my Prius in for the 40D work, the ECU refused to accept the programming and crashed. The dealer installed a new ECU the next day. So far, the car is behaving normally. All my Nav points and radio presets were retained, but my per tank mileage zeroed out, and I had to again perform the procedure for turning off the back-up beeper.

Barbara

 

Took them 4 hours to do a 5,000 mile oil change and the 40D....

 

got my prius in february, and still no letter from toyota regarding update. is it safe to assume my car's not affected? :roll:

 

Just got back from dealer. It took 2 hours and everything seems normal. I decided to leave the EVb intact, and heard no comments about it!

 

I got my Prius in Febuary and am about to hit 5000 miles this weekend. I called the Toyota Customer Experience Center (how's that for a marketing created name?) listed in the letter that was scanned into this thread above by TEXASSALSA04 on 30 May to check if my car was affected.

I did not want to have a service done and then have to bring it in for the reprogramming a few weeks later.

The call was answered yesterday after one ring! I gave the person on the line my VIN (which ends with 40867) and was told that indeed my car was affected and that the letter should arrive in a few weeks: it is apparently being send out in batches. (My neighbor, who picked up her Pruius in November, got hers a month ago.)

I asked if the dealer could perform the reprogramming without my having received the letter and was told that I probably couldn't, but that I should speak to the dealer.

When I called for a service appointment (at Stevens Creek Toyota in San Jose), I asked about getting the SSC 40D done along with the 5000 mile service without having received the letter. The receptionist went to check and got back on the phone to tell me that I could and that the reprogramming would take about one hour. I made an appointment for Monday.

Recommendation: if you have not received a letter yet, don't assume you are free and clear. Call Toyota at 1-888-270-9371 Monday through Friday, 5 AM to 9:30 PM, Saturday and Sunday 7 AM through 3 PM Pacific time. Have your complete VIN handy.

 

Service

No doubt, Toyota is the best, but that is not saying much in todays world. Took mine into "Superior" Toyota in Parkersburg WV, for the 40D. I asked if they had done it before, as I know that if it is the first time they probably don't have the software update downloaded. The service guy told me that they had done others so my wife and I made a schedule based on the 1.5 hours quoted. She was to pick me up after I dropped off our plane at our mechanic's airport. The whole thing took 3 hours and when she came out to the car it was scratched, the interior smelled like cig. smoke and when she hit the pwr button every warning light came on and stayed on, including the big !. She went back in and they took the car back and "reset" whatever it was - basically wouldn't own up to anything else. After she picked me up we went back where I talked with the service manager. He got defensive and angry right away - told me:

- it was the first 40D they did, and when I confronted him about telling me that they had several already he said "well, someone has to be first";

- that he couldn't "take our word about the scratch" - our car is hand waxed and looks as if it rolled off the showroom floor, I had hand waxed it the day before and if the scratch had been there would have simply buffed it out myself;

- that since he and everyone smoked at the dealership (?!) that he couldn't tell about the smoke;

- and basically he really wasn't going to do anything, at all, about any of it.

I spoke to the co-owner of the dealership next and he did offer to try to do something about the scratch and smoke and he agreed that the service manager should have told us we were first to get the 40D done as we could have planned more time for it. I declined his offer and buffed out the scratch myself. Used a friends ionizer on the inside and got rid of the smoke. I had totally lost trust at that point, they were not going to touch the car again - ever.
Every time we have had the car to a dealer (3 different ones) we have had a problem of some sort. THey all (except for the one in Parkersburg) seemed to just make honest mistake or have trouble with the Prius being new, they all worked hard to fix anything that was wrong once spoken to.

The moral to the story - no matter if it is a Prius or not, 95% of all dealerships are crap. THe work ethic and customer service is gone averywhere in this country, if I get ok service I am thrilled. You have to advocate for yourself and protect yourself as much as possible. It is the only downside to the Prius in my book, normally we don't buy new cars - we run older cars that I can work on a bit or can pick a really good garage to work on them - not many choices with a Prius.

We do love the car!

Good luck out there!

 

Did anybody go to get this done at either Cherry Hill Toyota or Toyota of Turnersville in NJ???I just wanted to make sure if any of these dealers are ECU-friers. :mrgreen: