Toyota service made a mistake during sotware update (recall)

welcome! no expert here, but a quick thought, what was the recall for, did the car record any codes and if so, what were they, why did the recall service negatively affect the car and exactly what parts were damaged and had to be replaced, and, what reassurance can they give you that a problem down the road wasn't caused by this mistake. frankly, i've never heard anything like this in ten years of priuschat. very unfortunate. you may also want to lodge a complaint with toyota as well. i'm not trying to be negative here, and in all likelihood, everything will be fine. just cuts covering all the bases, all the best!

 

If they messed up something, it's on their dime to fix it, no matter what the cost. Toyota (the manufacturer, not the dealer) would not let them get away with charging customers too many times for their own mistakes. Besides, it's still under bumper to bumper coverage 3 years/36k miles, so that may help as well. It's ironic, really, since the software update is designed to prevent the inverter and other components from becoming damaged due to the software working them too hard.

 

I think if you search here, it has happened to a few folks. Maybe the inverter was damaged already? The good news is you get new parts for free, so no need to sweat. Just make sure the car works like it should when you get it.

 

EoE was a very widely applied recall.
For most of us it has had no effect at all.
As others have said, it's possible that your inverter was already on its way out (the cause of the recall, really).

Assuming they get the car back to you working correctly with a bunch of new parts I think you'll be fine.

 

I agree. Whew I'm glad it doesn't cover the PiP. At least, not mine.

 

The software update is intended to prevent cracking of the solder under a pair of very high power transistors in the inverter. If the cracking progresses too far, one or the other of the transistors can fall off, leading to arcs, sparks, and, if one is lucky, an "abandon all hope" crawl to the side of the road. If one is unlucky, the car stops dead, in traffic, right there. Which is why this is a safety recall.

From the minimal documentation that Toyota has provided on the topic there's an "inspection" that is supposed to be done when the inverter software is updated. There's some wild hand-waving that says the inspection is some kind of check to see if one or the other of the transistors involved has already cracked, or partially cracked from the underlying heat sink. If this is what happened to your car during the upgrade, be happy: They'll replace the inverter with a brand-new one. (There's also been talk that this inspection doesn't always catch incipient faults.)

The only problem is that immediately after the update announcement there were reports that new inverters were in short supply, presumably due to the number that had to be replaced, and people have had to wait for the replacement, sometimes for weeks. I don't know if inverters are still in short supply; if so, I hope they supplied you with a paid-for rental.

Good luck!

KBeck

 

Unless there is tremendous strain or vibration, solder should not just "Crack"! If the temp approaches 700° F the solder might melt and run, but outright cracking, I wonder if this is more prevalent in cold climates!

 

If you loose battery power or have a loose ground during the Inverter software flash, you can "brick" the Inverter where is won't take another flash, and won't run, since its software dead.
Usually the Dealer puts a 12volt power source on the electrical system in case the 12 voltbattery fails during the flash. Maybe this wasn't done properly. The Dealer will probably replace the Invertor (this converts approx 207 volts dc to 207-600+ volts ac to power the electric motors.) They might also replace the small 12 volt battery, that boots up the computer.
They should not have a problem fixing the car, but they might have to wait for parts from Toyota.

 

I dont think Crack is the appropriate word here for solder either. However they are likely referring to separation. Also it could be a circuit board crack or failure.

 

After reading the Toyota report to the NTSB on the subject, it appeared that they were claiming that high stress levels between the boost transistors and the underlying heat sink caused separation between the transistor and the heat sink.

Based upon a careful reading of that document, it appeared to me that there was a second-order mechanical differential expansion problem present. The boost transistors (as well as the other power switching transistors in the inverter) are naked die that are soldered almost directly to the heat sink in the inverter. (Note: This heat sink is bathed on its other side by inverter coolant. Yeah, that is the way they get the losses out of the inverter.) Basically, upon a request for high power, the boost transistors would kick in with a vengeance; the transistors would heat rapidly. It is presumed that the heat sink would also heat and eventually match the transistor temperatures.

The operative word here is "eventually". I did the rough math on an earlier thread on this subject. In order:

1. The bigger the increase in power demand, the bigger the temperature differential between the heat sink and the transistor.
2. After a second or less, the temperatures of the transistor and the heat sink equalize, reducing or eliminating the temperature differential.
3. Given coefficients of expansion and contraction of the transistor and the heat sink, cracking of the solder between the two is precisely what is happening.

Toyota definitely said that the transistors were falling off the heat sink when this was happening. I didn't make that up. Cracking solder joints under electronic components because of differential expansion and contraction isn't a new problem: BGA (Ball Grid Array) parts have had issues with this, on and off, for a very long time.

It's not solder melting: It's solder cracking. Maybe microcracks at first, but clean separation eventually. On those inverters that have exhibited the problem.

There's quite a bit of monitoring of bus bars, current levels, and other interesting parameters of the transistors inside the inverters. (I've looked at data sheets on other, related transistors.) It's quite possible that the "inspection" is looking at the resistance between the transistor and the underlying heat sink, the idea being that if there are some cracks in there, the resistance would be up some and potentially checkable.

GrumpyCabbie, one of the regular contributors around here, stated that he was driving his Prius "like it was stolen" when the inverter failed, which fits. It is guessed that the software fix would reduce the rise time of the power delivered through the transistors. Note: This wouldn't be the maximum power delivered through the transistors, but rather how fast the power increase occurred. Testing of Priuses in the real world, before and after the update, also seems to validate this idea, with a slight increase in quarter-mile times, but with max acceleration unaffected, which also fits.

KBeck

 

wow, sounds like they fried the harness? maybe i'm reading too much into it, thanks for the update!

 

Ha. And double Ha.

The inverter itself has a pretty complex control board that drives the fancy, super-well-mounted-high-power-transistors that do all the heavy lifting down in the basement of the inverter. And there's probably $DIETY's own collection of control, monitor, and fault hardware and firmware on that control board. From the pictures from the EPA studies on the car, it looks like one can get a couple of levels down into the inverter and potentially get to that control board; the transistors themselves and the heat sink assembly are sealed and potted to a fare-thee-well down in the basement of the inverter, and nobody mucks with those without being in a clean room wearing a bunny suit. There are some serious inductors (with cooling) and filter capacitors with specs like you wouldn't believe inside the inverter, too.

I suspect that Something's Not Talking To the Programming Equipment. Given how expensive the inverter is, I'm guessing that they're going through a test chart that says, "First change this cheap component, then that cheap harness, followed by this cheap component..." until they run out of tests and decide that the computer in the inverter is Bricked For All Time. Then, and only then they'll replace the inverter.

Keep us posted, this is getting entertaining. But probably not for the poor tech who has to troubleshoot this.

KBeck.

 

In other recall threads, there have been a few isolated reports of people experiencing problems such as yours after the recall. Which basically is that something happens, and the entire inverter needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately that's the bad news for you.

The good news?
I think everything can be replaced, and you'll have new parts, and be fine.

It does seem that occasionally and rarely "something" happens during the recall or with the downloading of the software, that causes problems. The good news is that it all can be fixed.

Your vehicle is still easily under warranty. All this damage is a documented result of the recall procedure. You shouldn't have to pay a dime.

 

As of August 22, 2014 campaign E0E has been revised with inverter repair parts and procedures. This means that the specific sub-assemblies within the inverter that failed are now field replaceable. There is a great big chart/matrix to help guide the tech to identify the component(s) that require replacement, based on specific trouble codes and symptom codes.
That would explain having various ECU and harness being replaced instead of the complete inverter assembly.

 

frustrating.